Inbreeding and inbreeding depression in endangered red wolves (Canis rufus) |
| |
Authors: | Kristin E Brzeski David R Rabon Jr Michael J Chamberlain Lisette P Waits Sabrina S Taylor |
| |
Institution: | 1. School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Louisiana State University, , Baton Rouge, LA, 70803 USA;2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Red Wolf Recovery Program, , Manteo, NC, 27954 USA;3. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, , Athens, GA, 30602 USA;4. Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, , Moscow, ID, 83844 USA |
| |
Abstract: | In natural populations, the expression and severity of inbreeding depression can vary widely across taxa. Describing processes that influence the extent of inbreeding and inbreeding depression aid in our understanding of the evolutionary history of mating systems such as cooperative breeding and nonrandom mate selection. Such findings also help shape wildlife conservation theory because inbreeding depression reduces the viability of small populations. We evaluated the extent of inbreeding and inbreeding depression in a small, re‐introduced population of red wolves (Canis rufus) in North Carolina. Since red wolves were first re‐introduced in 1987, pedigree inbreeding coefficients (f) increased considerably and almost every wild born wolf was inbred (average f = 0.154 and max f = 0.383). The large inbreeding coefficients were due to both background relatedness associated with few founders and numerous close relative matings. Inbreeding depression was most evident for adult body size and generally absent for direct fitness measures such as reproductive success and survival; no lethal equivalents (LE = 0.00) were detected in juvenile survival. The lack of strong inbreeding depression in direct measures of fitness could be due to a founder effect or because there were no outbred individuals for comparison. Our results highlight the variable expression of inbreeding depression across traits and the need to measure a number of different traits when evaluating inbreeding depression in a wild population. |
| |
Keywords: | body size
Canis rufus
inbreeding inbreeding depression pedigree |
|
|