Inbreeding depression explains killer whale population dynamics.

Autor: Kardos M; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA. martin.kardos@noaa.gov., Zhang Y; BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China.; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China., Parsons KM; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA., A Y; BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China., Kang H; Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China., Xu X; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China., Liu X; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China., Matkin CO; North Gulf Oceanic Society, Homer, AK, USA., Zhang P; Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China., Ward EJ; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA., Hanson MB; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA., Emmons C; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA., Ford MJ; Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA. mike.ford@noaa.gov., Fan G; BGI-Qingdao, BGI-Shenzhen, Qingdao, China. fanguangyi@genomics.cn.; BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China. fanguangyi@genomics.cn.; State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China. fanguangyi@genomics.cn., Li S; Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China. lish@idsse.ac.cn.; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China. lish@idsse.ac.cn.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature ecology & evolution [Nat Ecol Evol] 2023 May; Vol. 7 (5), pp. 675-686. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Mar 20.
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-01995-0
Abstrakt: Understanding the factors that cause endangered populations to either grow or decline is crucial for preserving biodiversity. Conservation efforts often address extrinsic threats, such as environmental degradation and overexploitation, that can limit the recovery of endangered populations. Genetic factors such as inbreeding depression can also affect population dynamics but these effects are rarely measured in the wild and thus often neglected in conservation efforts. Here we show that inbreeding depression strongly influences the population dynamics of an endangered killer whale population, despite genomic signatures of purging of deleterious alleles via natural selection. We find that the 'Southern Residents', which are currently endangered despite nearly 50 years of conservation efforts, exhibit strong inbreeding depression for survival. Our population models suggest that this inbreeding depression limits population growth and predict further decline if the population remains genetically isolated and typical environmental conditions continue. The Southern Residents also had more inferred homozygous deleterious alleles than three other, growing, populations, further suggesting that inbreeding depression affects population fitness. These results demonstrate that inbreeding depression can substantially limit the recovery of endangered populations. Conservation actions focused only on extrinsic threats may therefore fail to account for key intrinsic genetic factors that also limit population growth.
(© 2023. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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