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Multi-generational genetic consequences of reinforcement in a bird metapopulation
Multi-generational genetic consequences of reinforcement in a bird metapopulation
- Source :
- Conservation Genetics. 21:603-612
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Translocation of conspecific individuals to reduce extinction risk of small, isolated populations and prevent genetic depletion is a powerful tool in conservation biology. An important question is how the translocated individuals influence the long-term genetic composition of the recipient population. Here, we experimentally reinforced a house sparrow (Passer domesticus) population, and examined the impact of this translocation on allele frequencies, levels of heterozygosity and genetic differentiation over six cohorts. We found no permanent increase in the mean number of alleles across loci or levels of observed heterozygosity, but a few alleles private to the translocated individuals remained in the population and we found a short-term increase in heterozygosity. Consequently, genetic differentiation of the recipient population compared to the genetic composition prior to reinforcement was small. The limited genetic impact was due to combined effects of a small probability of establishment and low mating success for the translocated individuals, together with increased genetic drift in the recipient population. Our findings emphasize the importance of selection and genetic drift as forces that may decrease the genetic contribution of reinforcement, especially in small populations. Conservation managers should aim to improve habitat quality in the recipient population to reduce genetic drift following translocation and thereby avoid the need for continued reinforcement. Furthermore, by facilitating establishment success and selecting individuals expected to have high mating success, possibly indicated by sexually selected traits, genetic contribution of released individuals is increased which in turn will decrease reproductive skew and genetic drift.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
education.field_of_study
Assortative mating
Population
Metapopulation
Small population size
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
Genetic drift
Evolutionary biology
Genetics
Allele
education
Allele frequency
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Selection (genetic algorithm)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15729737 and 15660621
- Volume :
- 21
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Conservation Genetics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........a20cc3d09fc72c433044719d9c138589
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-020-01273-7