![]() ![]() Descendants of the smallest and least genetically diverse population had the lowest reproductive success, the researchers found. Using the number of offspring as a measure of fitness, the study examined the reproductive success of more than 300 Pacific pocket mice. The damaging effects of genetic load-the total of harmful mutations in the genome-are too rarely considered in management planning, said Wilder, but should be a central concern. "These results reinforce the idea that, when there is a large difference in fitness of populations, gene flow should be unidirectional from the more fit to less fit population, in order to avoid the introduction of deleterious alleles into healthier populations," said Aryn Wilder, Ph.D., a senior researcher in Conservation Genetics at San Diego Zoo Global, who is the study's lead author. The findings, published this month in the journal Conservation Genetics, indicate that genetic diversity should be introduced from the larger, genetically healthier populations of Pacific pocket mice into a smaller, less healthy population-and not the reverse. There are just three remaining populations of this species in the wild, all of which are small and isolated from each other on the Southern California coast-preventing beneficial interbreeding and making inbreeding more likely.ĭrawing on genetic data from six generations of Pacific pocket mice in this program, a new study has tracked reproductive success relative to a mouse's ancestral population. This makes for a delicate task of boosting diversity in the endangered Pacific pocket mouse, the focus of a long-running conservation breeding program undertaken by San Diego Zoo Global. In breeding programs aimed at conserving animals from small or isolated populations, scientists must balance the competing needs of adding genetic diversity and avoiding the introduction of harmful genes.
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