Minimising adaptation to captivity for conservation of threatened species

该项目旨在确定进化过程如何影响圈养动物的成功释放。五年前，袋獾注定要灭绝，但科学家们现在相信他们可以阻止这一点。然而，他们已经把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里-一个庞大的圈养保险人口，作为野生动物的来源。适应圈养可能会对释放的动物产生负面影响，并可能威胁到魔鬼计划。利用大量的分子数据集和计算模型，该项目旨在评估不同的圈养繁殖方案，并确定最佳的管理措施。这将为环境政策制定者提供一个保护澳大利亚和世界各地受威胁物种的新框架。

This project aims to determine how evolutionary processes affect the successful release of captive animals. Five years ago the Tasmanian devil was destined for extinction, but scientists now believe they can prevent this. However, they have put all their eggs in one basket – a large captive insurance population which acts as a source for the wild. Adaptation to captivity can have negative consequences for released animals and could threaten the devil programme. Using massive molecular datasets and computational models, this project intends to evaluate different captive breeding scenarios and identify optimal management practices. This will provide environmental policymakers with a new framework for protecting threatened species in Australia and around the world.