Metapopulation management of a critically endangered marsupial in the age of genomics

Global Ecology and Conservation; 2021 (31):e01869

Katherine A. Farquharson, Elspeth A. McLennan, Adrian Wayne, Michael Smith, Emma Peel, Katherine Belov, Carolyn J. Hogg

The value of genetic management is increasingly recognised in natural resource management particularly in relation to threatened species conservation and translocations. Technical advancements in methodologies available to conservation managers for genetic management present a challenge for long-running programs that monitor genetic diversity over time. Given that microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data are not interchangeable, conservation managers are faced with two options: continue using older techniques for consistency (limits genetic knowledge); or discard previous data and move to more precise modern genetic markers (wastes resources and prevents temporal monitoring). To achieve a balance, we should consider whether conservation recommendations made are broadly similar between interpretations of different marker sets, even if estimates are not directly comparable. Here we generated 13,194 SNPs for the woylie (Bettongia penicillata), an Australian marsupial, to provide conservation recommendations across their current range (N = 13 indigenous, reintroduced and haven populations) and provide guidance to conservation managers on how these recommendations align with those previously made using 12 microsatellite markers. Observed heterozygosity was significantly less than expected heterozygosity reflecting the historical bottleneck for the species. Only 4 of the 13 populations showed evidence of inbreeding, and effective population sizes ranged from 9.9 to 268.9. Trends in observed heterozygosity were broadly similar between microsatellite and SNP marker sets. Herein we provide advice for conservation managers undertaking translocations on using genetic data, highlight the benefits of moving to newer SNP based approaches for monitoring conservation actions over time, and show that historical management actions are supported by new technologies.

Open Dataset - woylie genome

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This study was funded by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Toledo Zoo and Aquarium, and the Australian Research Council (DP18010245). The generous contribution of Presbyterian Ladies’ College funded the sequencing of the woylie reference genome.