No inbreeding effects on body size in two captive endangered gazelles

Ibáñez, Belén; Moreno, Eulalia; Barbosa, Andrés

doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2011.04.002

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…However, later on in the breeding programme some authors failed to find inbreeding depression in this same population. Ibáñez et al [ 30 ] did not find any inbreeding effect on body weight. Similarly, Ruiz-López et al [ 31 ] and Ibáñez et al [ 32 ] showed that neither mother nor offspring inbreeding had any effect on juvenile mortality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Better Fitness in Captive Cuvier’s Gazelle despite Inbreeding Increase: Evidence of Purging?

et al. 2015

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Captive breeding of endangered species often aims at preserving genetic diversity and to avoid the harmful effects of inbreeding. However, deleterious alleles causing inbreeding depression can be purged when inbreeding persists over several generations. Despite its great importance both for evolutionary biology and for captive breeding programmes, few studies have addressed whether and to which extent purging may occur. Here we undertake a longitudinal study with the largest captive population of Cuvier's gazelle managed under a European Endangered Species Programme since 1975. Previous results in this population have shown that highly inbred mothers tend to produce more daughters, and this fact was used in 2006 to reach a more appropriate sex-ratio in this polygynous species by changing the pairing strategy (i.e., pairing some inbred females instead of keeping them as surplus individuals in the population). Here, by using studbook data we explore whether purging has occurred in the population by investigating whether after the change in pairing strategy a) inbreeding and homozygosity increased at the population level, b) fitness (survival) increased, and c) the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival, was positive. Consistent with the existence of purging, we found an increase in inbreeding coefficients, homozygosity and juvenile survival. In addition, we showed that in the course of the breeding programme the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival was not uniform but rather changed over time: it was negative in the early years, flat in the middle years and positive after the change in pairing strategy. We highlight that by allowing inbred individuals to mate in captive stocks we may favour sex-ratio bias towards females, a desirable managing strategy to reduce the surplus of males that force most zoos to use ethical culling and euthanizing management tools. We discuss these possibilities but also acknowledge that many other effects should be considered before implementing inbreeding and purging as elements in management decisions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Better Fitness in Captive Cuvier’s Gazelle despite Inbreeding Increase: Evidence of Purging?

et al. 2015

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“…Even when inbreeding increased, there was no depression, as juvenile survival progressively increased over the 35-year study period. The low impact of inbreeding depression observed in our study (see also Ib añez et al 2011Ib añez et al , 2013 could be a consequence of a slow rate of inbreeding in the Cuvier's gazelle population in the past, which may have allowed natural selection to progressively purge some of the negative consequences of inbreeding (Ballou 1997), or it could just be a specific feature of the species, where the consequences of inbreeding seem to be less striking than in others (Ballou 1994). Improvements in husbandry may lead to higher average survival in captive populations in spite of an increase in inbreeding as well (Kalinowski et al 1999).…”

Section: Influence Of Inbreedingmentioning

confidence: 70%

Estimates of direct and indirect effects for early juvenile survival in captive populations maintained for conservation purposes: the case of Cuvier's gazelle

Ibáñez

Cervantes

Gutiérrez

et al. 2014

Ecology and Evolution

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Together with the avoidance of any negative impact of inbreeding, preservation of genetic variability for life-history traits that could undergo future selective pressure is a major issue in endangered species management programmes. However, most of these programmes ignore that, apart from the direct action of genes on such traits, parents, as contributors of offspring environment, can influence offspring performance through indirect parental effects (when parental genotype and phenotype exerts environmental influences on offspring phenotype independently of additive genetic effects). Using quantitative genetic models, we estimated the additive genetic variance for juvenile survival in a population of the endangered Cuvier's gazelle kept in captivity since 1975. The dataset analyzed included performance recording for 700 calves and a total pedigree of 740 individuals. Results indicated that in this population juvenile survival harbors significant additive genetic variance. The estimates of heritability obtained were in general moderate (0.115–0.457) and not affected by the inclusion of inbreeding in the models. Maternal genetic contribution to juvenile survival seems to be of major importance in this gazelle's population as well. Indirect genetic and indirect environmental effects assigned to mothers (i.e., maternal genetic and maternal permanent environmental effects) roughly explain a quarter of the total variance estimated for the trait analyzed. These findings have major evolutionary consequences for the species as show that offspring phenotypes can evolve strictly through changes in the environment provided by mothers. They are also relevant for the captive breeding programme of the species. To take into account, the contribution that mothers have on offspring phenotype through indirect genetic effects when designing pairing strategies might serve to identify those females with better ability to recruit, and, additionally, to predict reliable responses to selection in the captive population.

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“…One explanation may be that the number of founder individuals and pedigree reconstruction of the captive gazelle populations in previous studies were not the same as ours. Ours is based on new genetic findings (Ruiz‐López et al ., ) and recent studbook information (see also Ibáñez, Moreno & Barbosa, ; Moreno, Ibáñez & Barbosa, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Parity, but not inbreeding, affects juvenile mortality in two captive endangered gazelles

Ibáñez

Moreno

Barbosa

2012

Animal Conservation

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Growing deterministic and stochastic threats to many wild populations of large vertebrates have focused attention on the significance of captive breeding for conservation. Nanger dama mhorr and Gazella cuvieri, two Sahelo-Saharan species, have declined dramatically since the 1950s, apparently due to excessive hunting and habitat degradation. Today, the earlier is extinct in the wild and the latter survives only in small numbers in a few isolated parts of their range, and captive breeding programmes currently provide an important tool for rearing sustained populations. In natural and captive populations, the largest percentage of mortality is among juveniles. This is most relevant, from an evolutionary perspective, as it has a profound influence on population dynamics and demography, and is pivotal to the conservation and management of captive endangered populations. This study explored the juvenile mortality curve during the first 6 months of life of the species mentioned earlier in captivity. Then, we looked at the causes of this mortality by examining potential mother-dependent as well as offspring-dependent sources of juvenile mortality. The resulting curves show that the critical period of mortality is the first 14 days of life. We also found that parity and longevity of the mother affected juvenile mortality in Mohor gazelles. Calves born to primiparous as well as those born to short-lived mothers were more prone to die than those born to either multiparous or long-lived mothers. In Cuvier's gazelles, juvenile mortality was explained by the interaction between parity and mother's age and litter composition. Neither mother nor offspring inbreeding had any effect on juvenile mortality in either population. Precise knowledge of the biological factors affecting juvenile mortality is increasingly important for the conservation of large mammals, whether they are captive, managed, reintroduced or simply fragmented, as the neonates are the population's potential recruits. bs_bs_banner Animal Conservation. Print

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No inbreeding effects on body size in two captive endangered gazelles

Cited by 10 publications

References 65 publications

Better Fitness in Captive Cuvier’s Gazelle despite Inbreeding Increase: Evidence of Purging?

Better Fitness in Captive Cuvier’s Gazelle despite Inbreeding Increase: Evidence of Purging?

Estimates of direct and indirect effects for early juvenile survival in captive populations maintained for conservation purposes: the case of Cuvier's gazelle

Parity, but not inbreeding, affects juvenile mortality in two captive endangered gazelles

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