Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01182-3
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Funding
- Mt Buller Mt Stirling Resort Management Board
- FAME Ltd
- Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) Victoria
- Department of Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Victoria (Hume Region)
- National Environment Science Program Threatened Species Recovery Hub (Federal Department of Environment and Energy)
- Australian Research Council [DP160100661]
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Genetic rescue has now been attempted in several threatened species, but the contribution of genetics per se to any increase in population health can be hard to identify. Rescue is expected to be particularly useful when individuals are introduced into small isolated populations with low levels of genetic variation. Here we consider such a situation by documenting genetic rescue in the mountain pygmy possum, Burramys parvus. Rapid population recovery occurred in the target population after the introduction of a small number of males from a large genetically diverged population. Initial hybrid fitness was more than two-fold higher than non-hybrids; hybrid animals had a larger body size, and female hybrids produced more pouch young and lived longer. Genetic rescue likely contributed to the largest population size ever being recorded at this site. These data point to genetic rescue as being a potentially useful option for the recovery of small threatened populations.
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