title: Genetic rescue in a severely inbred wolf population.
abstract: Natural populations are becoming increasingly fragmented which is expected to affect their viability due to inbreeding depression, reduced genetic diversity and increased sensitivity to demographic and environmental stochasticity. In small and highly inbred populations, the introduction of only a few immigrants may increase vital rates significantly. However, very few studies have quantified the long-term success of immigrants and inbred individuals in natural populations. Following an episode of natural immigration to the isolated, severely inbred Scandinavian wolf (Canis lupus) population, we demonstrate significantly higher pairing and breeding success for offspring to immigrants compared to offspring from native, inbred pairs. We argue that inbreeding depression is the underlying mechanism for the profound difference in breeding success. Highly inbred wolves may have lower survival during natal dispersal as well as competitive disadvantage to find a partner. Our study is one of the first to quantify and compare the reproductive success of first-generation offspring from migrants vs. native, inbred individuals in a natural population. Indeed, our data demonstrate the profound impact single immigrants can have in small, inbred populations, and represent one of very few documented cases of genetic rescue in a population of large carnivores.
authors: Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, SE-730 91, Sweden. mikael.akesson@slu.se.
authors: Mikael
authors: M
authors: Åkesson
authors: Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, SE-730 91, Sweden.
authors: Olof
authors: O
authors: Liberg
authors: Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, SE-730 91, Sweden.
authors: Håkan
authors: H
authors: Sand
authors: Department of Applied Ecology and Agricultural Sciences, Hedmark University College, Evenstad, NO-2480, Norway.
authors: Petter
authors: P
authors: Wabakken
authors: Department of Biology, Lund University, Box 118, Lund, SE-221 00, Sweden.
authors: Staffan
authors: S
authors: Bensch
authors: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, P.O. Box 5685 Sluppen, Trondheim, NO-7485, Norway.
authors: Øystein
authors: Ø
authors: Flagstad
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D000071422:Inbreeding Depression; D012098:Reproduction; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries; D019596:Wolves / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Canis lupus; genetic rescue; heterozygosity; immigration; inbreeding; inbreeding depression