Captive breeding is an integral part of global conservation efforts despite high costs and adverse genetic effects associated with unavoidably small population sizes. Supplementing captive‐bred populations with biobanked founder sperm to restore genetic diversity offers a solution to colony size, costs and inbreeding, yet is rarely done, partly due to a lack of concrete examples or awareness amongst the conservation community of the huge potential benefits. We present a model system of the cost and genetic benefits achieved by incorporating biobanking into captive breeding of Oregon spotted frogs (Rana pretiosa). Backcrossing with frozen sperm every generation resulted in very large reductions in required programme expenditure compared to traditional captive breeding. This model supports the view that integration of biobanking into captive breeding would make longstanding and previously unachievable genetic diversity retention targets feasible (90% source population heterozygosity for a minimum of 100 years) at much reduced costs. This study suggests that the credibility of captive breeding as a conservation strategy would be enhanced by integrating genome storage and assisted breeding to produce far larger numbers of animals of higher genetic quality. This innovation would justify increased public and agency support for captive breeding.

中文翻译：

---

整合生物库可最大程度地减少近亲繁殖，并为受威胁的青蛙圈养繁殖计划带来可观的成本效益

圈养繁殖是全球保护工作不可或缺的一部分，尽管成本高昂，且不可避免的种群数量少，对遗传的不利影响也很大。用生物库创始人的精子补充人工繁殖种群以恢复遗传多样性，可以解决种群规模，成本和近亲繁殖的问题，但解决方案很少，部分原因是缺乏具体的例子或保护社区对巨大的潜在利益缺乏认识。我们提出了一个通过将生物库纳入俄勒冈斑蛙（Rana pretiosa）的圈养繁殖而实现的成本和遗传效益的模型系统。）。与传统的圈养繁殖相比，每一代与冷冻精子回交导致所需程序支出的大幅减少。该模型支持以下观点：将生物库纳入圈养育种将使长期存在且以前无法实现的遗传多样性保留目标成为可行的目标（至少100年内90％的源种群杂合度），且成本大大降低。这项研究表明，通过整合基因组存储和辅助育种来生产数量更多，遗传质量更高的动物，可以提高圈养作为保护策略的信誉。这项创新将证明增加公众和机构对圈养的支持。