Wirtz et al. 2018
Wirtz, S., Böhm, C., Fritz, J., Kotrschal, K., Veith, M. & Hochkirch A (2018)
Optimizing the genetic management of reintroduction projects: genetic population structure of the captive Northern bald ibis population.
Conservation Genetics 19/ 4: 853–864. DOI: 10.1007/s10592-018-1059-6
Many threatened species are bred in captivity for conservation purposes and some of these programmes aim at future reintroduction. The Northern Bald Ibis, Geronticus eremita, is a Critically Endangered bird species, with recently only one population remaining in the wild (Morocco, Souss Massa region). During the last two decades, two breeding programs for reintroduction have been started (in Austria and Spain). As the genetic constitution of the founding population can have strong effects on reintroduction success, we studied the genetic diversity of the two source populations for reintroduction (‘Waldrappteam’ and ‘Proyecto eremita’) as well as the European zoo population (all individuals held ex situ) by genotyping 642 individuals at 15 microsatellite loci.
