Life Sciences Commons^™

Genomic Underpinnings Of Population Persistence In Isle Royale Moose, Christopher C. Kyriazis, Annabel C. Beichman, Kristin Brzeski, Sarah Hoy, Rolf O. Peterson, John A. Vucetich, Leah Vucetich, Kirk E. Lohmueller, Robert K. Wayne

Michigan Tech Publications

Island ecosystems provide natural laboratories to assess the impacts of isolation on population persistence. However, most studies of persistence have focused on a single species, without comparisons to other organisms they interact with in the ecosystem. The case study of moose and gray wolves on Isle Royale allows for a direct contrast of genetic variation in isolated populations that have experienced dramatically differing population trajectories over the past decade. Whereas the Isle Royale wolf population recently declined nearly to extinction due to severe inbreeding depression, the moose population has thrived and continues to persist, despite having low genetic diversity and …