Answer to Question #202676 in Zoology for Julimae Sumangue

Question

What are the implications of the “bottleneck effect” for wildlife managers who try to help endangered species, such as the whooping crane, recover from near extinction?

Answer 1

The bottleneck effect is an extreme case of genetic drift that occurs when a population's size is drastically reduced. Natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, and fires) can annihilate a population, killing the vast majority of people and leaving only a small, haphazard group of survivors.

When conservationists consider saving a population or even an entire species, gene pools are a critical factor in determining the feasibility of their plans.

For a variety of factors, a very small population might be worth saving:

It's a keystone species, which means that if it goes extinct, many other species that were plentiful at the time might face extinction (cascade effects).

The population differs genetically from another (isolated) population elsewhere, allowing for potential genetic exchange.

Curiosity and study merit alone. It means that pedigrees must be kept and/or genetics checked for certain species that are mainly bred in captivity to ensure that captive breeding pairs are not closely related. Inbreeding will still be an issue, but it can be mitigated by genetic rescue. It means that pedigrees must be kept and/or genetics checked for certain species that are mainly bred in captivity to ensure that captive breeding pairs are not closely related. Inbreeding will still be an issue, but it can be mitigated by genetic rescue.