Inbreeding depression is one of the factors that can increase the risk of extinction of small populations, and therefore understanding its effects is currently an important issue in conservation biology. Until recently, few studies on inbreeding depression were carried out in wild populations. These recent studies have highlighted the variability in detecting inbreeding depression among natural populations and the multitude of factors that can influence its expression. Many of the factors affecting inbreeding depression in wild populations remain largely unexplored and most of the recent studies in this area have tended to focus on incidents of inbreeding in populations with a history of large population size.
The aim of this study is to investigate the relative importance inbreeding depression has had on individual fitness parameters in a population of New Zealand's Stewart Island robins Petroica australis rakiura introduced to Ulva Island. This island population has historically gone through several population bottlenecks. Four main factors that potentially influence the rate of inbreeding and the extent of inbreeding depression, were investigated: environmental variability, life history stage, genetic load and dispersal. Generalized Linear Mixed Modelling was first used to determine how weather affected nest survival. Weather effects were then incorporated into models containing demographic factors to control for environmental variability, and finally parental, maternal and paternal inbreeding co-efficients (=f) were added to models to determine the relative importance of inbreeding depression. Interactions between inbreeding depression and environmental factors were explored. Three different life history stages were compared to determine the differences in inbreeding depression at each stage as well as cumulative effects over time. The genetic load of the population was estimated using lethal equivalents allowing for standardised comparison of inbreeding depression with other species. The likelihood of inbreeding in the population was also explored by investigating the factors affecting dispersal patterns and evaluating evidence for inbreeding avoidance.
Inbreeding depression was found to be mild in the robin population. Weather did not have strong effects on nest survival or interactions with inbreeding. Female age was the only factor interacting with inbreeding, with younger inbred females experiencing significantly reduced offspring juvenile survival. Parental and paternal f did not significantly affect brood survival at any life history stage, however, maternal f showed significant effects on nest juvenile survival with the strongest effect occurring when survival was examined cumulatively over all life history stages. The Stewart Island robin had a relatively low lethal equivalent value compared to the closely related North Island robin and other avian species. This difference was associated with the Stewart Island robin having a low genetic load, most likely due to historical genetic purging during periods of population bottleneck. The Ulva Island robin population did not appear to be avoiding inbreeding through dispersal. Dispersal distance was most strongly influenced by the location of the natal nest of the dispersing offspring.
In conclusion, the genetic history of the population was likely to have had the strongest impact on the severity of inbreeding depression in the Ulva Island robin population. The results of the thesis highlight the need to examine a number of factors to be able to explain variability in inbreeding depression among populations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/243355 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Laws, Rebecca, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Zoology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Rebecca Laws |
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