Robledo-Ruiz Diana A, Pavlova Alexandra, Clarke Rohan H, Magrath Michael J L, Quin Bruce, Harrisson Katherine A, Gan Han Ming, Low Gabriel W, Sunnucks Paul
School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia.
Department of Wildlife Conservation and Science, Zoos Victoria, Parkville, Vic., Australia.
Mol Ecol Resour. 2022 Jan;22(1):239-253. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13476. Epub 2021 Aug 2.
Conservation breeding management aims to reduce inbreeding and maximize the retention of genetic diversity in endangered populations. However, breeding management of wild populations is still rare, and there is a need for approaches that provide data-driven evidence of the likelihood of success of alternative in situ strategies. Here, we provide an analytical framework that uses in silico simulations to evaluate, for real wild populations, (i) the degree of population-level inbreeding avoidance, (ii) the genetic quality of mating pairs, and (iii) the potential genetic benefits of implementing two breeding management strategies. The proposed strategies aim to improve the genetic quality of breeding pairs by splitting detrimental pairs and allowing the members to re-pair in different ways. We apply the framework to the wild population of the Critically Endangered helmeted honeyeater by combining genomic data and field observations to estimate the inbreeding (i.e., pair-kinship) and genetic quality (i.e., Mate Suitability Index) of all mating pairs for seven consecutive breeding seasons. We found no evidence of population-level inbreeding avoidance and that ~91.6% of breeding pairs were detrimental to the genetic health of the population. Furthermore, the framework revealed that neither proposed management strategy would significantly improve the genetic quality or reduce inbreeding of the mating pairs in this population. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of our analytical framework for testing the efficacy of different in situ breeding management strategies and for making evidence-based management decisions.
保护繁育管理旨在减少近亲繁殖，并最大限度地保留濒危种群的遗传多样性。然而，野生种群的繁育管理仍然很少见，因此需要一些方法来提供数据驱动的证据，证明替代原地保护策略成功的可能性。在此，我们提供了一个分析框架，该框架使用计算机模拟来评估真实野生种群的以下方面：(i) 种群水平上避免近亲繁殖的程度；(ii) 交配配对的遗传质量；以及 (iii) 实施两种繁育管理策略的潜在遗传益处。所提出的策略旨在通过拆分有害配对并允许成员以不同方式重新配对来提高繁育配对的遗传质量。我们将基因组数据与实地观察相结合，应用该框架对极度濒危的盔蜜雀野生种群进行分析，以估计连续七个繁殖季节中所有交配配对的近亲繁殖情况（即配对亲缘关系）和遗传质量（即配偶适合度指数）。我们没有发现种群水平上避免近亲繁殖的证据，并且约91.6% 的繁育配对对种群的遗传健康有害。此外，该框架还表明，所提出的两种管理策略均不会显著提高该种群中交配配对的遗传质量或减少近亲繁殖。我们的结果证明了我们的分析框架在测试不同原地繁育管理策略的有效性以及做出基于证据的管理决策方面的有用性。
