Severe inbreeding depression in a wild wolf (Canis lupus) population
Author
Summary, in English
The difficulty of obtaining pedigrees for wild populations has hampered the possibility of demonstrating inbreeding depression in nature. In a small, naturally restored, wild population of grey wolves in Scandinavia, founded in 1983, we constructed a pedigree for 24 of the 28 breeding pairs established in the period 1983-2002. Ancestry for the breeding animals was determined through a combination of field data (snow tracking and radio telemetry) and DNA microsatellite analysis. The population was founded by only three individuals. The inbreeding coefficient F varied between 0.00 and 0.41 for wolves born during the study period. The number of surviving pups per litter during their first winter after birth was strongly correlated with inbreeding coefficients of pups (R-2 = 0. 39, p < 0.00 1). This inbreeding depression was recalculated to match standard estimates of lethal equivalents (213), corresponding to 6.04 (2.58-9.48, 95% CI) litter-size-reducing equivalents in this wolf population.
Publishing year
2005
Language
English
Pages
17-20
Publication/Series
Biology letters
Volume
1
Issue
1
Full text
- Available as PDF - 114 kB
- Download statistics
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Royal Society Publishing
Topic
- Biological Sciences
Status
Published
Research group
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1744-9561