ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2023
Genetic Load and Adaptive Potential of a Recovered Avian Species that Narrowly Avoided Extinction.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Machine-Learning Models Trained on Genomic Summary Statistics Assess Extinction Risk and Recovery Potential of Bottlenecked Populations.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Genomic erosion in the assessment of species' extinction risk and recovery potential.The Journal of heredity · 2026Article
- Population Decline, Inbreeding and Hybridization Shape the Genetic Vulnerability of a Critically Endangered Seabird.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Historically Small Population Size Limits Purging of Deleterious Mutations in a Conservation-Reliant Species, the Kirtland's Warbler.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Genome-Wide Homozygosity Predicts Inbreeding Depression in the Hihi/Stitchbird (Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Article
- Genomic erosion across avian lineages in the context of their evolutionary history.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Discovering and protecting cryptic biodiversity: A case study of a previously undescribed, vulnerable bird species in Japan.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Persistent Genomic Erosion in Whooping Cranes Despite Demographic Recovery.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Population Genomics of Incipient Allochronic Divergence in the Pine Processionary Moth.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Museum genomics suggests long-term population decline in a putatively extinct bumble bee.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Conservation genomics of two endangered buntings reveal genetic diversity before and after severe population declines.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Conservation Arks: Genomic Erosion and Inbreeding in an Abundant Island Population of Koalas.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Genetic purging in an island-endemic pigeon recovering from the brink of extinction.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Mutational load and adaptive variation are shaped by climate and species range dynamics in Vitis arizonica.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- The importance of small-island populations for the long-term survival of endangered large-bodied insular mammals.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Potential risk of dipterocarps in the marginal Asian rainforests: low population size and high genomic erosion.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Temporal Loss of Genome-Wide and Immunogenetic Diversity in a Near-Extinct Parrot.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Time-lagged genomic erosion and future environmental risks in a bird on the brink of extinction.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
High genetic diversity is a good predictor of long-term population viability, yet some species persevere despite having low genetic diversity. Here we study the genomic erosion of the Seychelles paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina), a species that narrowly avoided extinction after having declined to 28 individuals in the 1960s. The species recovered unassisted to over 250 individuals in the 1990s and was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List in 2020. By comparing historical, prebottleneck (130+ years old) and modern genomes, we uncovered a 10-fold loss of genetic diversity. Highly deleterious mutations were partly purged during the bottleneck, but mildly deleterious mutations accumulated. The genome shows signs of historical inbreeding during the bottleneck in the 1960s, but low levels of recent inbreeding after demographic recovery. Computer simulations suggest that the species long-term small Ne reduced the masked genetic load and made the species more resilient to inbreeding and extinction. However, the reduction in genetic diversity due to the chronically small Ne and the severe bottleneck is likely to have reduced the species adaptive potential to face environmental change, which together with a higher load, compromises its long-term population viability. Thus, small ancestral Ne offers short-term bottleneck resilience but hampers long-term adaptability to environmental shifts. In light of rapid global rates of population decline, our work shows that species can continue to suffer the effect of their decline even after recovery, highlighting the importance of considering genomic erosion and computer modeling in conservation assessments.
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