Understanding the extent and effectiveness of mitigation translocation for herpetofauna
department or school: Forestry, Faculty of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Winand, Megan
issued: 2025-09-18T16:59:43Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Mitigation translocation, which involves moving animals from areas slated for anthropogenic alteration or destruction to alternative sites, is a globally utilized strategy to mitigate harm to amphibians and reptiles – herpetofauna. Despite the scientific community’s lack of support for its usage, mitigation translocation continues to gain public favour. However, an assessment of the status and success of translocations is outdated with the last major global review completed 16 years ago, and no review of mitigation translocation or its effectiveness conducted in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Therefore, we set out to accomplish three goals: revaluate the global suitability of mitigation and conservation translocation for herpetofauna, evaluate the scale of mitigation translocation in BC and, its effectiveness for a native amphibian, the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris). Through a systematic literature review of global herpetofauna translocations from 2007 to 2023, our review yielded 313 case studies. Our analysis reveals that most published efforts are conservation-driven, focusing primarily on reptiles. Regarding success when analysed using the Miller et al., (2014) definition, 19% of evaluated conservation studies reached success, and only 6% of mitigation translocations reached success. Focusing on BC, we reviewed mitigation translocations across the province from 2019 to 2022 and found that 5,134,254 individuals were translocated, most prominently larval Western toads (Anaxyrus boreas). These translocations were primarily linked to linear development projects such as large-scale oil and gas developments. However, the effectiveness of mitigation translocation in BC is unknown due to a lack of monitoring. Therefore, we evaluated post-translocation survival, body condition, and movement rates of Columbia spotted frogs relocated 1 km or 5 km from their capture locations. Results indicate translocations had no significant effect on body condition or movement…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92354
note: UNDERSTANDING THE EXTENT AND EFFECTIVENESS OF MITIGATION TRANSLOCATION FOR HERPETOFAUNA by MEGAN WINAND B.Sc., British Columbia Institute of Technology, 2018 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Forestry) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) SEPTEMBER 2025 © Megan Winand, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: _____________________________________________________________________________________ submitted by _______________________________ in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of __________________________________________________________________________ in ___________________________________________________________________________________ Examining Committee: _____________________________________________________________________________________ Supervisor _____________________________________________________________________________________ Supervisory Committee Member _____________________________________________________________________________________ Supervisory Committee Member _____________________________________________________________________________________ Additional Examiner Megan Winand Master of Science nand Forestry Dr. Tara Martin, Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Dr. Leigh-Anne Isaac, Herpetofauna and Small Mammal Specialist, Government of British Columbia Dr. Scott Hinch, Professor, Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, UBC Dr. Cole Burton, Professor, Department of Forest Resources Management, UBC Understanding the extent and effectiveness of mitigation translocation for herpetofauna iii Abstract Mitigation translocation, which involves moving animals from areas slated for anthropogenic alteration or destruction to alternative sites, is a globally …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450167
language: eng
degree discipline: Forestry
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Martin, T. G. (Tara G.)
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92354