Initial founders of captive populations are genetically representative of natural populations in critically endangered dusky gopher frogs,Lithobates sevosus

Abstract

The rapid rate of decline in amphibian populations has urged many researchers and conservationists to establish captive, or ex situ, populations. Such populations are guarded against effects of habitat loss and degradation, and if actively managed, can serve as a reservoir for rare alleles that might be lost in the wild. Without proper management, ex situ population sizes can dwindle and will no longer perform this function. The dusky gopher frog, Lithobates sevosus, is a critically endangered species, imperiled by habitat loss and population isolation. To assist in recovery of the species and prevent further genetic erosion, a captive breeding program was initiated. We investigated how well natural genetic variation was captured within the ex situ population and determined relatedness within each ex situ population. We genotyped individuals from two natural populations and two founding, captive populations to compare metrics of genetic variation and relatedness. The data show the initial founder populations are genetically representative of the natural populations, although variation is low in each, and that relatedness values are similar. Therefore, founding captive populations were successful at capturing genetic variation in the wild. Future research should continue to compare genetic variation of captive and natural populations to monitor efficacy of their management programs. Zoo Biol. 35:378-384, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

White-naped mangabeys’ viable insurance population within European Zoo Network

“…In this context, the lower difference between founder genome equivalent and number of founders in the present study confirms special efforts may be being made on the preservation of descendants from the founder population, as if the cause for such differences may have been the fact that founder animals were inbred, these values may have remained somehow stable. This supports the fact that the founder population of captive whitenaped mangabeys may have been highly genetically diverse and may have included individuals from a wide range of geographic origins hence, the variability to be expected from wild populations' sub-structuration may be well represented 79 as described for other captive populations of critically endangered species 80 .…”

Genetic Diversity and Differentiation at Structurally Varying MHC Haplotypes and Microsatellites in Bottlenecked Populations of Endangered Crested Ibis

“…Ex-situ daughter populations of the same origin may evolve divergently under respective founder effects [71,72]. Thus, it is necessary to investigate and interpret the population structure of the crested ibis after 38 years of conservation practices, thereby evaluating and guiding the captive management [74]. By referring to population histories, we found the current population structure (as suggested by STRUCTURE) could be attributed to inconsistent founder effects across populations.…”

Inbreeding depression in sperm quality in a critically endangered amphibian

“…In fact, over half of the L. sevosus within our study are founder individuals, with less than 3 years spent in captivity. Additionally, previous work reveals equal levels of genetic diversity and relatedness between both populations (Hinkson et al, 2016). Therefore, despite having a 15‐year‐old captive breeding program, both captive and wild populations of L. sevosus are likely genetically similar—showing that reductions in sperm health are most probably due to inbreeding and not captive conditions.…”

“…Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014). The captive breeding population was established in 2003 after years of drastically low recruitment to safeguard against extinction and to preserve current, albeit low, levels of genetic variability (Hinkson, Henry, Hensley, & Richter, 2016). Due to a suite of unknown factors, L. sevosus does not breed naturally in captivity, and assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs; e.g., in vitro fertilization) are employed for every captive breeding event (Graham, Langhorne, Vance, Willard, & Kouba, 2018).…”