Genomic erosion in a demographically recovered bird species during conservation rescue.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Jackson, Hazel A. Percival‐Alwyn, Lawrence Ryan, Camilla Albeshr, Mohammed F. Venturi, Luca Morales, Hernán E. Mathers, Thomas C. Cocker, Jonathan Speak, Samuel A. Accinelli, Gonzalo G. Barker, Tom Heavens, Darren Willman, Faye Dawson, Deborah Ward, Lauren Tatayah, Vikash Zuël, Nicholas Young, Richard Concannon, Lianne Whitford, Harriet Clavijo, Bernardo Bunbury, Nancy Tyler, Kevin M. Ruhomaun, Kevin Grace, Molly K. Bruford, Michael W. Jones, Carl G. Tollington, Simon Bell, Diana J. Groombridge, Jim J. Clark, Matt Van Oosterhout, Cock
Abstract	AbstractThe pink pigeon (Nesoenas mayeri) is an endemic species of Mauritius that has made a remarkable recovery after a severe population bottleneck in the 1970s to early 1990s. Prior to this bottleneck, an ex situ population was established from which captive‐bred individuals were released into free‐living subpopulations to increase population size and genetic variation. This conservation rescue led to rapid population recovery to 400–480 individuals, and the species was twice downlisted on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. We analyzed the impacts of the bottleneck and genetic rescue on neutral genetic variation during and after population recovery (1993–2008) with restriction site‐associated sequencing, microsatellite analyses, and quantitative genetic analysis of studbook data of 1112 birds from zoos in Europe and the United States. We used computer simulations to study the predicted changes in genetic variation and population viability from the past into the future. Genetic variation declined rapidly, despite the population rebound, and the effective population size was approximately an order of magnitude smaller than census size. The species carried a high genetic load of circa 15 lethal equivalents for longevity. Our computer simulations predicted continued inbreeding will likely result in increased expression of deleterious mutations (i.e., a high realized load) and severe inbreeding depression. Without continued conservation actions, it is likely that the pink pigeon will go extinct in the wild within 100 years. Conservation rescue of the pink pigeon has been instrumental in the recovery of the free‐living population. However, further genetic rescue with captive‐bred birds from zoos is required to recover lost variation, reduce expression of harmful deleterious variation, and prevent extinction. The use of genomics and modeling data can inform IUCN assessments of the viability and extinction risk of species, and it helps in assessments of the conservation dependency of populations.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC9546124&blobtype=pdf
Page Count	13
ISSN	08888892
Journal	Conservation Biology [Conserv Biol]
Volume Number	36
DOI	10.1111/cobi.13918
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9546124
Issue Number	4
PubMed reference number	35554972
e-ISSN	15231739
Language	English
Publisher	John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Publisher Date	2022-05-12
Publisher Place	Hoboken
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2022 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.
Subject Keyword	captive breeding genetic diversity genetic management genetic rescue Nesoenas mayeri diversidad genética manejo genético reproducción en cautiverio rescate genético
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Medicine Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation