Type: Book Chapter
Reference: Hogg, C., & Wise, P. (2022). Assisted Colonisation as a Conservation Tool: Tasmanian Devils and Maria Island. In M. Gaywood, J. Ewen, P. Hollingsworth, & A. Moehrenschlager (Eds.), Conservation Translocations (Ecology, Biodiversity and Conservation, pp. 476-483). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108638142.029
Summary
Tasmanian devils are endangered due to an infectious clonal cancer that has reduced populations by up to 80 per cent since it first arose in 1996. As part of a management strategy for the species, an island population was established through an assisted colonisation event on Maria Island
National Park. The original scope of the Maria Island population was to establish and maintain a disease-free population of devils. The island is now used as a source site for these trial releases of devils to mainland Tasmania populations. The 2012 release cohort to the island had a high degree of relatedness. However, through dedicated management strategies, including contraception and selective harvesting, this situation has been rectified and the Maria Island population now represents a genetically diverse group. Monitoring, using traditional methods of trapping and camera traps, in addition to genetic monitoring, has been essential to the establishment and maintenance of the Maria
Island population.