Rediscovery of Red Wolf Ghost Alleles in a Canid Population Along the American Gulf Coast

Rediscovering species once thought to be extinct or on the edge of extinction is rare. Red wolves have been extinct along the American Gulf Coast since 1980, with their last populations found in coastal Louisiana and Texas. We report the rediscovery of red wolf ghost alleles in a canid population on Galveston Island, Texas. We analyzed over 7000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 60 canid representatives from all legally recognized North American Canis species and two phenotypically ambiguous canids from Galveston Island. We found notably high Bayesian cluster assignments of the Galveston canids to captive red wolves with extensive sharing of red wolf private alleles. Today, the only known extant wild red wolves persist in a reintroduced population in North Carolina, which is dwindling amongst political and taxonomic controversy. Our rediscovery of red wolf ancestry after almost 40 years introduces both positive opportunities for additional conservation action and difficult policy challenges.

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Rediscovery of red wolf ghost alleles in a canid population along the American Gulf Coast

10.1101/420356 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Elizabeth Heppenheimer ◽

Kristin E. Brzeski ◽

Ron Wooten ◽

Will Waddell ◽

Linda Y. Rutledge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Conservation Action ◽

Red Wolf ◽

Reintroduced Population ◽

Coastal Louisiana ◽

Gulf Coast Region ◽

Red Wolves ◽

Bayesian Cluster ◽

Coast Region

AbstractRediscovering species once thought to be extinct or on the edge of extinction is rare. Red wolves have been extinct along the Gulf Coast region since 1980, with their last populations found in coastal Louisiana and Texas. We report the rediscovery of red wolf ghost alleles in a canid population on Galveston Island, Texas. We analyzed over 7,000 SNPs in 60 canid representatives from all legally recognized North American Canis species and two phenotypically ambiguous canids from Galveston Island. We found notably high Bayesian cluster assignments of the Galveston canids to captive red wolves with extensive sharing of red wolf private alleles. Today, the only known extant wild red wolves persist in a reintroduced population in North Carolina, which is dwindling amongst political and taxonomic controversy. Our rediscovery of red wolf ancestry after almost 40 years introduces both positive opportunities for additional conservation action and difficult policy challenges.

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Effects of anthropogenic mortality on Critically Endangered red wolf Canis rufus breeding pairs: implications for red wolf recovery

Oryx ◽

10.1017/s0030605315000770 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 174-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Joseph W. Hinton ◽

Kristin E. Brzeski ◽

David R. Rabon ◽

Michael J. Chamberlain

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Critically Endangered ◽

Population Declines ◽

Canis Rufus ◽

Red Wolf ◽

Management Actions ◽

Control Programmes ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Eastern North Carolina ◽

Red Wolves

AbstractFollowing precipitous population declines as a result of intensive hunting and 20th century predator-control programmes, hybridization of the Critically Endangered red wolf Canis rufus with coyotes Canis latrans posed a significant challenge for red wolf recovery efforts. Anthropogenic mortality and hybridization continue to pose challenges; the increasing number of wolf deaths caused by humans has limited wolf population growth, facilitated the encroachment of coyotes into eastern North Carolina, and affected the formation and disbandment of breeding pairs. We assessed the effects of anthropogenic mortality on Canis breeding units during a 22-year period (1991–2013). Our results show that deaths caused by people accounted for 40.6% of breeding pair disbandment, and gunshots were the primary cause of mortality. Red wolves replaced congeneric breeding pairs > 75% of the time when pairs disbanded under natural conditions or as a result of management actions. Since the mid 2000s anthropogenic mortality has caused annual preservation rates of red wolf breeding pairs to decline by 34%, and replacement of Canis breeders by red wolves to decline by 30%. Our results demonstrate that human-caused mortality, specifically by gunshots, had a strong negative effect on the longevity of red wolf pairs, which may benefit coyotes indirectly by removing their primary competitor. Coyotes are exacerbating the decline of red wolves by pair-bonding with resident wolves whose mates have been killed.

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Reviving ghost alleles: Genetically admixed coyotes along the American Gulf Coast are critical for saving the endangered red wolf

10.1101/2021.12.18.473316 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bridgett vonHoldt ◽

Joseph Hinton ◽

Amy Shutt ◽

Jennifer Adams ◽

Lisette Waits ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Endangered Species ◽

Captive Breeding ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Breeding Population ◽

New Paradigm ◽

Species Persistence ◽

Red Wolf ◽

Captive Breeding Program ◽

Innovative Solutions ◽

Red Wolves

The last red wolves were captured along the Gulf Coast in 1980, where they hybridized with coyote, to establish the captive breeding population. However, red wolf ancestry persists in local coyotes and could be leveraged by genomic innovations to support species persistence. We assessed genomic ancestry and morphology of coyotes in southwestern Louisiana, and find they carried 38-62% red wolf ancestry acquired in the last 30 years, which is enriched on land with minimal coyote hunting. These coyotes were also similar in ancestry to canids captured in the 1970s that initiated the red wolf captive breeding program. Further, we reported that coyotes with higher red wolf ancestry are larger in size. Our findings evidence the importance of hybrids as a reservoir of endangered species ancestry for contemporary conservation efforts. Admixed genomes are at the forefront of innovative solutions, with red wolf survival a prime candidate for this new paradigm.

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A Genome-Wide Perspective on the Persistence of Red Wolf Ancestry in Southeastern Canids

Journal of Heredity ◽

10.1093/jhered/esaa006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 111 (3) ◽

pp. 277-286 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elizabeth Heppenheimer ◽

Kristin E Brzeski ◽

Joseph W Hinton ◽

Michael J Chamberlain ◽

Jacqueline Robinson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

North Carolina ◽

Gulf Coast ◽

Southeastern United States ◽

Geographic Region ◽

Canis Rufus ◽

Red Wolf ◽

Genome Wide ◽

A Genome ◽

In The Wild

Abstract The red wolf (Canis rufus), a legally recognized and critically endangered wolf, is known to interbreed with coyotes (Canis latrans). Declared extirpated in the wild in 1980, red wolves were reintroduced to northeastern North Carolina nearly a decade later. Interbreeding with coyotes was thought to be restricted to a narrow geographic region adjacent to the reintroduced population and largely believed to threaten red wolf recovery. However, red wolf ancestry was recently discovered in canids along the American Gulf Coast, igniting a broader survey of ancestry in southeastern canid populations. Here, we examine geographic and temporal patterns of genome-wide red wolf ancestry in 260 canids across the southeastern United States at over 164 000 SNP loci. We found that red wolf ancestry was most prevalent in canids sampled from Texas in the mid-1970s, although non-trivial amounts of red wolf ancestry persist in this region today. Further, red wolf ancestry was also observed in a subset of coyotes inhabiting North Carolina, despite management efforts to limit the occurrence of hybridization events. Lastly, we found no evidence of substantial red wolf ancestry in southeastern canids outside of these 2 admixture zones. Overall, this study provides a genome-wide survey of red wolf ancestry in canids across the southeastern United States, which may ultimately inform future red wolf restoration efforts.

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Persistence and expansion of cryptic endangered red wolf genomic ancestry along the American Gulf coast

10.1101/2021.04.09.439176 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bridgett M. vonHoldt ◽

Kristin E. Brzeski ◽

Matthew L. Aardema ◽

Christopher Schell ◽

Linda Y. Rutledge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gulf Coast ◽

Critical Role ◽

Genetic Rescue ◽

Recombination Rates ◽

Red Wolf ◽

The Past ◽

Genomic Landscape ◽

Theoretical Predictions ◽

In The Wild ◽

Red Wolves

AbstractAdmixture and introgression play a critical role in adaptation and genetic rescue that has only recently gained a deeper appreciation. Here, we explored the geographic and genomic landscape of cryptic ancestry of the endangered red wolf that persists within the genome of a ubiquitous sister taxon, the coyote, all the while the red wolf has been extinct in the wild since the early 1980s. We assessed admixture across 102,621 SNP loci genotyped in 293 canid genomes. We found support for increased red wolf ancestry along an east-to-west gradient across the southern United States that was associated with historical admixture in the past 100 years. Southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, the geographic zone where the last red wolves were known prior to their extinction in the wild, contained the highest and oldest levels of red wolf ancestry. X-linked regions of low recombination rates were depleted of introgression, relative to the autosomes, suggestive of the large X effect and enrichment with loci involved in maintaining reproductive isolation. Recombination rate was positively correlated with red wolf ancestry across coyote genomes, consistent with theoretical predictions. The geographic and genomic extent of cryptic red wolf ancestry can provide novel and variable genomic resources for the survival of the endangered red wolf.

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Wild red wolf Canis rufus poaching risk

10.1101/2020.12.08.416032 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Suzanne W. Agan ◽

Adrian Treves ◽

Lisabeth Willey

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Causes Of Death ◽

Hunting Season ◽

Canis Rufus ◽

Red Wolf ◽

In The Wild ◽

Endangered Population ◽

Red Wolves ◽

Mean Time ◽

Future Population

AbstractThe reintroduced red wolf population in northeastern North Carolina declined to 7 known wolves by October 2020. Poaching (illegal killing) is the major component of verified anthropogenic mortality in this and many other carnivore populations, but it is still not well understood. Poaching is often underestimated, partly as a result of cryptic poaching, when poachers conceal evidence. Cryptic poaching inhibits our understanding of the causes and consequences of anthropogenic mortality which is important to conservation as it can inform us about future population patterns within changing political and human landscapes. We estimate risk for marked adult red wolves of 5 causes of death (COD: legal, nonhuman, unknown, vehicle and poached) and disappearance, describe variation in COD in relation to hunting season, and compare time to disappearance or death. We include unknown fates in our risk estimates. We found that anthropogenic COD accounted for 0.724 – 0.787, including cryptic and reported poaching estimated at 0.510 – 0.635 of 508 marked animals. Risk of poaching and disappearance was significantly higher during hunting season. Mean time from collaring until nonhuman COD averaged 376 days longer than time until reported poached and 642 days longer than time until disappearance. Our estimates of risk differed from prior published estimates, as expected by accounting for unknown fates explicitly. We quantify the effects on risk for three scenarios for disappearances, which span conservative to most likely COD. Implementing proven practices that prevent poaching or hasten successful reintroduction may reverse the decline to extinction in the wild of this critically endangered population. Our findings add to a growing literature on endangered species protections and enhancing the science used to measure poaching worldwide.

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Nuclear receptors in disease: the oestrogen receptors

Essays in Biochemistry ◽

10.1042/bse0400157 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 40 ◽

pp. 157-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Maria Nilsson ◽

Karin Dahlman-Wright ◽

Jan-Åke Gustafsson

Keyword(s):

Nuclear Receptors ◽

Target Genes ◽

Receptor Subtype ◽

Target Tissue ◽

Oestrogen Receptors ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Cell Type ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

The Family

For several decades, it has been known that oestrogens are essential for human health. The discovery that there are two oestrogen receptors (ERs), ERalpha and ERbeta, has facilitated our understanding of how the hormone exerts its physiological effects. The ERs belong to the family of ligand-activated nuclear receptors, which act by modulating the expression of target genes. Studies of ER-knockout (ERKO) mice have been instrumental in defining the relevance of a given receptor subtype in a certain tissue. Phenotypes displayed by ERKO mice suggest diseases in which dysfunctional ERs might be involved in aetiology and pathology. Association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ER genes and disease have been demonstrated in several cases. Selective ER modulators (SERMs), which are selective with regard to their effects in a certain cell type, already exist. Since oestrogen has effects in many tissues, the goal with a SERM is to provide beneficial effects in one target tissue while avoiding side effects in others. Refined SERMs will, in the future, provide improved therapeutic strategies for existing and novel indications.

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