Studbooks
Animal Breeding
Pensacola Jr College
What is a
studbook?
w Record of the history of a
captive population
w Traces the entire history of
each individual in a population
w Includes pedigrees and
location history of animals
Studbook Goals
w Domestic animal studbook:
• Selection for specific
genetic traits
w AZA studbooks:
• Management of genetic
diversity of populations
• Maintain allelic diversity
• Maintain heterozygosity
AZA studbooks
include:
w General biology and ecology
of the species
w Status and distribution of
wild populations
w History of each individual
in captive populations**
w Bibliography of all relevant
publications
Developing an AZA
Studbook
w Use data from spARKS
w Combine with in-house
records from institutions holding the species
• AZA studbook surveys
w Studbook keeper compiles
information
What is a
Pedigree?
Genetic Analysis -
Individuals
w Construct the pedigree for
each animal
w Identify founders
• From wild / outside
population
• Has descendents or is
capable of reproduction
w Compute genetic contribution
of each founder
Genetic Analysis -
Individuals
w Calculate measures of genetic
importance for each animal
• Those with genes of
under-represented founders are more valuable
w Calculate inbreeding
coefficients for each pairing
Population
Analysis
w Determine population
characteristics:
• Population size
• Age and sex structure
• Generation length
• Growth rate
Population
Analysis
w Determine captive carrying
capacity target:
• MVP = minimum viable
population size based on long-term goals for species genetics
• Upper limit = based on
amount of captive habitat available
w What do you do if MVP
exceeds upper limit?
Small Population
Management
w Obtain enough founders to
sample genetics of population
w Expand population as rapidly
as possible
w Stabilize at carrying
capacity
w Extend generation length
Small Pop.
Breeding Recommendations
w Examine founder contribution
within each individual
• High priority breeders have
high contribution from under-represented founders
w Exclude individuals with
extreme characteristics
Small Pop.
Breeding Recommendations
w Select pairings with other
individuals from mid- or under-represented founders
w Exclude pairings with high
inbreeding coefficient
w Introduce genetic material
from wild founders when possible