Survival of a long-lived single island endemic, the Raso lark Alauda razae, in relation to age, fluctuating population and rainfall.

ABSTRACT: Estimating and understanding variation in survival rates is crucial for the management of threatened species, especially those with limited population sizes and/or restricted ranges. Using a capture-resighting dataset covering 2004-2017, we estimate adult survival in the Raso lark Alauda razae, a Critically Endangered single-island Cape Verdean endemic, whose population varied 25-fold during the study. Average annual adult survival was similar for males (0.813 ± 0.011) and females (0.826 ± 0.011) over the period. These values are high for a temperate passerine but not unusual for an insular tropical species like the lark. The oldest bird was recorded 13 years after first ringing. There was strong evidence that survival varied among years (between 0.57 and 0.95), being generally higher in w

SUBMITTER: Dierickx EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6925214 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature