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There isn't a hard threshold of genetic diversity you need to cross to build a successful population. It's entirely possible to succeed from bottlenecks of as f
by AlotOfReading 3y ago
There isn't a hard threshold of genetic diversity you need to cross to build a successful population. It's entirely possible to succeed from bottlenecks of as few as two individuals. This has been demonstrated several times with invasive species that went on to produce tens of thousands of descendants. The feral pigs of the gulf coast and Caribbean are a good example as many of their original populations were in the double or single digits.
There's no true "minimum viable population size" as far as we know, just a continuum of increasing extinction risk as the effective population size decreases.
- ysavir 3y agoAre those fair comparable scenarios, though? Usually successful invasive species have some 1-up on the local fauna and can thrive. Can the same be said of the newly manufactured mammoths?
- billyjmc 3y ago[flagged]
- nkrisc 3y ago> There's no true "minimum viable population size" as far as we know For most vertebrates, it’s as low as 2. For some species, it could be 1. Definitely more than 0.
- londons_explore 3y agoNote that many animal species have the ability to store millions of sperm or fertilized eggs from other individuals for many years. Such a behaviour might be a way to increase genetic diversity while populations are tiny. Note that tiny populations can occur frequently when the environment has millions of barriers between tiny populations - eg. a water dwelling creature living in millions of tiny pools and unable to pass from one pool to the next until there is a major flood, which might only be once per thousand years.