Genetic and demographic management of captive wildlife populations locally and internationally.

Abstract

Proc. Assoc. Advmt. Anim. Breed Genet. Vol12 GENETIC AND IMMOGRAPHIC MANAGEMENT OF CAPTIVE WILDLIFE POPULATIONS LOCALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY C. Hopkins and J. Wilken Australasian Regional Association of Zoologjcal Parks and Aquaria, P.O. Box 20, Mosman, NSW, 2088 SUWY Where a breeding program aims to achieve reintroduction of research directed towards assisting species recovery, it should aim to retain, as, closely. as possible, w&l population characteristics in its captive individuals, The genetic consequent of maintahring a sma& fmite captive population militate against this,, to some e*nt. Yet captive wgdlife populations are essentially aR small populations, and p@@ns assor&xl wit& qiui@ng mall populaticu~, in pqiicyl~ those resulting from inbseeding, loss of genetic variabjlity and adaptation to captivity, are likely to be common to most `w&lli&breeding programs JJre ,appli#ion of contemporary theories of genetic and demographic management can help to overcome these small population problems and zoos and zoo associations worldwide have been applying these theories to the management of their captive populations of threatened wildlife. Management strategies used include reduoiug the number of generations in captivity; per@di#y introdu4ng new founders; in~easing total population size; and pedigree management to .&sure: genetically optimal ,m+ng choirs. An overview will be provided of the various schemes uuder which captive wilAlifa populations .are managed fos conservation purposes in Australasia and internationally, together with details of a range of programs currently in operation, Keywords: Conservation, geztetic variability, adaptat& captivity, wildlife. 656