Leo Foundation Board member Laura Bertola is working with dr. Uma Ramakrishnan and other scientists at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, India, and spent April and May at the institute. In this group there is great interest in the application of genetic techniques to understand the fate of small and isolated populations. From the Leo side, this work is supported by WWF INNO.
Over the course of this summer, and in the context of this collaboration, we’ll be generating new data from various lion populations, primarily from West and Central Africa. Those populations are under the highest pressure, and are faced with the risk of extinction. These data can give us insights into the vulnerability of these populations, as well as help identify strategies on how to preserve their diversity.
In many places of the world, wildlife is increasingly restricted to protected areas, and connectivity between those is often limited. These populations are at risk of loss of diversity: over time individuals within a population become more and more related to each other, and parts of the DNA which are associated with certain disorders may come to expression. The negative consequences of this are called “inbreeding depression”, and this poses a risk for long-term survival of such populations.
As of now, many conservation programs assess their success by looking at the number of preserved individuals, or population size. While increasing the population size indeed is an important aspect, it should be noted that this does not necessarily entail restoration of genetic diversity. So, even if the number of individuals has increased, we may still be dealing with an extremely vulnerable population.
There are various intervention methods conservationists use to counteract these problems. For example, in some places conservationists move individuals between protected areas to mimic natural connectivity. In the most extreme cases, where it is believed that a population would go extinct without such intervention, this is called ‘genetic rescue’. These translocations, or reintroductions in place where lions recently went extinct, can help restore populations, connectivity and ecological function. We work with several partners to identify the best way forward.
Leave a Comment