[Tweeters] Rates of hatching failure in birds almost twice as high as previously estimated

[HAL MICHAEL]

At least is a cursory reading I didn't see a discussion of inbreeding and other genetic issues.  Rare species, especially those with small populations and/or fragmented ranges are likely to have a great load of genetic issues.

I used to raise Nene (Hawaiian Geese). Most often, could most easily obtain brother/sister pairs of pairs that were almost that closely related.  Nests had low hatching success, about 25%.  I traded for a male from back east and the hatch rate jumped to 75-100%.  

Also, captive breeding programs provide protection so that individuals that would not survive in the wild do in captivity.  We should be looking at the F2 and F3 generations where natural selection has had a chance to remove less well adapted individuals.


Hal Michael
Board of Directors,Ecologists Without Borders (http://ecowb.org/)
Olympia WA
360-459-4005
360-791-7702 (C)
ucd880 at comcast.net


> On 02/05/2023 4:52 PM Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com> wrote:

> 

>  

> https://phys.org/news/2023-02-hatching-failure-birds-high-previously.html

> 

> 

> Sent from my iPhone

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