Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population

Abstract

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) population on the Iberian Peninsula was the largest in western and central Europe during most of the 20th century, with its size apparently never under a few hundred individuals. After partial legal protection in the 1970s in Spain, the northwest Iberian population increased to about 300-350 packs and then stabilized. In contrast to many current European wolf populations, which have been connected through gene flow, the Iberian wolf population has been isolated for decades. Here we measured changes on genomic diversity and inbreeding through the last decades in a geographic context. We find that the level of genomic diversity in Iberian wolves is low compared to other Eurasian wolf populations. Despite population expansion in the last 50 years, some modern wolves had very high inbreeding, especially in the recently recolonized and historical edge areas. These individuals contrast with others with low inbreeding within the same population. The high variance in inbreeding despite population expansion seems associated with small-scale fragmentation of the range that is revealed by the genetic similarity between modern and historical samples from close localities despite being separated by decades, remaining differentiated from other individuals that are just over 100 km away, a small distance for a species with great dispersal capacity inhabiting a continuous range. This illustrates that, despite its demographically stable condition, the population would probably benefit from favoring connectivity within the population as well as genetic exchange with other European wolf populations to avoid excessive fragmentation and local inbreeding depression.