Wolves in Sweden have been naturally recovering from near-extinction for the pas

Question

Wolves in Sweden have been naturally recovering from near-extinction for the past three decades (Chapron et al. 2013). All 250 wolves in Sweden descend from only 5 founders, and reducing the inbreeding coefficient has become the main policy target. Inbreeding levels are high among living wolves; on average individuals are more related to each other than siblings. In 2010 the average coefficient of inbreeding (F) was 0.27 (Laikre et al. 2013) Wolf recovery is controversial, and vocal interest groups have been calling to reduce population size because of harmful effects on hunting and farming. Under pressure from these groups, Swedish authorities recently opened a wolf hunt, which selectively targets the most inbred wolves. This hunt is presented as a conservation action under the reasoning that removing some of the most inbred wolves is "the only measure in the short term that can reduce inbreeding", and thus a step toward the species being able to maintain itself on a long-term basis. Do you think such a wolf hunt will be effective in reducing harmful effects of genetic drift and inbreeding in this population? What actions do you think should be considered to reduce the harmful effects of genetic drift and inbreeding in this population?

Explanation / Answer

Genetic drift is change in allele frequencies in a population from generation to generation that occurs due to chance events. To be more exact, genetic drift is change due to "sampling error" in selecting the alleles for the next generation from the gene pool of the current generation. Although genetic drift happens in populations of all sizes, its effects tend to be stronger in small populations.Genetic drift, unlike natural selection, does not take into account an allele’s benefit (or harm) to the individual that carries it. That is, a beneficial allele may be lost, or a slightly harmful allele may become fixed, purely by chance.

A beneficial or harmful allele would be subject to selection as well as drift, but strong drift (for example, in a very small population) might still cause fixation of a harmful allele or loss of a beneficial one.

scientific results can be misinterpreted to justify a particular policy by ignoring the broader scientific context. In fact, only immigration will lead to a lasting reduction of inbreeding, but plans to support immigration have either failed or remain very uncertain. This hunt may not be effective in reducing harmful effects of genetic drift and inbreeding in this population

2)if a population continued to stay separated from each other (like in a colony as mentioned above) the chance for genetic drift could end up taking away bad genes or creating new ones. But if the population was already mostly wiped out it stands little chance of survival.

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