Evaluating wildlife translocations using genomics: A bighorn sheep case study

Flesch, Elizabeth P.; Graves, Tabitha A.; Thomson, Jennifer M.; Proffitt, Kelly M.; White, P. J.; Stephenson, Thomas R.; Garrott, Robert A.

doi:10.1002/ece3.6942

Cited by 22 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 85 publications

(169 reference statements)

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“…Genetic structure among herds in this study clearly matched reintroduction history, as has been found in other studies (Gille et al 2019, Jahner et al 2019, Flesch et al 2020). Most reintroduced herds showed either pure California or Rocky Mountain ancestry, reflecting the efforts of separately managing these 2 lineages by reintroducing assumed pure California or Rocky Mountain sources to areas where they occurred historically in most cases.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…S2, S3). This observed substructure might also reflect the association with different source populations, as has been seen across many other areas of the species' distribution (Epps et al 2005(Epps et al , 2018Castillo et al 2014;Gille et al 2019;Flesch et al 2020). We additionally identified some substructure within California and Rocky Mountain lineages for higher values of K using the program STRUCTURE, such as increased similarity between Tucannon and Black Butte in Washington, potentially as a result of gene flow between these herds (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

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Genetic Diversity and Divergence among Bighorn Sheep from Reintroduced Herds in Washington and Idaho

et al. 2021

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Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations in the western United States have undergone widespread declines and extirpations since the late nineteenth century as a consequence of introduced diseases, competition with livestock, and unregulated hunting. Washington, Idaho, USA, and British Columbia, Canada were historically thought to be occupied by 2 bighorn lineages or subspecies: Rocky Mountain (O. c. canadensis) and California (O. c. californiana). The putative California lineage was completely extirpated in the United States, and reintroductions to reestablish populations were sourced directly or indirectly from a single region in southern British Columbia. Restoration efforts have attempted to maintain the diversity and divergence of these 2 lineages, sometimes referred to as subspecies although taxonomic classifications have changed over time. In this study we describe genetic variation in a subset of native and reintroduced herds of California and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. We examined genetic diversity and divergence between bighorn sheep herds using 15 microsatellite loci, including 4 loci linked to genes involved in immune function. We analyzed 504 samples from reintroduced herds in Washington (n = 10 California herds, n = 4 Rocky Mountain herds) and Idaho (n = 5 California), and source herds in Oregon (n = 1 Rocky Mountain) and British Columbia (n = 5 California, 1 Rocky Mountain). Genetic structure reflected known reintroduction history, and geographic proximity also was associated with decreased genetic divergence. Herds in Washington and Idaho sourced from California bighorn sheep were less genetically diverse than those sourced from Rocky Mountain herds. Also, levels of relatedness within and across California herds were higher than in Rocky Mountain herds and similar to what would be expected for full and half siblings. Lower diversity and higher relatedness among California herds is a concern for long-term fitness and likely related to past population bottlenecks, fewer source populations, and management history, such as entirely sourcing California herds from British Columbia. Genetic divergence of neutral loci between California and Rocky Mountain herds was greater than that of adaptive loci, potentially indicating that balancing selection has maintained similar genetic diversity across lineages in loci associated with immune and other adaptive functions. Thus, we recommend future reintroductions and augmentations should continue to use source populations from the appropriate California or Rocky Mountain lineage to avoid potential outbreeding depression and maintain possible adaptive differences. This could be accomplished by obtaining sheep from ≥1 source within the genetic lineage, while avoiding sourcing from admixed herds. Future work encompassing a broader geographic sampling of populations and a greater portion of the genome is necessary to better evaluate the degree to which contemporary divergence between lineages is associated with recent founder effects and genetic isolation or evol...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Genetic Diversity and Divergence among Bighorn Sheep from Reintroduced Herds in Washington and Idaho

et al. 2021

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“…We expected that native (indigenous/extant) origin, large population size, and greater gene flow via augmentations or natural dispersal would result in lower average pairwise kinship than reintroduced origin, small population size, and genetic isolation. We also predicted that the number of animals received in augmentations and origin would be the most important influences, due to observed effects of these variables on genomic similarity among populations (Flesch et al, 2020). This effort to evaluate how different influences on population size over time may affect average pairwise kinship in multiple free‐ranging populations can serve to assess the relative importance of these influences to enhance genetic management strategies, identify priorities for conservation of genetic diversity in different types of populations (e.g., native [indigenous/extant] vs. reintroduced), and improve the identification of populations of concern if genetic data are not available.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Average kinship within bighorn sheep populations is associated with connectivity, augmentation, and bottlenecks

et al. 2022

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Understanding the influence of population attributes on genetic diversity is important to advancement of biological conservation. Because bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations vary in size and management history, the species provides a unique opportunity to observe the response of average pairwise kinship, inversely related to genetic diversity, to a spectrum of natural and management influences. We estimated average pairwise kinship of bighorn sheep herds and compared estimates with population origin (native/indigenous/extant or reintroduced), historical minimum count, connectivity, and augmentation history, to determine which predictors were the most important. We evaluated 488 bighorn sheep from 19 wild populations with past minimum counts of 16-562 animals, including native and reintroduced populations that received 0-165 animals in augmentations. Using the Illumina High Density Ovine array, we generated a dataset of 7728 single nucleotide polymorphisms and calculated average pairwise kinship for each population. Multiple linear regression analysis determined that connectivity between populations via dispersal, greater number of animals received in augmentations, and greater minimum count were correlated with lower average pairwise kinship at the population level, and whether the population was extant or reintroduced was less important. Thus, our results indicated that genetic isolation of populations can result in increased levels of inbreeding. By determining that natural and human-assisted gene flow were likely the most important influences of average pairwise kinship at the population level, this study can serve as a benchmark for future management of bighorn sheep populations and aid in identifying populations of genetic concern to define priorities for conservation of wild populations.

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“…This study evaluates genomic consequences of post-reintroduction of Père David’s deer using the conservation genomics approach, and the results would contribute to inform future conservation management. There are many factors influencing species reintroduction success, among which genetic is the most important ( Flesch et al, 2020 ). The genetic diversity of an endangered species is one of the main parameters that can directly reflect the evolutionary potential.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Genetic management plays an important role in improving the performance of reintroduction actions ( Theodorou and Couvet, 2010 ). Several studies have evaluated genetic consequences induced by reintroduction events for some ungulates using traditional molecular markers, for example, Przewalskii’s wild horse ( Equus ferus ; Liu et al, 2014 ), European bison ( Bison bonasus ; Olech and Perzanowski, 2002 ), and Arabian oryx ( Oryx leucoryx ; El Alqamy et al, 2012 ), but only very few studies use genomics data to evaluate post-reintroduction genetic consequences ( Flesch et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Differentiation of Reintroduced Père David’s Deer (Elaphurus davidianus) Based on Population Genomics Analysis

Zhang

et al. 2021

Front. Genet.

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The reintroduction is an important conservation tool to restore a species in its historically distribution area, but the rate of reintroduction success varies across species or regions due to different reasons. Genetic evaluation is important to the conservation management of reintroduced species. Conservation concerns relate to genetic threats for species with a small population size or severely historically bottle-necked species, such as negative consequences associated with loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding. The last 40years have seen a rapid increasing of population size for Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus), which originated from a limited founder population. However, the genetic structure of reintroduced Père David’s deer has not been investigated in terms of population genomics, and it is still not clear about the evolutionary history of Père David’s deer and to what extent the inbreeding level is. Conservation genomics methods were used to reconstruct the demographic history of Père David’s deer, evaluate genetic diversity, and characterize genetic structure among 18 individuals from the captive, free-ranging and wild populations. The results showed that 1,456,457 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were obtained for Père David’s deer, and low levels of genome-wide genetic diversity were observed in Père David’s deer compared with Red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Sika deer (Cervus nippon). A moderate population genetic differentiation was detected among three populations of Père David’s deer, especially between the captive population in Beijing Père David’s deer park and the free-ranging population in Jiangsu Dafeng National Nature Reserve. The effective population size of Père David’s deer started to decline ~25.8ka, and the similar levels of three populations’ LD reflected the genetic impacts of long-term population bottlenecks in the Père David’s deer. The findings of this study could highlight the necessity of individual exchange between different facilities, and genetic management should generally be integrated into conservation planning with other management considerations.

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Evaluating wildlife translocations using genomics: A bighorn sheep case study

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 22 publications

References 85 publications

Genetic Diversity and Divergence among Bighorn Sheep from Reintroduced Herds in Washington and Idaho

Genetic Diversity and Divergence among Bighorn Sheep from Reintroduced Herds in Washington and Idaho

Average kinship within bighorn sheep populations is associated with connectivity, augmentation, and bottlenecks

Genetic Differentiation of Reintroduced Père David’s Deer (Elaphurus davidianus) Based on Population Genomics Analysis

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