Effective population size of koala populations under different population management regimes including contraception

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark M. Tanaka ◽  
Romane Cristescu ◽  
Desmond W. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Wildlife Populations ◽  
Population Genetic Variation

Context. The management of wildlife populations aiming to control population size should also consider the preservation of genetic diversity. Some overabundant koala populations, for example, have low genetic variation. Different management strategies will affect population genetic variation differently. Aims. Here, we compare four strategies with respect to their effects on the effective population size, Ne , and therefore on genetic variation. Methods. The four strategies of interest are: (1) sterilisation or culling (which have the same effect on genetic variation); (2) random contraception of females with replacement; (3) random contraception of females without replacement; and (4) regular contraception, giving every female equal opportunity to reproduce. We develop mathematical models of these alternative schemes to evaluate their impact on Ne . We also consider the effect of changing population sizes by investigating a model with geometric population growth in which females are removed by sterilisation or culling. Key results. We find that sterilisation/culling at sexual maturity has the most detrimental effect on Ne , whereas regular contraception has no impact on Ne . Random contraception lies between these two extremes, leading to a moderate reduction in Ne . Removal of females from a growing population results in a higher Ne than the removal of females from a static population. Conclusions. Different strategies for controlling a population lead to different effective population sizes. Implications. To preserve genetic diversity in a wildlife population under control, the effective population size should be kept as large as possible. We suggest that a suitable approach in managing koala populations may be to prevent reproduction by all females older than a particular age.

scholarly journals Comparison of genetic variation between rare and common congeners of Dipodomys with estimates of contemporary and historical effective population size

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Halsey ◽  
John Stuhler ◽  
Natalia J Bayona-Vasquez ◽  
Roy N Platt ◽  
Jim R Goetze ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Demographic Dynamics ◽  
Population Sizes

Organisms with low effective population sizes are at greater risk of extinction because of reduced genetic diversity.   Dipodomys elator  is a kangaroo rat that is classified as threatened in Texas and field surveys from the past 50 years indicate that the distribution of this species has decreased. This suggests geographic range reductions that could have caused population fluctuations, potentially impacting effective population size. Conversely, the more common and widespread  D. ordii  is thought to exhibit relative geographic and demographic stability. Genetic variation between  D. elator  and  D. ordii  samples was assessed using 3RAD, a modified restriction site associated sequencing approach. It was hypothesized that  D. elator  would show lower levels of nucleotide diversity, observed heterozygosity, and effective population size when compared to  D. ordii . Also of interest was identifying population structure within contemporary samples of  D. elator  and detecting genetic variation between temporal samples that could indicate demographic dynamics. Up to 61,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed. It was determined that genetic variability and effective population size in contemporary  D. elator  populations were lower than that of  D. ordii, that there is only slight, if any, structure within contemporary  D. elator  populations, and there is little genetic differentiation between spatial or temporal historical samples suggesting little change in nuclear genetic diversity over 30 years. Results suggest that genetic diversity of  D. elator  has remained stable despite claims of reduced population size and/or abundance, which may indicate a metapopulation-like system, whose fluctuations might counteract any immediate decrease in fitness.

scholarly journals Coalescent models at small effective population sizes and population declines are positively misleading

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Elise Lauterbur
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Analytical Approximations ◽  
Population Sizes

AbstractPopulation genetics employs two major models for conceptualizing genetic relationships among individuals – outcome-driven (coalescent) and process-driven (forward). These models are complementary, but the basic Kingman coalescent and its extensions make fundamental assumptions to allow analytical approximations: a constant effective population size much larger than the sample size. These make the probability of multiple coalescent events per generation negligible. Although these assumptions are often violated in species of conservation concern, conservation genetics often uses coalescent models of effective population sizes and trajectories in endangered species. Despite this, the effect of very small effective population sizes, and their interaction with bottlenecks and sample sizes, on such analyses of genetic diversity remains unexplored. Here, I use simulations to analyze the influence of small effective population size, population decline, and their relationship with sample size, on coalescent-based estimates of genetic diversity. Compared to forward process-based estimates, coalescent models significantly overestimate genetic diversity in oversampled populations with very small effective sizes. When sampled soon after a decline, coalescent models overestimate genetic diversity in small populations regardless of sample size. Such overestimates artificially inflate estimates of both bottleneck and population split times. For conservation applications with small effective population sizes, forward simulations that do not make population size assumptions are computationally tractable and should be considered instead of coalescent-based models. These findings underscore the importance of the theoretical basis of analytical techniques as applied to conservation questions.

scholarly journals Interrelations between effective population size and other pedigree tools for the management of conserved populations

2000 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARMANDO CABALLERO ◽  
MIGUEL A. TORO
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Genetic Parameters ◽  
Effective Number ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Captive Populations ◽  
Practical Recommendations

Genetic parameters widely used to monitor genetic variation in conservation programmes, such as effective number of founders, founder genome equivalents and effective population size, are interrelated in terms of coancestries and variances of contributions from ancestors to descendants. A new parameter, the effective number of non-founders, is introduced to describe the relation between effective number of founders and founder genome equivalents. Practical recommendations for the maintenance of genetic variation in small captive populations are discussed. To maintain genetic diversity, minimum coancestry among individuals should be sought. This minimizes the variances of contributions from ancestors to descendants in all previous generations. The method of choice of parents and the system of mating should be independent of each other because a clear-cut recommendation cannot be given on the latter.

scholarly journals Fluctuating fortunes: genomes and habitat reconstructions reveal global climate-mediated changes in bats' genetic diversity

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1911) ◽  
pp. 20190304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balaji Chattopadhyay ◽  
Kritika M. Garg ◽  
Rajasri Ray ◽  
Frank E. Rheindt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Earth’S Climate ◽  
The Impact

Over the last approximately 2.6 Myr, Earth's climate has been dominated by cyclical ice ages that have profoundly affected species' population sizes, but the impact of impending anthropogenic climate change on species’ extinction potential remains a worrying problem. We investigated 11 bat species from different taxonomic, ecological and geographical backgrounds using combined information from palaeoclimatic habitat reconstructions and genomes to analyse biotic impacts of historic climate change. We discover tightly correlated fluctuations between species' historic distribution and effective population size, identify frugivores as particularly susceptible to global warming, pinpoint large insectivores as having overall low effective population size and flag the onset of the Holocene (approx. 10–12 000 years ago) as the period with the generally lowest effective population sizes across the last approximately 1 Myr. Our study shows that combining genomic and palaeoclimatological approaches reveals effects of climatic shifts on genetic diversity and may help predict impacts of future climate change.

scholarly journals Conservation of genetic variation in harvested salmon populations

2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (8) ◽  
pp. 1389-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjetil Hindar ◽  
Jarle Tufto ◽  
Leif Magnus Sættem ◽  
Torveig Balstad
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Population System ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Conservation Genetic ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Source Sink

Abstract Management of a group of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations that are harvested together in the ocean, but separately in freshwater, is looked at from a genetic perspective. A model that estimates total effective population size from local effective population sizes and migration patterns is applied to a system of ten salmon populations in the Sognefjorden district, western Norway. This population system is dominated numerically by the River Lærdalselva population, which may act as a source of migrants into nine smaller populations in a “source–sink” metapopulation. The total effective population size of this system is to a large extent dependent on the effective population size of the Lærdalselva population, but the contribution per spawner to the total effective population size is greater for a fish from the smaller populations than for a fish from Lærdalselva. The results are discussed in light of conservation genetic theory, and empirical results on the fitness consequences of loss of genetic variation in salmonids. The genetic consequences of harvesting need to be assessed both at the levels of local populations and the metapopulation.

scholarly journals Genomic time-series data show that gene flow maintains high genetic diversity despite substantial genetic drift in a butterfly species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachariah Gompert ◽  
Amy Springer ◽  
Megan Brady ◽  
Samridhi Chaturvedi ◽  
Lauren K. Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Gene Flow ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Population Sizes

AbstractEffective population size affects the efficacy of selection, rate of evolution by drift, and neutral diversity levels. When species are subdivided into multiple populations connected by gene flow, evolutionary processes can depend on global or local effective population sizes. Theory predicts that high levels of diversity might be maintained by gene flow, even very low levels of gene flow, consistent with species long-term effective population size, but tests of this idea are mostly lacking. Here, we show thatLycaeidesbutterfly populations maintain low contemporary (variance) effective population sizes (e.g., ∼200 individuals) and thus evolve rapidly by genetic drift. Contemporary effective sizes were consistent with local census populations sizes. In contrast, populations harbored high levels of genetic diversity consistent with an effective population size several orders of magnitude larger. We hypothesized that the differences in the magnitude and variability of contemporary versus long-term effective population sizes were caused by gene flow of sufficient magnitude to maintain diversity but only subtly affect evolution on generational time scales. Consistent with this hypothesis, we detected low but non-trivial gene flow among populations. Furthermore, using population-genomic time-series data, we documented patterns consistent with predictions from this hypothesis, including a weak but detectable excess of evolutionary change in the direction of the mean (migrant gene pool) allele frequencies across populations, and consistency in the direction of allele frequency change over time. The documented decoupling of diversity levels and short-term change by drift inLycaeideshas implications for our understanding of contemporary evolution and the maintenance of genetic variation in the wild.

scholarly journals Low genetic diversity in the endangered Taxus yunnanensis following a population bottleneck, a low effective population size and increased inbreeding

2016 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. C. Miao ◽  
Z. J. Zhang ◽  
J. R. Su
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Habitat Fragmentation ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Spatial Genetic Structure ◽  
Population Bottleneck ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Taxus Yunnanensis ◽  
Low Genetic Diversity ◽  
Two Populations

Abstract Taxus yunnanensis, which is an endangered tree that is considered valuable because it contains the effective natural anticancer metabolite taxol and heteropolysaccharides, has long suffered from severe habitat fragmentation. In this study, the levels of genetic diversity in two populations of 136 individuals were analyzed based on eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci. Our results suggested that these two populations were characterized by low genetic diversity (NE = 2.303/2.557; HO = 0.168/0.142; HE = 0.453/0.517), a population bottleneck, a low effective population size (Ne = 7/9), a high level of inbreeding (FIS = 0.596/0.702), and a weak, but significant spatial genetic structure (Sp = 0.001, b = −0.001*). Habitat fragmentation, seed shadow overlap and limited seed and pollen dispersal and potential selfing may have contributed to the observed gene tic structure. The results of the present study will enable development of practical conservation measures to effectively conserve the valuable genetic resources of this endangered plant.

scholarly journals Genetic diversity, population structure, and effective population size in two yellow bat species in south Texas

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10348
Author(s):  
Austin S. Chipps ◽  
Amanda M. Hale ◽  
Sara P. Weaver ◽  
Dean A. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Population Structure ◽  
North America ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Microsatellite Loci ◽  
South Texas ◽  
Population Substructure ◽  
Effective Population

There are increasing concerns regarding bat mortality at wind energy facilities, especially as installed capacity continues to grow. In North America, wind energy development has recently expanded into the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas where bat species had not previously been exposed to wind turbines. Our study sought to characterize genetic diversity, population structure, and effective population size in Dasypterus ega and D. intermedius, two tree-roosting yellow bats native to this region and for which little is known about their population biology and seasonal movements. There was no evidence of population substructure in either species. Genetic diversity at mitochondrial and microsatellite loci was lower in these yellow bat taxa than in previously studied migratory tree bat species in North America, which may be due to the non-migratory nature of these species at our study site, the fact that our study site is located at a geographic range end for both taxa, and possibly weak ascertainment bias at microsatellite loci. Historical effective population size (NEF) was large for both species, while current estimates of Ne had upper 95% confidence limits that encompassed infinity. We found evidence of strong mitochondrial differentiation between the two putative subspecies of D. intermedius (D. i. floridanus and D. i. intermedius) which are sympatric in this region of Texas, yet little differentiation using microsatellite loci. We suggest this pattern is due to secondary contact and hybridization and possibly incomplete lineage sorting at microsatellite loci. We also found evidence of some hybridization between D. ega and D. intermedius in this region of Texas. We recommend that our data serve as a starting point for the long-term genetic monitoring of these species in order to better understand the impacts of wind-related mortality on these populations over time.

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