Comparative Conservation Genomics of an Endangered Cooperative Breeder: The African Wild Dog

由于遗传漂变和近亲繁殖等过程，小种群面临更高的灭绝风险。这些过程使小种群同质化，降低了它们的适应潜力，暴露了隐性有害等位基因。在合作繁殖的物种中，这些遗传过程可能会加剧，在这种情况下，社会对繁殖的抑制可以大大减少有效种群规模（Ne）。与此同时，避免近亲繁殖的行为可能会阻止极小种群的繁殖。了解这些社会行为对小种群的遗传和生存能力的影响，可能具有重要的保护意义。非洲野狗（Lycaon pictus）是一种全球濒危的合作繁殖犬科动物。大多数种群少于10个包，大多数包包括一个繁殖对。在重新引入的种群中，遗传多样性通过管理易位得以保持，但这种遗传管理从未在其他地方进行过。从塞内加尔和肯尼亚的小种群以及南部非洲的大种群中提取样本，该项目将量化遗传结构和已知瓶颈后基因组多样性的丧失，评估近亲繁殖和避免近亲繁殖对不同规模和隔离程度的种群的影响。这样做，将有助于为这种高度濒危物种的遗传管理保护决策提供信息。

Small populations face elevated extinction risks due to processes such as genetic drift and inbreeding. These processes work to homogenise small populations, reducing their adaptive potential and exposing recessive deleterious alleles. These genetic processes may be exacerbated in cooperatively-breeding species, where the social suppression of reproduction can greatly reduce effective population size (Ne). At the same time, behavioural avoidance of inbreeding can halt reproduction in exceedingly small populations. Understanding these impacts of social behaviour on the genetics and viability of small populations, may have great conservation importance. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is a globally endangered cooperatively-breeding canid. Most populations <10 packs, and most packs include a single breeding pair. In reintroduced populations, genetic diversity is maintained throughout managed translocations, but such genetic management has never been conducted elsewhere. Drawing on samples from small populations in Senegal and Kenya, and larger populations in southern Africa, this project will quantify genetic structure and loss of genomic diversity following known bottlenecks, assessing impacts of inbreeding and inbreeding avoidance in populations of varying size and degree of isolation. In so doing, it will help inform conservation decisions about the genetic management of this highly endangered species.