Identifying mechanisms of inbreeding depression to optimize conservation actions in the endangered Iberian lynx

The importance of genetic diversity to the viability of endangered species is increasingly recognized in conservation policy.

However, the lack of knowledge of how genetic factors impact fitness is preventing genomics to impact species conservation practice.

The Iberian lynx is a unique example of both a dramatic decline severely impacting genetic diversity and a spectacular recovery driven by intense conservation measures.

Early work suggests that inbreeding depression have driven the decline and favored its recovery by mixing of the two remnant populations through translocations.

The ongoing reintroduction program and intense monitoring provide a unique opportunity to deepen our knowledge on the impact of genetic factors on fitness.

In the proposed project I will: i) quantify the effect of inbreeding and genetic ancestry on fitness, ii) identify genomic regions associated with inbreeding depression, and iii) search for genetic variants associated with genetic diseases likely to hamper population recovery. This will be accomplished by generating high-density genome wide data for ca 2000 individual lynx.

The quest to answer these questions will provide novel and powerful tools to improve the ongoing genetic management of the species, including greatly improved estimates of realized kinship, and opening the door to selection on particular deleterious traits. I expect the project to advance the emerging field of conservation genomics and contribute to species conservation.