Natural dispersal is better than translocation for reducing risks of inbreeding depression in eastern black rhinoceros (<i>Diceros bicornis michaeli</i>).

ABSTRACT: Due to increasing anthropogenic impacts, many species survive only in small and isolated populations. Active conservation management to reduce extinction risk includes increasing habitat connectivity, translocations from captive populations, or intensive surveillance of highly protected closed populations. Advances in sequencing technology mean that it is now possible to consider the genomic impacts of such strategies, as a proxy for variation in individual fitness. Using whole genome sequences from critically endangered eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli), we compare the consequences of different types of conservation efforts, based on cohorts of offspring resulting from parents from different sources. Based on the fraction of the genome in runs of homozygosity (RO

SUBMITTER: Mellya RVK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12167989 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature