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The devil's in the details: genetic and phenotypic divergence between artificial and native populations of the endangered pupfish ( Cyprinodon diabolis )
Author(s) -
Wilcox J. L.,
Martin A. P.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
animal conservation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.111
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1469-1795
pISSN - 1367-9430
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00039.x
Subject(s) - endangered species , threatened species , biology , ecology , habitat , extinction (optical mineralogy) , population , genetic drift , phenotypic plasticity , small population size , evolutionary biology , genetic variation , demography , paleontology , biochemistry , sociology , gene
Propagation of threatened or endangered species in artificial habitats is a common strategy for reducing the probability of extinction by demographic or stochastic forces. Differential selection, founder effects and genetic drift can conspire to cause artificial populations to differ irreversibly from native populations for characters important for fitness, thereby compromising conservation efforts. Here we show that artificial propagation of the endangered Devil's Hole pupfish Cyprinodon diabolis resulted in rapid divergence for phenotypic and genetic characteristics despite attempts to replicate key characteristics of the species' native habitat when designing the artificial environments. Although differences in behavior and morphology between the native pool population and the two artificial pools may reflect phenotypic plasticity, the results underscore the need to monitor and control (to the extent possible) closely the evolutionary process when propagating native species in artificial pools for multiple generations.