scholarly journals Sensitive males: inbreeding depression in an endangered bird

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1700) ◽  
pp. 3677-3684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Brekke ◽  
Peter M. Bennett ◽  
Jinliang Wang ◽  
Nathalie Pettorelli ◽  
John G. Ewen
Keyword(s):  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Threatened Species ◽  
Genetic Load ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Molecular Sexing ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Inbreeding Coefficients ◽  
Nestling Development ◽  
Autosomal Microsatellite Loci

Attempts to conserve threatened species by establishing new populations via reintroduction are controversial. Theory predicts that genetic bottlenecks result in increased mating between relatives and inbreeding depression. However, few studies of wild sourced reintroductions have carefully examined these genetic consequences. Our study assesses inbreeding and inbreeding depression in a free-living reintroduced population of an endangered New Zealand bird, the hihi ( Notiomystis cincta ). Using molecular sexing and marker-based inbreeding coefficients estimated from 19 autosomal microsatellite loci, we show that (i) inbreeding depresses offspring survival, (ii) male embryos are more inbred on average than female embryos, (iii) the effect of inbreeding depression is male-biased and (iv) this population has a substantial genetic load. Male susceptibility to inbreeding during embryo and nestling development may be due to size dimorphism, resulting in faster growth rates and more stressful development for male embryos and nestlings compared with females. This work highlights the effects of inbreeding at early life-history stages and the repercussions for the long-term population viability of threatened species.

Inbreeding depression and floral type fitness differences in Viola canadensis (Violaceae), a species with chasmogamous and cleistogamous flowers

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
pp. 1420-1429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa M Culley
Keyword(s):  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Flower Number ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vegetative Biomass ◽  
Similar Survival ◽  
Cross Type

Few studies of inbreeding depression have focused on species producing both showy, chasmogamous (CH) flowers and self-pollinated, cleistogamous (CL) flowers. The goals of this investigation were to measure the level of inbreeding depression in the North American violet, Viola canadensis L., and to determine if any fitness differences were linked to floral type (CH versus CL) rather than to cross type (self versus outcross). Hand pollinations were carried out to produce self- and outcross-pollinated CH progeny, and CL seeds were also collected. In a greenhouse, selfed and outcrossed CH flowers produced similar numbers of seeds, and both types of progeny had similar survival rates and comparable numbers of CH flowers, although outcrossed CH progeny had 14% greater vegetative biomass than selfed CH progeny. The level of inbreeding depression in V. canadensis was low, indicating that there may be few drawbacks to selfing in this species. A comparison of CL and self-pollinated CH progeny showed that, although there were differences in CH flower number, overall fitness differences were minimal. The similar performance of selfed (CL and CH) and outcrossed progeny in early life-history stages of V. canadensis suggests a history of inbreeding in the population.Key words: cleistogamy, inbreeding depression, outcrossing, selfing, Viola canadensis.

scholarly journals Short-term exposure of Chinook salmon (Oncoryhnchus tshawytscha) to o,p-DDE or DMSO during early life-history stages causes long-term humoral immunosuppression.

2003 ◽  
Vol 111 (13) ◽  
pp. 1601-1607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth H Milston ◽  
Martin S Fitzpatrick ◽  
Anthony T Vella ◽  
Shaun Clements ◽  
Deke Gundersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Short Term Exposure

scholarly journals Immobilisation of living coral embryos and larvae

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly J. Randall ◽  
Christine Giuliano ◽  
David Mead ◽  
Andrew J. Heyward ◽  
Andrew P. Negri
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Early Life History ◽  
Living Cells ◽  
Living Coral ◽  
Broadcast Spawning ◽  
Life History Stages ◽  
Gelling Temperature ◽  
Commercial Applications ◽  
Multiple Species

Abstract Embedding and immobilisation of living cells and microorganisms is used in a variety of research and commercial applications. Here we report the successful extended immobilisation of coral larvae in a low-gelling temperature agarose. Embryos and larvae of five broadcast-spawning Scleractinian species were immobilised in agarose gel and tested in a series of exploratory survival and settlement assays. The optimal developmental stage for immobilisation was after ciliation at approximately 24 hours post-fertilisation, after which, survival of immobilised larvae of all species was nearly 100%. In long-term assays, 50% of Montipora digitata larvae survived immobilised for 89 days. Furthermore, immobilised larvae of multiple species, that were released from the agarose, generally remained capable of settlement. These results demonstrate that the immobilisation of the early life-history stages of corals is possible for a variety of applications in basic and applied science.

scholarly journals Detecting inbreeding depression in a severely bottlenecked, recovering species: The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Helen R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Long Island ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Inbreeding Coefficients

<p>Population bottlenecks reduce genetic variation and population size. Small populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which further erodes genetic diversity and can lead to inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is known to increase extinction risk. Thus, detecting inbreeding depression is important for population viability assessment and conservation management. However, identifying inbreeding depression in wild populations is challenging due to the difficulty of obtaining long-term measures of fitness and error-free measures of individual inbreeding coefficients. I investigated inbreeding depression and our power to detect it in species that have very low genetic variation, using little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) (LSK) as a case study. This endemic New Zealand ratite experienced a bottleneck of, at most, five individuals ~100 years ago and has since been subjected to secondary bottlenecks as a result of introductions to new predator-free locations. There is no behavioural pedigree data available for any LSK population and the status of the species is monitored almost exclusively via population growth. I conducted two seasons of field work to determine hatching success in the two LSK populations with the highest and lowest numbers of founders; Zealandia Sanctuary (40 founders) and Long Island (two founders). I also used simulation-based modelling to assess the feasibility of reconstructing pedigrees based on individual genotypes from LSK populations to calculate pedigree inbreeding coefficients. Finally, I used microsatellite genotypes to measure the genetic erosion in successive filial groupings of Long Island and Zealandia LSK as a result of their respective bottlenecks, and tested for inbreeding depression on Long Island. Hatching success was significantly lower on Long Island than in Zealandia in both years of the study despite significantly higher reproductive effort on Long Island. Although this was suggestive of inbreeding depression on Long Island, simulation results showed that constructing a pedigree for any LSK population based on the genetic markers and samples currently available would lead to inaccurate pedigrees and invalid estimates of individual inbreeding coefficients. Thus, an alternative method of detecting inbreeding and inbreeding depression was required. Microsatellite data showed continued loss of heterozygosity in both populations, but loss of allelic diversity on Long Island only. Individual genotypes indicated that the majority (74%) of the adult Long Island population is comprised of the founding pair (F) and their direct offspring (F1) rather than birds from subsequent generations (F2+). This is not what would be expected if survival was equal between these two filial classes. I suggest that the high levels of inbreeding (≥0.25) in F2+ birds is impacting on their survival, creating a demographic skew in the population and resulting in lower hatching success on average on Long Island when compared to the relatively outbred Zealandia birds. This inbreeding depression appears to have been masked, thus far, by positive population growth on Long Island resulting from the long life span of LSK (27-83 years) and continued reproductive success of the founding pair. Thus, it is likely that the Long Island population will go into decline when the founding pair cease to reproduce. This study highlights the challenges of measuring inbreeding depression in species with very low genetic variation and the importance of assessing the statistical power and reliability of the genetic tools available for those species. It also demonstrates that basic genetic techniques can offer valuable insight when more advanced tools prove error-prone. Monitoring vital rates such as hatching success in conjunction with genetic data is important for assessing the success of conservation translocations and detecting potentially cryptic genetic threats such as inbreeding depression. My results suggest that LSK are being affected by inbreeding depression and that careful genetic management will be required to ensure the long-term viability of this species.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of inbreeding depression on seed production in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 854-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim J. Mullin ◽  
Torgny Persson ◽  
Sara Abrahamsson ◽  
Bengt Andersson Gull
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Sylvestris ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Scots Pine ◽  
Genetic Load ◽  
Pollen Competition ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Study Materials ◽  
Inbreeding Coefficients ◽  
Future Assessment ◽  
The Impact

Like other outcrossing species, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is thought to carry a “genetic load” of deleterious recessive alleles. When these alleles occur as homozygotes in inbred progeny, their expression can give rise to “inbreeding depression”. Although this phenomenon has been studied in several conifer species through selfing, few studies have quantified inbreeding depression in crosses with lower levels of relatedness between parents. We report here on the generation of a set of F3 study materials in Scots pine in which 142 families arose from a mating design among 49 F2 parents, representing nine levels of expected inbreeding coefficients between 0.0 and 0.5, and repeated over two consecutive seasons. Whereas the numbers of extractable seeds were unaffected by inbreeding, the proportion with fully developed embryos was strongly affected. This was expressed as inbreeding depression in the yield of full seeds per cone but not in their mean mass. Levels of germination of these full seeds were affected by inbreeding, but the depression was rather small and only weakly significant. The roles of pollen competition and polyembryony in mitigating the impact of inbreeding depression are discussed. The materials have been outplanted for future assessment of inbreeding depression on growth and survival.

scholarly journals Genomic signatures of inbreeding and genetic load in a threatened rattlesnake

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ochoa ◽  
H. Lisle Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Threatened Species ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Genetic Load ◽  
Population History ◽  
Deleterious Mutations ◽  
Genetic Rescue ◽  
Isolated Populations ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
The Impact

Theory predicts that threatened species living in small populations will experience high levels of inbreeding that will increase their negative genetic load but recent work suggests that the impact of load may be minimized by purging resulting from long term population bottlenecks. Empirical studies that examine this idea using genome-wide estimates of inbreeding and genetic load in threatened species are limited. Here we use genome resequencing data to compare levels of inbreeding, levels of genetic load and population history in threatened Eastern massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus catenatus) which exist in small isolated populations and closely-related yet outbred Western massasauga rattlesnakes (S. tergeminus). In terms of inbreeding, S. catenatus genomes had a greater number of ROHs of varying sizes indicating sustained inbreeding through repeated bottlenecks when compared to S. tergeminus. At the species level, outbred S. tergeminus had higher genome-wide levels of genetic load in the form of greater numbers of derived deleterious mutations compared to S. catenatus presumably due to long-term purging of deleterious mutations in S. catenatus. In contrast, mutations that escaped the “drift sieve” and were polymorphic within S. catenatus populations were more abundant and more often found in homozygote genotypes than in S. tergeminus suggesting a reduced efficiency of purifying selection in smaller S. catenatus populations. Our results support an emerging idea that the historical demography of a threatened species has a significant impact on the type of genetic load present which impacts implementation of conservation actions such as genetic rescue.

scholarly journals Detecting inbreeding depression in a severely bottlenecked, recovering species: The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Helen R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
Long Island ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Inbreeding Coefficients

<p>Population bottlenecks reduce genetic variation and population size. Small populations are at greater risk of inbreeding, which further erodes genetic diversity and can lead to inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is known to increase extinction risk. Thus, detecting inbreeding depression is important for population viability assessment and conservation management. However, identifying inbreeding depression in wild populations is challenging due to the difficulty of obtaining long-term measures of fitness and error-free measures of individual inbreeding coefficients. I investigated inbreeding depression and our power to detect it in species that have very low genetic variation, using little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) (LSK) as a case study. This endemic New Zealand ratite experienced a bottleneck of, at most, five individuals ~100 years ago and has since been subjected to secondary bottlenecks as a result of introductions to new predator-free locations. There is no behavioural pedigree data available for any LSK population and the status of the species is monitored almost exclusively via population growth. I conducted two seasons of field work to determine hatching success in the two LSK populations with the highest and lowest numbers of founders; Zealandia Sanctuary (40 founders) and Long Island (two founders). I also used simulation-based modelling to assess the feasibility of reconstructing pedigrees based on individual genotypes from LSK populations to calculate pedigree inbreeding coefficients. Finally, I used microsatellite genotypes to measure the genetic erosion in successive filial groupings of Long Island and Zealandia LSK as a result of their respective bottlenecks, and tested for inbreeding depression on Long Island. Hatching success was significantly lower on Long Island than in Zealandia in both years of the study despite significantly higher reproductive effort on Long Island. Although this was suggestive of inbreeding depression on Long Island, simulation results showed that constructing a pedigree for any LSK population based on the genetic markers and samples currently available would lead to inaccurate pedigrees and invalid estimates of individual inbreeding coefficients. Thus, an alternative method of detecting inbreeding and inbreeding depression was required. Microsatellite data showed continued loss of heterozygosity in both populations, but loss of allelic diversity on Long Island only. Individual genotypes indicated that the majority (74%) of the adult Long Island population is comprised of the founding pair (F) and their direct offspring (F1) rather than birds from subsequent generations (F2+). This is not what would be expected if survival was equal between these two filial classes. I suggest that the high levels of inbreeding (≥0.25) in F2+ birds is impacting on their survival, creating a demographic skew in the population and resulting in lower hatching success on average on Long Island when compared to the relatively outbred Zealandia birds. This inbreeding depression appears to have been masked, thus far, by positive population growth on Long Island resulting from the long life span of LSK (27-83 years) and continued reproductive success of the founding pair. Thus, it is likely that the Long Island population will go into decline when the founding pair cease to reproduce. This study highlights the challenges of measuring inbreeding depression in species with very low genetic variation and the importance of assessing the statistical power and reliability of the genetic tools available for those species. It also demonstrates that basic genetic techniques can offer valuable insight when more advanced tools prove error-prone. Monitoring vital rates such as hatching success in conjunction with genetic data is important for assessing the success of conservation translocations and detecting potentially cryptic genetic threats such as inbreeding depression. My results suggest that LSK are being affected by inbreeding depression and that careful genetic management will be required to ensure the long-term viability of this species.</p>

scholarly journals Selection Response in Finite Populations

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 1961-1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Wei ◽  
Armando Caballero ◽  
William G Hill
Keyword(s):  
Linkage Disequilibrium ◽  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Relative Rate ◽  
Selection Response ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Model Account

Formulae were derived to predict genetic response under various selection schemes assuming an infinitesimal model. Account was taken of genetic drift, gametic (linkage) disequilibrium (Bulmer effect), inbreeding depression, common environmental variance, and both initial segregating variance within families (σAW02) and mutational (σM2) variance. The cumulative response to selection until generation t(CRt) can be approximated asCRt≈R0[t−β(1−σAW∞2σAW02)t24Ne]−Dt2Ne,where Ne is the effective population size, σAW∞2=NeσM2 is the genetic variance within families at the steady state (or one-half the genic variance, which is unaffected by selection), and D is the inbreeding depression per unit of inbreeding. R  0 is the selection response at generation 0 assuming preselection so that the linkage disequilibrium effect has stabilized. β is the derivative of the logarithm of the asymptotic response with respect to the logarithm of the within-family genetic variance, i.e., their relative rate of change. R  0 is the major determinant of the short term selection response, but σM2, Ne and β are also important for the long term. A selection method of high accuracy using family information gives a small Ne and will lead to a larger response in the short term and a smaller response in the long term, utilizing mutation less efficiently.

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