Genetic diversity loss

4 important questions on Genetic diversity loss

What are the main causes for genetic diversity loss?

  • Small population size
  • Reduction in population connectivity (habitat loss and fragmentation)

What are the negative effects of loss of genetic diversity?

It has negative effects on:
- Population viability through
  1. Fixation of deleterious alleles
  2. Genetic drift
  3. Loss of adaptive genetic variation
- Population persistence
- Evolutionary potential to adapt to changing environments
- Individual fitness (and possible animal welfare)
- Disease resistance

On what 2 levels can genetic diversity be measured? What measures are used for each level?

  • Genetic diversity among populations. Measured by the FST. High FST may indicate reduced genetic connectivity between populations.
  • Genetic diversity within populations. Measured using heterozygosity (H), Hobs or Hexp. Low genetic diversity > low chance of sampling 2 different alleles > low H.
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How do you prevent/counteract genetic diversity loss?

  • Increase size of individual populations
  • Exchange of genetic material between populations via migrants --> gene flow.

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