Genetic diversity of small populations: Not always "doom and gloom"?

Abstract

Is a key theory of evolutionary and conservation biology-that loss of genetic diversity can be predicted from population size-on shaky ground? In the face of increasing human-induced species depletion and habitat fragmentation, this question and the study of genetic diversity in small populations are paramount to understanding the limits of species' responses to environmental change and to providing remedies to endangered species conservation. Few empirical studies have investigated to what degree some small populations might be buffered against losses of genetic diversity. Even fewer studies have experimentally tested the potential underlying mechanisms. The study of Schou, Loeschcke, Bechsgaard, Schlotterer, and Kristensen () in this issue of Molecular Ecology is elegant in combining classic common garden experimentation with population genomics on an iconic experimental model species (Drosophila melanogaster). The authors reveal a slower rate of loss of genetic diversity in small populations under varying thermal regimes than theoretically expected and hence an unexpected retention of genetic diversity. They are further able to hone in on a plausible mechanism: associative overdominance, wherein homozygosity of deleterious recessive alleles is especially disfavoured in genomic regions of low recombination. These results contribute to a budding literature on the varying mechanisms underlying genetic diversity in small populations and encourage further such research towards the effective management and conservation of fragmented or endangered populations.