Genetic diversity in California sea otters: Theoretical considerations and management implications |
| |
| Authors: | Katherine Ralls Jonathan Ballou Robert L Brownell |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008, USA;US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, 20560, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | The California sea otter population was reduced to a small number of animals by fur hunters in the 18th and 19th centuries. The population has partially recovered but is still threatened, largely because of its vulnerability in the event of a major oil spill. The translocation of enough animals to establish a second colony outside the present range has been suggested as a means of reducing the vulnerability of the population.Any population that has been reduced to a small number and then allowed to increase may have lost some of its original genetic diversity. The loss of genetic diversity often results in deleterious effects, such as increased juvenile mortality and reduced fertility. It is therefore of interest to determine the degree of genetic diversity which the California sea otter population should have theoretically lost during its population ‘bottleneck’ and the number of otters which should be translocated in order to avoid substantial loss of genetic diversity in the new colony.Application of some of the concepts of population genetics to the California sea otter indicates that the current population should theoretically retain a large proportion (77%) of whatever genetic diversity existed in the original population and that a new colony resulting from the successful translocation of 50 breeding otters would retain much of the present genetic diversity after 40 years. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
