Genetic rescue

Genetic rescue is the introduction of genetic variation into a small or inbred population to improve its prospects. It often occurs through gene flow from another population and can reduce inbreeding depression.

Inbreeding depression: Reduced survival or reproduction in a population caused by mating between relatives and increased expression of harmful recessive alleles. It is the fitness problem genetic rescue often aims to alleviate.
Florida panther: A population of pumas in southern Florida that declined to a small, isolated remnant before conservation intervention. Texas pumas were introduced in 1995 to address inbreeding and improve the population's condition.
Population viability analysis: A method for estimating the extinction risk of a population under specified biological and environmental conditions. It can compare projected persistence with and without genetic intervention.
Evolutionary rescue: The recovery of a population from environmental change through adaptive genetic evolution that prevents extinction. It describes adaptation under pressure, unlike rescue focused on adding variation from elsewhere.
Genetic augmentation: The deliberate addition of genetic material to a population, often without moving live individuals. It can add variation directly, whereas genetic rescue commonly relies on immigrant reproduction.
Heterosis: The increased fitness of hybrid offspring compared with their parents or with offspring from within either source population. Masking harmful recessive alleles can produce the short-term fitness gains associated with rescue.
Isle Royale wolves: A wolf population on an island in Lake Superior, isolated from mainland populations for much of its history. Immigration from Canada temporarily increased genetic diversity before renewed isolation and decline.
Population genomics: The study of genome-wide variation within and between populations. It helps identify genetic diversity, inbreeding, and differentiation relevant to donor choice.
Local adaptation: The higher fitness of a population in its home environment than populations from other environments. Donor alleles may increase diversity while reducing adaptation to local conditions.
Species reintroduction: The release of a species into part of its former range where it has disappeared. Reintroduction restores a population's presence; genetic rescue aims to improve an existing population's prospects.

Linked from 22 pages