Tag Archives: genetic load

Can small populations benefit from genetic rescue?

The core dogma of conservation biology is clear: small populations are bad for species’ persistence. If we observe a population of endangered vertebrates harboring abundant deleterious mutations but without any reduction in fitness, what is happening there? I would like … Continue reading

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How to handle the burden of deleterious mutations

With the increasingly pressing matter of populations being threatened by fragmentation and isolation, and with progressively more efficient sequencing technologies and analytical tools at hand, conservation genetics is starting to turn the spotlight on the topic of genetic load. It … Continue reading

Posted in conservation, demography, ecology, evolution, genomics, mammals, population genetics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment