Article
Escaping bottlenecks: The demographic path to genetic recovery in koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus).
Science (New York, N.Y.) - 5 Mar 2026
Ahrens Collin W, Miller Adam D, Silver Luke W, McLennan Elspeth A, Hogg Carolyn J, Weeks Andrew R
Abstract excerpt
Population bottlenecks can lead to evolutionary dead ends by eroding genetic diversity and intensifying inbreeding. Although theory predicts possible escape routes, direct observations of this process are rare. Using whole-genome data from 418 koalas, we found that populations with higher genetic diversity harbored the greatest mutational loads and had declining effective population sizes (Ne), whereas...
Topics
- Animals
- Biological Evolution
- Genetic Variation
- Inbreeding
- Mutation
- Phascolarctidae
- Population Density
- Recombination, Genetic
- Endangered Species