Genetic variability in the European bison (<i>Bison bonasus</i>) population from Białowieża forest over 50 years

Tokarska, Małgorzata; Kawałko, Agata; Wójcik, Jan M.; Pertoldi, Cino

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.2009.01203.x

Cited by 36 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…The estimates of N e of the bison populations (based on the linkage disequilibrium method) support the evidence for very low N e in European bison from the Polish part of Białowieża Forest and in wood bison (respectively: N e = 23.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 23.1–23.9; N e = 28.8, 95% CI = 27.3–30.4; Tokarska et al. 2009a, Pertoldi et al.…”

Section: Genetics Of the Lowland Linesupporting

confidence: 65%

“…If Planta and Plebejer were in fact related, this may have led to an underestimation of the degree of relatedness in the population, and resulted in the calculations of mean kinship and inbreeding that conservation decisions rely on being incorrect (Russello & Amato 2004). The low values of genetic diversity (H E = 0.21) and number of alleles per locus (A = 2.3), from the analysis of 17 microsatellite markers in 178 lowland individuals, reflect the dramatic demographic history of the species (Tokarska et al. 2009a).…”

Section: Genetics Of the Lowland Linementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analyses of genetic variability of the lowland bison born in the Białowieża Forest over 50 years after re‐introduction, revealed only slight temporal changes of genetic parameters (Tokarska et al. 2009a).…”

Section: Genetics Of the Lowland Linementioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic status of the European bison Bison bonasus after extinction in the wild and subsequent recovery

Tokarska¹,

Pertoldi²,

Kowalczyk³

et al. 2011

Mammal Review

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1. The European bison Bison bonasus went through a severe bottleneck and became extinct in the wild 90 years ago. The lowland subspecies B. b. bonasus is the only one of three original subspecies that exists today. The entire species derives from only 12 founders, including a bull of the Caucasian subspecies B. b. caucasicus. Due to its presence among founders, there are two geographically separated genetic lines of European bison: the pure lowland (Białowież a) line and the hybrid lowlandCaucasian line. 2. The lowland line of the European bison originates from only seven founders with an extremely varying genetic contribution. Approximately 80% of the genes in contemporary populations come from just two founders. 3. A variety of genetic markers (mtDNA, microsatellites, single nucleotide polymorphism microchips) were applied to studies of the level of depletion of genetic variability in European bison. 4. The lowland line of the European bison, the most extensively studied, shows very low levels of genetic variation, and has just half the microsatellite heterozygosity of the closely related American bison Bison bison. The effective population size (Ne) for the highly genetically homogenous lowland line in the Polish part of the Białowieża Forest is estimated to be 23.5, far less than the census population size of 450. 5. The average inbreeding level in lowland bison is almost 50%, although no signs of inbreeding depression have been observed. In contrast, inbreeding effects have been noticed in the lowland-Caucasian line, which has a much lower average inbreeding level (28%). In spite of the apparently high fitness of the lowland bison, the lack of genetic variation and high level of inbreeding may present substantial threats in the future, especially in the context of potential epizootics.

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Section: Genetics Of the Lowland Linesupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Genetics Of the Lowland Linementioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic status of the European bison Bison bonasus after extinction in the wild and subsequent recovery

Tokarska¹,

Pertoldi²,

Kowalczyk³

et al. 2011

Mammal Review

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“…This effect will be particularly strong given that bison went through a population bottleneck of only twelve individuals, with an even lower effective population size. As a consequence there is a high degree of inbreeding and very low genetic variability (Pucek et al 2004, Tokarska et al 2009). Wołk and Krasińska (2004) hypothesized that an observed decline in body condition of the Białowieża bison and increase in disease and parasites (Demiaszkiewicz and Lachowicz 2007) may be an expression of problems associated with inbreeding, or a consequence of the artificial aggregations of bison around feeding areas in winter (Radwan et al 2010).…”

Section: Historic and Current Bison Management Paradigm And Its Implimentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation implications of the refugee species concept and the European bison: king of the forest or refugee in a marginal habitat?

2011

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The concept of refugee species provides a theoretical framework towards increasing the predictive power of the ‘declining population paradigm’ through identifying species which are expected to suffer from a declining population syndrome. Using a simple habitat model as a framework, refugee species are defined as those that can no longer access optimal habitat, but are confined to suboptimal habitats, with consequences of decreased fitness and density, and attendant conservation risks. Refugee species may be difficult to detect in the absence of information on prior habitat use and fitness and their observed ecology will be constrained by the habitat limits forced on them. Identification of refugee species, characterisation of pre‐refugee ecology and the restoration of such species to optimal habitat is critical to their successful conservation. The concept is showcased by addressing the conundrum of a large grazing bovid, the European bison Bison bonasus, being managed as a forest specialist, despite its evolutionary background, dental morphology, neonatal behaviour, diet and microhabitat selection being characteristic of a grazing species inhabiting open, grass‐rich habitats. It is hypothesized that a combination of increasing replacement of open steppe by forest cover after the last postglacial period and increasing human pressure forced bison into forests as a refuge habitat. This process was then reinforced through active management of bison in forests as managers committed themselves to the ‘bison as forest species’ paradigm. A research agenda to test this hypothesis using an experimental approach in the conservation management of European bison by introducing populations into diverse habitat types is suggested.

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“…), and a notable contribution of zoos to animals ex-situ breeding can be demonstrated by successful reintroductions which reduced the threat level of particular species. Species such as the Przewalski horse ( Equus ferus przewalskii ; [26]), the American bison ( Bison bison ; [27]), the European wisent ( Bison bonasus ; [28]–[30]), Pére David's deer ( Elaphurus davidianus ; [31]), or Arabian oryx [32] may serve as examples of successfully maintained zoo animal populations released back into the wild. Other notably successful reintroduced animals were the Asiatic wild ass ( Equus hemionus ; [33]), the golden lion tamarin ( Leontopithecus rosalia ; [34]), and the black-footed ferret ( Mustela nigripes ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mammalian Collection on Noah's Ark: The Effects of Beauty, Brain and Body Size

Frynta

Šimková²,

Lišková³

et al. 2013

PLoS ONE

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The importance of today's zoological gardens as the so-called “Noah's Ark” grows as the natural habitat of many species quickly diminishes. Their potential to shelter a large amount of individuals from many species gives us the opportunity to reintroduce a species that disappeared in nature. However, the selection of animals to be kept in zoos worldwide is highly selective and depends on human decisions driven by both ecological criteria such as population size or vulnerability and audience-driven criteria such as aesthetic preferences. Thus we focused our study on the most commonly kept and bred animal class, the mammals, and we asked which factors affect various aspects of the mammalian collection of zoos. We analyzed the presence/absence, population size, and frequency per species of each of the 123 mammalian families kept in the worldwide zoo collection. Our aim was to explain these data using the human-perceived attractiveness of mammalian families, their body weight, relative brain size and species richness of the family. In agreement with various previous studies, we found that the body size and the attractiveness of mammals significantly affect all studied components of the mammalian collection of zoos. There is a higher probability of the large and attractive families to be kept. Once kept, these animals are presented in larger numbers in more zoos. On the contrary, the relative mean brain size only affects the primary selection whether to keep the family or not. It does not affect the zoo population size or the number of zoos that keep the family.

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Genetic variability in the European bison (Bison bonasus) population from Białowieża forest over 50 years

Cited by 36 publications

References 28 publications

Genetic status of the European bison Bison bonasus after extinction in the wild and subsequent recovery

Genetic status of the European bison Bison bonasus after extinction in the wild and subsequent recovery

Conservation implications of the refugee species concept and the European bison: king of the forest or refugee in a marginal habitat?

Mammalian Collection on Noah's Ark: The Effects of Beauty, Brain and Body Size

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