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A Determination Of Parentage, Mating System, And Genetic Diversity In A Captive Population Of The Straw-Colored Fruit Bat (Eidolon Helvum), Jan Zinck

Dissertations and Theses

Small populations tend to lose genetic variability. The magnitude of this loss is influenced by the number of founding individuals, the genetic diversity of the founders, and the species mating system. Genetic variability is the basis of adaptive evolution, and the loss of genetic variability may have harmful effects on development, growth, and survival. Therefore, a primary management goal for small, captive populations is the retention of genetic variability. Of considerable importance to conservation biology is the determination of parentage, from which mating, genetic, and demographic information can be derived. Microsatellites provide a robust molecular evolutionary tool for the study …