Monitoring black-footed ferrets during reestablishment of free-ranging populations: Discussion of alternative methods and recommended minimum standards

2006 | Publisher: USGS | Science Center: Fort Collins Science Center (FORT, Ft. Collins) | Format: URL

www.fort.usgs.gov — Although the monitoring of black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) populations following reintroductions has not been haphazard, several ferret recovery groups since 1994 have recommended development of uniform standards prescribing minimum methods, intensities, and frequencies of monitoring that would provide data on population size, mortality More... Although the monitoring of black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) populations following reintroductions has not been haphazard, several ferret recovery groups since 1994 have recommended development of uniform standards prescribing minimum methods, intensities, and frequencies of monitoring that would provide data on population size, mortality rates, and recruitment. Our recommendations are based on methods that have been successfully used to monitor natural and reintroduced populations of ferrets and are an attempt to balance needs and costs. We suggest a combination of marking ferrets with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and annual spotlight searches coupled with automated transponder readers to individually identify survivors. Less...