JD Baker's research while affiliated with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other places

... Marine caves currently used by monk seals for pupping in Greece share a set of common geomorphological features that are believed to protect them mainly from human activity (Dendrinos et al., 2007c). The combination of continued anthropogenic pressure and use of marginal pupping habitat, which, in turn, has resulted in reduced pup survival rates (Gazo et al., 2000;de Larrinoa et al., 2021), played an important role in the decrease of this species and its resulting precarious conservation status (Karamanlidis & Dendrinos, 2015;Karamanlidis et al., 2019). Considering the monk seals' conservation status, it has been suggested that the marginal cave habitat currently used by this seal might not be suitable for the survival of the species and that recovery of the Mediterranean monk seal will require a partial return to open beaches (Sergeant et al., 1978;Karamanlidis et al., 2016). ...

... Despite the history of using beaver translocations for species and ecosystem conservation, best management practices to ensure beaver establishment are lacking (Pilliod et al., 2018;Nash et al., 2021). Understanding the life history characteristics of existing resident individuals could help inform management practices, yet studies comparing translocated individuals to residents are uncommon (but see Pinter-Wollman, Isbell, & Hart, 2009;Baker et al., 2021;Muriel et al., 2021). Successful beaver establishment for river restoration is defined by long-term residency, survival, and dam building at release sites; however, long-term residency rarely exceeds 50% of individuals released Petro, 2013;Dittbrenner, 2019; but see Albert & Trimble, 2000), survival of translocated beavers can be less than 50% Petro, Taylor, & Sanchez, 2015), and there may be no apparent link between dam-building behavior before and after translocations (Petro et al., 2015). ...

... Given that body condition and survival rates tend to be higher in the MHI (Baker et al. 2011), this may be an indication that MHI animals are able to satisfy their foraging needs with less time at sea (Wilson et al. 2017b). In addition to geographic variation in foraging, there is evidence that juvenile seals adjust their foraging habits over time, either as they develop physical strength or increase local knowledge (Norris et al. 2017;Parrish et al. 2005). Understanding juvenile foraging behavior and the development of mature foraging strategies is particularly important in revealing the mechanisms underlying poor juvenile body condition and an important survival bottleneck limiting recovery of the species Baker and Thompson 2007). ...

... More generally, estimates using count data may be combined with those obtained using other methods such as surveys (see "Transect sampling from ship or aerial surveys" below) and mark-recapture (see "Mark-recapture" below), for example for Hawaiian monk seals (Neomonachus schauinslandi) (Baker et al., 2016). ...

... Chauvenet et al., 2010;Collazo et al., 2013;Helmstedt & Possingham, 2016;, few have evaluated how variation in release site characteristics can be exploited to reduce post-release effects and increase establishment success in metapopulation restoration efforts. A 'two-stage translocation' between subpopulations of wild-born Hawaiian monk seals Monachus schauinslandi was suggested to help overcome food shortages for certain age classes in a metapopulation (Baker, Harting & Littnan, 2013). For many bird translocations, techniques of temporarily or permanently 'marooning' populations on predator-free islands, generally outside the indigenous range of the species, have been used in a metapopulation context for recovery (Robertson et al., 2011;Jones & Merton, 2012;Parker, 2013). ...

... Nevertheless, scenarios may arise in which assisted colonization will be warranted. Successful translocations of pinnipeds and reintroductions of sea otters have been achieved [139][140][141][142] . While translocating cetaceans is more challenging, Yangtze finless porpoises ( Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis ) have been captured and moved into ex situ "semi-natural " reserves where they have survived well and reproduced successfully [143] . ...

... Second, distorted sex ratios may negatively affect reproductive success during autumn. In other taxa, a significant increase in male to female sex ratios resulted in increased stress to females from exacerbated pressure for males to mate with limited females, negatively affecting female fecundity [99,100]. ...

... Since the onset of sexual maturity in pinnipeds usually coincides with the attainment of some percentage of final body size (Laws 1956), the observed difference at FFS is consistent with the smaller weaning sizes observed for this site (Craig and Ragen 1999, NMFS, unpublished data) and is indicative of poorer nutritional condition for adult and immature seals when compared to Laysan. This is further supported by the correlation of much better body condition and earlier age at primiparity for seals in the MHI where all 6-yr-old seals are adult sized compared with 80% at Laysan (Baker et al. 2011). ...