Abstract
The South China tiger (Panther tigris amoyensis) is critically endangered with 73 remaining individuals living in captivity, all derived from six wild founders since 1963. The population shows a low level of juvenile survivorship and reproductive difficulties, and faces a huge conservation challenge. In this study, inbreeding depression and genetic diversity decline were examined by using pedigree data and 17 microsatellites. The constant B, which is related to the number of lethal equivalents, was estimated to be 0 for the offspring of noninbred parents, but was >0 for the offspring of inbred parents and for all offspring. Percentage of successfully breeding tigers inversely correlated with inbreeding level (r = −0.626, α = 0.05). Taken together, these findings suggest the population is suffering from inbreeding depression in juvenile survivorship and fecundity. No significant correlation was detectable for the mean litter size with f of either dams (r = −0.305, α = 0.46) or kittens (r = 0.105, α = 0.71), indicating litter size was not strongly subject to inbreeding depression. The average number of alleles per locus was 4.24 ± 1.03 (SE), but effective number of alleles was only 2.53 ± 0.91. Twenty-one alleles carried by early breeders at 13 loci were absent in the present breeders and potential breeders. Multilocus heterozygosity was inversely correlated with inbreeding levels (r = −0.601, α = 0.004). These findings suggest rapid allelic diversity loss is occurring in this small captive population and that heterozygosity is being lost as it becomes more inbred. Our phylogenetic analysis supports past work indicating introgression from northern Indochinese tigers in the population. As no wild representatives of the South China tiger can be added to the captive population, we may consider the alternate scenario of further introgression in the interest of countering inbreeding depression and declining genetic diversity.
Similar content being viewed by others
Reference
Barone MA, Roelke ME, Howard J, Brown JL, Anderson AE, Wildt DE (1994) Reproductive characteristics of male Florida panthers: comparative studies from Florida, Texas, Colorado, Latin America and North American zoos. J Mammal 75:150–162
Byers A, Armstrong D, Miller E, Traylor-Holzer K (1996) Reproductive evaluation and genome resource banking. In: Tilson R, Armstrong D, Miller E, Byers A, Traylor-Holzer K, Brady G, Wang H, Xie Z (eds) Medical, reproductive and management evaluation of South China tiger in China. Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN, USA, pp 47–50
Charlesworth D, Charlesworth B (1987) Inbreeding depression and its evolutionary consequences. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 18:237–268
Chen GL, Li ZK, Jin K, Shen QY (2003) The impact of inbreeding on the South China tiger. Zool Gard 9:315–317
Chen GL, Li ZK, Song PL, Jin K, Sheng QY (2001) The current situation and the pedigree analysis of South China tiger. Chin J Zool 36:45–48
Coulson TN, Pemberton JM, Albon SD, Guinness FE, Clutton-Brock TH (1998) Microsatellites measure inbreeding depression and heterosis in red deer. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:489–495
Fang X, Yang JL (1998) The South China tiger in Guizhou. In: Shi XQ, Cui LP (eds) South China tiger, the raising, breeding, management, disease provention and conservation. Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens South China Tiger Conservation and Coordination Committee, Shanghai, China, pp 20–23
Frankham R, Ballou JD, Briscoe DA (2002) Introduction to conservation genetics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Kalinowski ST, Hedrick PW (1998) An improved method for estimating inbreeding depression in pedigrees. Zoo Biol 17:481–497
Kalinowski ST, Hedrick PW (2001) Inbreeding depression in captive bighorn sheep. Anim Conserv 4:319–324
Kalinowski ST, Hedrick PW, Miller PS (2000) Inbreeding depression in the Speke’s gazelle captive breeding program. Conserv Biol 14:1375–1384
Keller LF, Waller DM (2002) Inbreeding effects in wild populations. Trends Ecol Evol 17:230–241
Kitchener AC, Dugmore AJ (2000) Biogeographical change in the tiger, Panthera tigris. Anim Conserv 3:113–124
Laikre L, Andrén R, Larsson H-O, Ryman N (1996) Inbreeding depression in brown bear. Biol Conserv 76:69–72
Laikre L, Ryman N (1991) Inbreeding depression in a captive wolf (Canis lupus) population. Conserv Biol 5:33–40
Lindburg DG, Durrant BS, Millard SE, Oosterhuis JE (1993) Fertility assessment of cheetah males with poor quality semen. Zoo Biol 12:97–103
Liu J, Li YH, Shen QY (1997) The preservation of the South China tiger in China. Chin Wildl 3:24–26
Liu J, Zhao GL, Wu DH, Bai ZM, Zhang TX, Sheng QY, Hu Y, Zheng XC, Xie YX, Deng Y, Wang AP, Luo L, Chen YX, Fu MQ, Chen GZ, Chen SJ (1998) Development of techniques for sperm collection in the South China tiger. In: Shi XQ, Cui LP (eds) South China Tiger, the raising, breeding, management, disease prevention and conservation. Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens South China Tiger Conservation and Coordination Committee, Shanghai, China, pp 146–150
Liu ZH, Yuan YC (1983) The resources of the South China tiger in China. Chin Wildl 4:20–22
Lu HJ, Sheng HL (1986) Distribution and status of the Chinese tiger. In: Miller SD, Everett DD (eds) Cats of the world: biology, conservation and management. National Wildlife Federation, Washington DC, USA, pp 51–58
Luo S-J, Kim J-H, Johnson WE, van der Walt J, Martenson J, Yuhki N, Miquelle DG, Uphyrkina O, Goodrich JM, Quigley HB, Tilson R, Brady G, Martelli P, Subramaniam V, McDougal C, Hean S, Huang S-Q, Pan W-S, Karanth UK, Sunquist M, Smith JLD, O’Brien SJ (2004) Phylogeography and genetic ancestry of tigers (Panthera tigris). PLoS Biol 2:2275–2293
Ma JZ, Jin K (2004) Tiger research. Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers, Shanghai, China
Menotti-Raymond M, David VA, Lyons LA, Schäffer AA, Tomlin JF, Hutton MK, O’Brien SJ (1999) A genetic linkage map of microsatellites in the domestic cat (Felis catus). Genomics 57:9–23
Morton NE, Crow JF, Muller HJ (1956) An estimate of the mutational damage in man from data on consanguineous marriages. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 42:855–863
Nei M, Roychoudhury AK (1974) Sampling variances of heterozygosity and genetic distance. Genetics 76:379–390
Pimm SL, Dollar L, Bass OL (2006) The genetic rescue of the Florida panther. Anim Conserv 9(2):115–122
Ralls K, Ballou JD, Templeton A (1988) Estimates of lethal equivalents and the cost of inbreeding in mammals. Conserv Biol 2:185–193
Roelke ME, Martenson J, O’Brien SJ (1993) The consequences of demographic reduction and genetic depletion in the endangered Florida panther. Curr Biol 3:340–350
Sambrook J, Russell DW (2001) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual 3. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, NY, USA
Tan BJ (1987) Status and problems of captive tigers in China. In: Tilson R, Seal US (eds) Tigers of the world, the biology, biopolitics, management, and conservation of an endangered species. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ, USA, pp 134–148
Tan BJ (1996) Distribution of the tiger in China. In: Shi XQ, Cui LP (eds) South China tiger, the raising, breeding, management, disease provention and conservation. Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens South China Tiger Conservation and Coordination Committee, Shanghai, China, pp 1–5
Tilson R, Hu DF, Muntifering J, Nyhus PJ (2004) Dramatic decline of wild South China tigers Panthera tigris amoyensis: field survey of priority tiger reserves. Oryx 38:40–47
Tilson R, Traylor-Holzer K, Qiu MJ (1997) The decline and impending extinction of the South China tiger. Oryx 31:243–252
Wan QH, Fang SG, Chen GF, Wang ZM, Ding P, Zhu MY, Chen KS, Yu JH, Zhao YP (2003) Use of oligonucleotide fingerprinting and faecal DNA in identifying the distribution of the Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis Hilzheimer). Biodivers Conserv 12:1641–1648
Wang W, Shen QY, Yin YZ (2003) Demographic studies on captive South China tigers. Acta Theriol Sin 23:6–9
Wildt D, Byers A, Johnston L, Howard J, Willis K, O’Brien S, Tilson R, Rall W, Seal U (1995) Tiger genome resource banking (GRB) action plan: global need and a plan for North America and Indonesia. IUCN/SSC conservation breeding specialist group and the American zoo and aquarium association, Apple Valley, MN, USA
Xu YC (2001) Tiger (Panthera tigris) microsatellite polymorphisms and their application to the management of captive population. Ph.D thesis, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Xu YC, Li B, Li WS, Bai SY, Jin Y, Li XP, Gu MB, Jing SY, Zhang W (2005) Individualization of tiger by using microsatellites. Forensic Sci Int 151:45–51
Yin YZ (2004) Studbook of the South China tiger. Chongqing Zoological Garden, China
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan of China (G2000046906), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30300039) and the Key Scientific Research Project of the Ministry of Education of China (02094). Special thanks go to two anonymous reviewers. We are very grateful to Yu Zhong Yin, Gong Qing Huang, Wen Yang Gu, Ai Shan Wang, Wen Li Guo, Qing Yong Shen, and Jian Rong Wang for their help in collecting demographic data. We thank Paul L. Leberg, Barry K. Hartup and Mark Morgan for editing the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, Y.C., Fang, S.G. & Li, Z.K. Sustainability of the South China tiger: implications of inbreeding depression and introgression. Conserv Genet 8, 1199–1207 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-006-9276-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-006-9276-9