Blanco Guillermo, Morinha Francisco
Department of Evolutionary Ecology, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
PeerJ. 2021 Mar 25;9:e11139. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11139. eCollection 2021.
The assessment of temporal variation in genetic features can be particularly informative on the factors behind demography and viability of wildlife populations and species. We used molecular methods to evaluate neutral genetic variation, relatedness, bottlenecks, and inbreeding in a declining population of Egyptian vulture () in central Spain. The results show that the genetic diversity remained relatively stable over a period of twelve years despite the decline in census and effective population sizes in the last decades. A relatively high proportion of nestlings from different and distant territories showed high relatedness in each study year. We also found support for an increasing impact of severe recent (contemporary) rather than distant (historical) past demographic bottlenecks, and the first evidence of inbred mating between full siblings coinciding with lethal malformations in offspring. The inbred nestling with feather malformations was positive to beak and feather disease virus recorded for the first time in this species. These results alert on recent and novel threats potentially affecting health and reducing the adaptive potential of individuals in this threatened species.
对遗传特征的时间变化进行评估，对于了解野生动物种群和物种的种群统计学及生存能力背后的因素可能具有特别重要的意义。我们采用分子方法，对西班牙中部数量正在减少的埃及秃鹫（Neophron percnopterus）种群的中性遗传变异、亲缘关系、瓶颈效应和近亲繁殖情况进行了评估。结果表明，尽管在过去几十年里普查种群数量和有效种群数量有所下降，但在十二年的时间里，遗传多样性仍保持相对稳定。在每个研究年份，来自不同且距离较远领地的雏鸟中，有相对较高比例显示出高度的亲缘关系。我们还发现，近期（当代）而非遥远（历史）过去的严重种群瓶颈效应的影响在增加，并且首次有证据表明全同胞之间的近亲交配与后代的致命畸形同时出现。那只患有羽毛畸形的近亲繁殖雏鸟检测出感染了喙羽病病毒，这在该物种中是首次记录到。这些结果警示了近期出现的新威胁，这些威胁可能影响该濒危物种个体的健康并降低其适应潜力。
