Reintroductions are a powerful tool for the recovery of endangered species. However, their long‐term success is strongly influenced by the genetic diversity of the reintroduced population. The chances of population persistence can be improved by enhancing the population's adaptive ability through the mixing of individuals from different sources. However, where source populations are too diverse the reintroduced population could also suffer from outbreeding depression or unsuccessful admixture due to behavioural or genetic barriers. For the reintroduction of Asiatic wild ass Equus hemionus ssp. in Israel, a breeding core was created from individuals of two different subspecies (E. h. onager & E. h. kulan). Today the population comprises approximately 300 individuals and displays no signs of outbreeding depression. The aim of this study was a population genomic evaluation of this conservation reintroduction protocol. We used maximum likelihood methods and genetic clustering analyses to investigate subspecies admixture and test for spatial autocorrelation based on subspecies ancestry. Further, we analysed heterozygosity and effective population sizes in the breeding core prior to release and the current wild population. We discovered high levels of subspecies admixture in the breeding core and wild population, consistent with a significant heterozygote excess in the breeding core. Furthermore, we found no signs of spatial autocorrelation associated with subspecies ancestry in the wild population. Inbreeding and variance effective population size estimates were low. Our results indicate no genetic or behavioural barriers to admixture between the subspecies and suggest that their hybridization has led to greater genetic diversity in the reintroduced population. The study provides rare empirical evidence of the successful application of subspecies hybridization in a reintroduction. It supports use of intraspecific hybridization as a tool to increase genetic diversity in conservation translocations.

中文翻译：

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亚种杂交作为物种重新引入的潜在保护工具


放归是恢复濒危物种的有力工具。然而，它们的长期成功很大程度上受到重新引入种群遗传多样性的影响。通过混合不同来源的个体来增强种群的适应能力，可以提高种群持续存在的机会。然而，如果来源种群过于多样化，重新引入的种群也可能因行为或遗传障碍而遭受远交衰退或不成功的混合。用于重新引入亚洲野驴Equus hemionus ssp。在以色列，育种核心是由两个不同亚种（ E. h. onager和E. h. kulan ）的个体创建的。如今，该种群约有 300 只，没有表现出近亲繁殖衰退的迹象。本研究的目的是对该保护重新引入方案进行群体基因组评估。我们使用最大似然法和遗传聚类分析来研究亚种混合并测试基于亚种祖先的空间自相关。此外，我们分析了释放前育种核心和当前野生种群的杂合性和有效种群规模。我们发现育种核心和野生群体中存在高水平的亚种混合，这与育种核心中显着的杂合子过量一致。此外，我们没有发现野生种群中与亚种祖先相关的空间自相关迹象。近亲繁殖和方差有效种群规模估计值较低。 我们的结果表明，亚种之间的混合不存在遗传或行为障碍，并表明它们的杂交导致重新引入的种群具有更大的遗传多样性。该研究为亚种杂交在放归中的成功应用提供了罕见的经验证据。它支持使用种内杂交作为增加保护易位遗传多样性的工具。