TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal monitoring of neutral and adaptive genomic diversity in a reintroduction
AU - Marshall, Imogen C.
AU - Brauer, Chris
AU - Wedderburn, Scotte D.
AU - Whiterod, Nick
AU - Hammer, Michael
AU - Barnes, Thomas C.
AU - Attard, Catherine R.M.
AU - Moller, Luciana B.
AU - Beheregaray, Luciano B.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Restoration programs in the form of ex-situ breeding combined with reintroductions are becoming critical to counteract demographic declines and species losses. Such programs are increasingly using genetic management to improve conservation outcomes. However, the lack of long-term monitoring of genetic indicators following reintroduction prevents assessments of the trajectory and persistence of reintroduced populations. We carried out an extensive monitoring program in the wild for a threatened small-bodied fish (southern pygmy perch, Nannoperca australis) to assess the long-term genomic effects of its captive breeding and reintroduction. The species was rescued prior to its extirpation from the terminal lakes of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, and then used for genetically informed captive breeding and reintroductions. Subsequent annual or biannual monitoring of abundance, fitness, and occupancy over a period of 11 years, combined with postreintroduction genetic sampling, revealed survival and recruitment of reintroduced fish. Genomic analyses based on data from the original wild rescued, captive born, and reintroduced cohorts revealed low inbreeding and strong maintenance of neutral and candidate adaptive genomic diversity across multiple generations. An increasing trend in the effective population size of the reintroduced population was consistent with field monitoring data in demonstrating successful re-establishment of the species. This provides a rare empirical example that the adaptive potential of a locally extinct population can be maintained during genetically informed ex-situ conservation breeding and reintroduction into the wild. Strategies to improve biodiversity restoration via ex-situ conservation should include genetic-based captive breeding and longitudinal monitoring of standing genomic variation in reintroduced populations.
AB - Restoration programs in the form of ex-situ breeding combined with reintroductions are becoming critical to counteract demographic declines and species losses. Such programs are increasingly using genetic management to improve conservation outcomes. However, the lack of long-term monitoring of genetic indicators following reintroduction prevents assessments of the trajectory and persistence of reintroduced populations. We carried out an extensive monitoring program in the wild for a threatened small-bodied fish (southern pygmy perch, Nannoperca australis) to assess the long-term genomic effects of its captive breeding and reintroduction. The species was rescued prior to its extirpation from the terminal lakes of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, and then used for genetically informed captive breeding and reintroductions. Subsequent annual or biannual monitoring of abundance, fitness, and occupancy over a period of 11 years, combined with postreintroduction genetic sampling, revealed survival and recruitment of reintroduced fish. Genomic analyses based on data from the original wild rescued, captive born, and reintroduced cohorts revealed low inbreeding and strong maintenance of neutral and candidate adaptive genomic diversity across multiple generations. An increasing trend in the effective population size of the reintroduced population was consistent with field monitoring data in demonstrating successful re-establishment of the species. This provides a rare empirical example that the adaptive potential of a locally extinct population can be maintained during genetically informed ex-situ conservation breeding and reintroduction into the wild. Strategies to improve biodiversity restoration via ex-situ conservation should include genetic-based captive breeding and longitudinal monitoring of standing genomic variation in reintroduced populations.
KW - ex-situ population management
KW - adaptive genetic diversity
KW - restoration genomics
KW - conservation genomics
KW - Australian fish
KW - threatened species
KW - Murray-Darling Basin
KW - Percichthyidae
KW - restoration threatened species
KW - population genomics
KW - gestión poblacional ex situ
KW - genómica de la conservación
KW - especie amenazada
KW - Cuenca Murray-Darling
KW - diversidad genética adaptativa
KW - peces australianos
KW - genómica de la restauración
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/LP100200409
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT130101068
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127327140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/cobi.13889
DO - 10.1111/cobi.13889
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127327140
VL - 36
JO - Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
JF - Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
SN - 0888-8892
IS - 4
M1 - e13889
ER -