Can genetic rescue help save Arabia's last big cat?

Al Hikmani, Hadi, van Oosterhout, Cock ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5653-738X, Birley, Thomas, Labisko, Jim, Jackson, Hazel A., Spalton, Andrew, Tollington, Simon and Groombridge, Jim J. (2024) Can genetic rescue help save Arabia's last big cat? Evolutionary Applications, 17 (5). ISSN 1752-4563

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Abstract

Genetic diversity underpins evolutionary potential that is essential for the long-term viability of wildlife populations. Captive populations harbor genetic diversity potentially lost in the wild, which could be valuable for release programs and genetic rescue. The Critically Endangered Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) has disappeared from most of its former range across the Arabian Peninsula, with fewer than 120 individuals left in the wild, and an additional 64 leopards in captivity. We (i) examine genetic diversity in the wild and captive populations to identify global patterns of genetic diversity and structure; (ii) estimate the size of the remaining leopard population across the Dhofar mountains of Oman using spatially explicit capture–recapture models on DNA and camera trap data, and (iii) explore the impact of genetic rescue using three complementary computer modeling approaches. We estimated a population size of 51 (95% CI 32–79) in the Dhofar mountains and found that 8 out of 25 microsatellite alleles present in eight loci in captive leopards were undetected in the wild. This includes two alleles present only in captive founders known to have been wild-sourced from Yemen, which suggests that this captive population represents an important source for genetic rescue. We then assessed the benefits of reintroducing novel genetic diversity into the wild population as well as the risks of elevating the genetic load through the release of captive-bred individuals. Simulations indicate that genetic rescue can improve the long-term viability of the wild population by reducing its genetic load and realized load. The model also suggests that the genetic load has been partly purged in the captive population, potentially making it a valuable source population for genetic rescue. However, the greater loss of its genetic diversity could exacerbate genomic erosion of the wild population during a rescue program, and these risks and benefits should be carefully evaluated. An important next step in the recovery of the Arabian leopard is to empirically validate these conclusions, implement and monitor a genomics-informed management plan, and optimize a strategy for genetic rescue as a tool to recover Arabia's last big cat.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: This project would not have been possible without the help, support, and collaboration of numerous persons and organizations in Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the UK. We especially thank His Excellency Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court, and Yasser bin Obaid Al Salami, former Director General of the Office for Conservation of the Environment for their support. We also thank the staff and rangers of the Salalah office of the Office for Conservation of the Environment who were instrumental in supporting our fieldwork, camera trapping, and scat collection. In particular, our thanks go to Salim Al Rabiei, Khalid Mohamed Daan Al Hikmani, Ali Akaak, Talal Al Shahari, Said Zabanoot, Khalid Mohammed Ali Al Hikmani, and Omar Al Kathiri. The following organizations provided captive and museum samples for this study, and we thank them for their help and collaboration: Environment and Protected Areas Authority; Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife in Sharjah, UAE; Saudi Wildlife Authority; Prince Saud al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Taif; Omani Wild Animals Breeding Centre; Oman Natural History Museum; and Harrison Institute in the UK. In particular, we also thank Jane Budd, Ahmed Boug, Barbara Golachowska, Hanan Al Nabhani, Paul Bates, Malcolm Pearch, Mukhlid Al Jaid, Saud Anajariyya, David Willis, the late Tessa McGregor, Christine & Urs Breitenmoser, Nigel Winser, Duncan Parker, Lawrence Ball, Abdulaziz Alenzy, Abdulatif Alwazzan, and Salim Bait Bilal. Cock van Oosterhout was supported by the Earth & Life Systems Alliance (ELSA), Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	arabian leopard,camera traps,endangered species,genetic diversity,genetic rescue,noninvasive sampling,panthera pardus nimr,small populations,ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics,genetics,agricultural and biological sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2024 11:34
Last Modified:	15 Oct 2024 00:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/96573
DOI:	10.1111/eva.13701

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