Assortative mating among animals of captive and wild origin following experimental conservation releases.

ABSTRACT: Captive breeding is a high profile management tool used for conserving threatened species. However, the inevitable consequence of generations in captivity is broad scale and often-rapid phenotypic divergence between captive and wild individuals, through environmental differences and genetic processes. Although poorly understood, mate choice preference is one of the changes that may occur in captivity that could have important implications for the reintroduction success of captive-bred animals. We bred wild-caught house mice for three generations to examine mating patterns and reproductive outcomes when these animals were simultaneously released into multiple outdoor enclosures with wild conspecifics. At release, there were significant differences in phenotypic (e.g. body mass) and genetic

SUBMITTER: Slade B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4261860 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature