Inbreeding impacts on mothering ability, red deer study shows

Date: March 14, 2016

Source: University of Edinburgh

Inbred animals have fewer surviving offspring compared with others, a study of red deer in the wild has found.

The insight could aid the conservation and management of endangered populations of animals in which inbreeding carries a high risk of extinction.

The findings from a long-term study on a Scottish island shows that hinds whose parents were first cousins raise far fewer offspring - about one-quarter as many - to adulthood over their lifetimes compared with others.

This is because inbred hinds are less likely to survive to breeding age, to have a calf in any given year and to rear any calves they do have to independence.

Similarly, male red deer born to first cousins sire only one-twentieth the number of offspring of average adult males.

Inbreeding is known to have adverse effects across many species, but examples of its impact on adult wild animals are rare.

Researchers used a DNA screening tool to gain a highly detailed measure of inbreeding for each individual deer living at the study site on the Isle of Rum in the Inner Hebrides.

Continued …

First Paternity Study of Southern Right Whales Finds Local Fathers Most Successful

ScienceDaily (June 22, 2012) — The first paternity study of southern right whales has found a surprisingly high level of local breeding success for males, scientists say, which is good news for the overall genetic diversity of the species, but could create risk for local populations through in-breeding.

Results of the study, by researchers at the University of Auckland, Oregon State University and the New Zealand Department of Conservation, have just been published in the journal Molecular Ecology.

The study found that most of the right whales born near the remote sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand were fathered by males from the same local population, according to lead author Emma Carroll, who recently completed her doctorate at the University of Auckland.

"This finding gives us information on the breeding behavior of right whales, but more importantly it shows that the New Zealand population is relatively isolated from other populations in the region, including that of neighboring Australia," Carroll said.

In other words, male southern right whales don't get around much -- and that kind of behavior is surprising.


Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120622163710.htm