Adult sex ratios in wild orange-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus malherbi): are there conservation implications?

[摘要] Many globally threatened bird species have been shown to have highly male-skewed sex ratios. This is concerning for conservation as such populations have a higher extinction risk and lower reproductive population sizes. Our surveys of the remaining populations of orange-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus malherbi) indicate this species currently has a non-breeding season adult male population proportion of between 0.56 and 0.66. This male bias increased to between 0.68 and 0.74 during the breeding season. Limited data also suggest that prior to recent declines in the population size of orange-fronted parakeets, driven largely by introduced mammalian predators, the adult sex ratio (ASR) may have been closer to parity. The excess of males indicates that this species currently has a compromised population structure, despite intensive conservation management undertaken since 2000 to limit predation.

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] anthropogenic change;conservation;male-skewed;Orange-fronted Parakeet;sex ratios