Inbreeding depression in one of the last DFTD-free wild populations of Tasmanian devils

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1 School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2 Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3 Toledo Zoo, Toledo, Ohio, United States of America
4 San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, California, United States of America
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.27985v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Genetics, Population Biology
Keywords
litter size, internal relatedness, reproductive success
Copyright
© 2019 Gooley et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Gooley RM, Hogg CJ, Fox S, Pemberton D, Belov K, Grueber CE. 2019. Inbreeding depression in one of the last DFTD-free wild populations of Tasmanian devils. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27985v1

Abstract

Background. Vulnerable species experiencing inbreeding depression are prone to localised extinctions because of their reduced fitness. For Tasmanian devils, the rapid spread of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) has led to population declines and fragmentation across the species’ range. Here we show that one of the few remaining DFTD-free populations of Tasmanian devils is experiencing inbreeding depression. Moreover, this population has experienced a significant reduction in reproductive success over recent years.

Methods. We used 32 microsatellite loci to examine changes in genetic diversity and inbreeding in the wild population at Woolnorth, alongside field data on breeding success from females to test for inbreeding depression.

Results. We found that maternal internal relatedness has a negative impact on litter sizes. The results of this study imply that this population has entered an extinction vortex and that to protect the population, genetic rescue may be required. This study provides conservation managers with useful information for managing wild devils and provides support for the “Wild Devil Recovery Program” which is currently augmenting small, isolated populations.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Genotypes and individual data associated with analysis in the paper

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27985v1/supp-1