2026-10-14T17:14:07Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/27018331 2026-09-21T16:45:27Z category_30881 portal_935 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Code and data for: How might translocation distance limits affect outbreeding-depression-mediated hatching success in the gopher tortoise? Kevin Loope (14218520) Biological sciences Gopherus polyphemus mitigation translocation egg viability simulation outbreeding depression <p dir="ltr">Mitigation translocation is a common wildlife management tool, and can be used to bolster or create sustainable populations that could assist conservation efforts for imperiled species. However, long-distance translocation is not always successful. One potential challenge to partially translocated populations is outbreeding depression, where divergent parental genomes combine to produce offspring with reduced fitness. Here, we use a simulation framework to examine the effects of a previously documented negative association between nest hatching success and the geographic distance between parents’ source populations in a translocated population of gopher tortoises (<i>Gopherus polyphemus</i>) in Florida, USA. We found that mean hatching success at simulated translocation recipient sites was, in most cases, similar regardless of management rules, and that hatching success is largely predicted to lie within the range of observed rates from natural populations. However, for recipient populations in northwestern Florida (the “Panhandle”) that contain resident (non-translocated) tortoises, permissive translocation distance rules were predicted to decrease hatching success (mean of ~60% vs ~80%). Our results suggest that management rules, the source and destination locations, and the presence of resident individuals all likely modulate the severity of outbreeding depression in translocated populations. More data on the potential effects of outbreeding depression on sensitive Panhandle populations is needed.</p> 2026-09-21T16:45:27Z Dataset Dataset 10.7294/27018331.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Code_and_data_for_How_might_translocation_distance_limits_affect_outbreeding-depression-mediated_hatching_success_in_the_gopher_tortoise_/27018331 CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication