Maintaining genetic integrity of coexisting wild and domestic populations: Genetic differentiation between wild and domestic Rangifer with long traditions of intentional interbreeding.

David G. Anderson,Kjersti S. Kvie,Vladimir N. Davydov,Knut H. Røed

doi:10.1002/ece3.3230

Abstract

This study investigates the genetic effect of an indigenous tradition of deliberate and controlled interbreeding between wild and domestic Rangifer. The results are interpreted in the context of conservation concerns and debates on the origin of domestic animals. The study is located in Northeastern Zabaĭkal'e, Russia at approximately 57 degrees North latitude. Blood and skin samples, collected from wild and domestic Rangifer, are analyzed for their mtDNA and microsatellite signatures. Local husbandry traditions are documented ethnographically. The genetic data are analyzed with special reference to indigenous understandings of the distinctions between local domestic types and wild Rangifer. The genetic results demonstrate a strong differentiation between wild and domestic populations. Notably low levels of mtDNA haplotype sharing between wild and domestic reindeer, suggest mainly male‐mediated gene flow between the two gene pools. The nuclear microsatellite results also point to distinct differences between regional domestic clusters. Our results indicate that the Evenki herders have an effective breeding technique which, while mixing pedigrees in the short term, guards against wholesale introgression between wild and domestic populations over the long term. They support a model of domestication where wild males and domestic females are selectively interbred, without hybridizing the two populations. Our conclusions inform a debate on the origins of domestication by documenting a situation where both wild and domestic types are in constant interaction. The study further informs a debate in conservation biology by demonstrating that certain types of controlled introgression between wild and domestic types need not reduce genetic diversity.

Highlights

Nature conservation aims to maintain biological diversity, which is often defined by the highest level of genetic diversity thought necessary to ensure the evolutionary potential for any species (Slatkin, 1987; Frankham, 2010)
Our results suggest that the reindeer herders in northeastern Zabaĭkal’e have developed herding techniques that maintain the genetic integrity of coexisting and overlapping populations of wild and domestic reindeer, even while intentional interbreeding them
This implies that the marked genetic differentiation between wild and domestic reindeer previously reported for the Lake Nichatka population (Røed, 2008) reflects a general pattern applicable for other herds across the region as well

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Nature conservation aims to maintain biological diversity, which is often defined by the highest level of genetic diversity thought necessary to ensure the evolutionary potential for any species (Slatkin, 1987; Frankham, 2010). Almost 50% of the approximate 3,000,000 reindeer in the Old World are wild animals, and wild and domestic herds are managed in close coexistence in many areas of Eurasia and in Alaska (Syroechkovskii, 1995; Baskin, 2005) This species provides a rare opportunity to link techniques of interbreeding of domestic herds and their wild relatives to their genetic signatures. The most authoritative theories are cultural historical models which survey the geographic diffusion of different styles of pastoralism (Wiklund, 1918; Maksimov, 1928; Vasilevich & Levin, 1951) They tend to focus on whether or not varying husbandry techniques could have been independently invented, or if they could have been copied and applied to local populations of wild Rangifer. Establishing the identity and level of distinctiveness of wild and domestic herds is further important to settle an old debate on whether or not a domesticated harness reindeer constitutes a distinct type of reindeer, compared to wild reindeer

| MATERIAL AND METHODS

Findings

| DISCUSSION