Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population
Abstract The gray wolf (Canis lupus) population on the Iberian Peninsula was the largest in western and central Europe during most of the 20th century, with its size apparently never under a few hundred individuals. After partial legal protection in the 1970s in Spain, the northwest Iberian populati...
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2023
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/jhered/esad071 2024-09-09T19:35:47+00:00 Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population Salado, Isabel Preick, Michaela Lupiáñez-Corpas, Natividad Fernández-Gil, Alberto Vilà, Carles Hofreiter, Michael Leonard, Jennifer A vonHoldt, Bridgett Junta de Andalucía WOLFNESS Biodiversa+ project Spanish Ministry of Universities Asociación Apadrina La Ciencia-Ford Spain Ford Motor Company Fund Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad071 https://academic.oup.com/jhered/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/jhered/esad071/55122863/esad071.pdf https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article-pdf/115/4/349/58498564/esad071.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Journal of Heredity volume 115, issue 4, page 349-359 ISSN 0022-1503 1465-7333 journal-article 2023 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad071 2024-07-15T04:23:43Z Abstract The gray wolf (Canis lupus) population on the Iberian Peninsula was the largest in western and central Europe during most of the 20th century, with its size apparently never under a few hundred individuals. After partial legal protection in the 1970s in Spain, the northwest Iberian population increased to about 300 to 350 packs and then stabilized. In contrast to many current European wolf populations, which have been connected through gene flow, the Iberian wolf population has been isolated for decades. Here, we measured changes in genomic diversity and inbreeding through the last decades in a geographic context. We find that the level of genomic diversity in Iberian wolves is low compared with other Eurasian wolf populations. Despite population expansion in the last 50 years, some modern wolves had very high inbreeding, especially in the recently recolonized and historical edge areas. These individuals contrast with others with low inbreeding within the same population. The high variance in inbreeding despite population expansion seems associated with small-scale fragmentation of the range that is revealed by the genetic similarity between modern and historical samples from close localities despite being separated by decades, remaining differentiated from other individuals that are just over 100 km away, a small distance for a species with great dispersal capacity inhabiting a continuous range. This illustrates that, despite its demographically stable condition, the population would probably benefit from favoring connectivity within the population as well as genetic exchange with other European wolf populations to avoid excessive fragmentation and local inbreeding depression. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus gray wolf Oxford University Press Journal of Heredity |
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Oxford University Press |
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croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The gray wolf (Canis lupus) population on the Iberian Peninsula was the largest in western and central Europe during most of the 20th century, with its size apparently never under a few hundred individuals. After partial legal protection in the 1970s in Spain, the northwest Iberian population increased to about 300 to 350 packs and then stabilized. In contrast to many current European wolf populations, which have been connected through gene flow, the Iberian wolf population has been isolated for decades. Here, we measured changes in genomic diversity and inbreeding through the last decades in a geographic context. We find that the level of genomic diversity in Iberian wolves is low compared with other Eurasian wolf populations. Despite population expansion in the last 50 years, some modern wolves had very high inbreeding, especially in the recently recolonized and historical edge areas. These individuals contrast with others with low inbreeding within the same population. The high variance in inbreeding despite population expansion seems associated with small-scale fragmentation of the range that is revealed by the genetic similarity between modern and historical samples from close localities despite being separated by decades, remaining differentiated from other individuals that are just over 100 km away, a small distance for a species with great dispersal capacity inhabiting a continuous range. This illustrates that, despite its demographically stable condition, the population would probably benefit from favoring connectivity within the population as well as genetic exchange with other European wolf populations to avoid excessive fragmentation and local inbreeding depression. |
author2 |
vonHoldt, Bridgett Junta de Andalucía WOLFNESS Biodiversa+ project Spanish Ministry of Universities Asociación Apadrina La Ciencia-Ford Spain Ford Motor Company Fund Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Salado, Isabel Preick, Michaela Lupiáñez-Corpas, Natividad Fernández-Gil, Alberto Vilà, Carles Hofreiter, Michael Leonard, Jennifer A |
spellingShingle |
Salado, Isabel Preick, Michaela Lupiáñez-Corpas, Natividad Fernández-Gil, Alberto Vilà, Carles Hofreiter, Michael Leonard, Jennifer A Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
author_facet |
Salado, Isabel Preick, Michaela Lupiáñez-Corpas, Natividad Fernández-Gil, Alberto Vilà, Carles Hofreiter, Michael Leonard, Jennifer A |
author_sort |
Salado, Isabel |
title |
Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
title_short |
Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
title_full |
Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
title_fullStr |
Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large variance in inbreeding within the Iberian wolf population |
title_sort |
large variance in inbreeding within the iberian wolf population |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad071 https://academic.oup.com/jhered/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/jhered/esad071/55122863/esad071.pdf https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article-pdf/115/4/349/58498564/esad071.pdf |
genre |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
op_source |
Journal of Heredity volume 115, issue 4, page 349-359 ISSN 0022-1503 1465-7333 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esad071 |
container_title |
Journal of Heredity |
_version_ |
1809905110232334336 |