Schraven Andrea L, McLennan Elspeth A, Farquharson Katherine A, Lee Andrew V, Belov Katherine, Fox Samantha, Grueber Catherine E, Hogg Carolyn J
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Mol Ecol. 2025 Oct;34(19):e17671. doi: 10.1111/mec.17671. Epub 2025 Jan 31.
Management interventions for threatened species are well documented with genetic data now playing a pivotal role in informing their outcomes. However, in situ actions like supplementations (releasing individuals into an existing population) are often restricted to a singular site. Considerable research and management effort have been dedicated to conserving the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), offering a unique opportunity to investigate the temporal genetic consequences of supplementation at multiple sites, in comparison to outcomes observed in the absence of management interventions. Using 1,778 genome-wide SNPs across 1,546 individuals, we compared four wild-supplemented sites to four monitoring-only sites (not supplemented; control sites) over 9 years (2014-2022). At the study completion, genetic differentiation among supplemented sites had significantly decreased compared to among not-supplemented sites. We found statistically significant variation in genetic change over time between sites using linear mixed-effects modelling with random slopes. Investigating this among-site variation showed that three of the supplemented sites conformed to predictions that supplementations would have a positive impact on the genetic diversity of devils at these sites. We predicted no change over time at our fourth site due to the observed relatively high gene flow, however, this site did not align with predictions, instead showing decreased genetic diversity and increased relatedness. Amongst not supplemented sites, there was no consistent pattern of temporal genetic change, suggesting devil sites across Tasmania are highly heterogeneous, likely reflecting variation in site connectivity and genetic drift. Our study demonstrates that long-term concurrent monitoring of multiple sites, including controls, is necessary to contextualise the influence of management interventions on natural species fluctuations.
针对濒危物种的管理干预措施已有充分记录，遗传数据如今在指导这些措施的成效方面发挥着关键作用。然而，像补充种群（将个体放归现有种群）这样的就地保护行动通常局限于单个地点。大量的研究和管理工作致力于保护袋獾（袋獾属哈里斯袋獾种），这为研究在多个地点进行补充种群行动的时间遗传后果提供了独特机会，并与未进行管理干预时观察到的结果进行比较。我们使用1546个个体的1778个全基因组单核苷酸多态性，在9年时间里（2014年至2022年）将四个野生补充种群的地点与四个仅作监测的地点（未补充种群；对照地点）进行了比较。在研究结束时，与未补充种群的地点相比，补充种群地点之间的遗传分化显著降低。我们使用具有随机斜率的线性混合效应模型发现，不同地点之间在随时间变化的遗传变化上存在统计学上的显著差异。对这种地点间差异的调查表明，三个补充种群的地点符合补充种群行动会对这些地点袋獾的遗传多样性产生积极影响的预测。由于观察到相对较高的基因流，我们预测第四个地点随时间不会有变化，然而，这个地点与预测不符，反而显示出遗传多样性下降和亲缘关系增加。在未补充种群的地点中，没有一致的时间遗传变化模式，这表明塔斯马尼亚各地的袋獾栖息地高度异质，可能反映了地点连通性和遗传漂变的差异。我们的研究表明，对包括对照地点在内的多个地点进行长期同步监测，对于了解管理干预对自然物种波动的影响至关重要。
