Death by sex in an Australian icon: a continent-wide survey reveals extensive hybridization between dingoes and domestic dogs.

摘要: Hybridization between domesticated animals and their wild counterparts can disrupt adaptive gene combinations, reduce genetic diversity, extinguish populations change ecosystem function. The dingo is a free-ranging dog that an iconic apex predator distributed throughout most of mainland Australia. Dingoes readily hybridize with domestic dogs, in many Australian jurisdictions, distinct management strategies are dictated by hybrid status. Yet, the magnitude spatial extent dog-dingo hybridization poorly characterized. To address this, we performed continent-wide analysis Australia based on 24 locus microsatellite DNA genotypes from 3637 dogs. Although 46% all dogs were classified as pure dingoes, regions exhibited some hybridization, varied substantially. southeast was highly admixed, 99% being hybrids or feral whereas only 13% remote central hybrids. Almost had ancestry, indicating could have poor survivorship nonurban environments. Overall, dingoes remain dominant over Australia, but speed to which has occurred approximately 220 years since first introduction indicate process may soon threaten persistence dingoes.