The Effects of Inbreeding on Isolated Populations: Are Minimum Viable Population Sizes Predictable?

摘要: Management of nature reserves, multiple-use lands, and captive breeding programs requires knowledge the minimum population sizes below which combined effects random genetic changes demographic variation would likely result in extinction. One prerequisite to estimating such viable is determination inbreeding on fitness. Two hypotheses make distinct predictions about relative tolerance populations inbreeding: If depression results primarily from expression deleterious recessive alleles, then selection have removed most genes with long histories inbreeding, those be resistant further impacts. occurs because a general selective advantage heterozygosity throughout genome, previously inbred reduced fitness presently fare no better under future than large heterogeneous populations. We tested hypothesis that small, isolated Peromyscus mice show less when large, central Remnant, insular had one-quarter one-third genie diversity Although varied greatly rate loss (measured as infant viability) experimentally inbred, severity did not correlate initial stocks or, therefore, size degree insularity wild Neither simple theory could account for responses It remains an important task conservation biologists discover phylogenetic, ecological, or predictors genetically sizes.