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The authors of a major study on the critically endangered Arabian leopard say that the release of captive bred animals carefully selected for their genes can make a significant contribution to the successful recovery of the dwindling wild population and avert the prospect of extinction.
An international collaboration led by scientists from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, University of East Anglia (UEA), University College London (UCL), Nottingham-Trent University (NTU) and the Diwan of Royal Court in Oman surveyed the remote Dhofar mountain range of southern Oman to determine how many of Arabia’s last big cat survive.
By deploying camera traps to identify individual leopards and performing DNA analyses of wild leopard scat alongside samples from the captive population, the team estimates there could be only 51 wild leopards remaining in Oman, distributed among three isolated, genetically impoverished but distinct subpopulations.
Despite revealing extremely low levels of genetic diversity in the wild leopard population in Oman, the team discovered higher levels of genetic diversity in captive leopards across the region, in particular among several individuals originating from neighboring Yemen that helped found today’s captive-breeding population. This important genetic resource has the potential for a major role in the successful recovery of the Arabian leopard.
The team’s research showed that the dwindling regional wild population could most effectively be recovered through “genetic rescue,” namely, the introduction of offspring from captive-bred leopards—which harbor the greatest amount of genetic diversity—into the wild population. However, the researchers’ predictions indicate that for genetic rescue to establish the most viable populations through leopard reintroductions, the benefit that new genes can bring must be carefully assessed, in particular because captive leopards may already be in-bred.
The study, published in Evolutionary Applications, used conservation genetic analysis at DICE, cutting-edge computer simulations developed at UEA, and extensive fieldwork in Oman to closely examine Arabian leopard DNA and assess the risk of future extinction, as well as forecasting how genetic rescue can secure the leopard’s viability. The authors say their findings could help other threatened species.
2024-05-20 21:51:02
Source from phys.org
