Wild genes boost the survival of captive‐bred individuals in the wild
Genki Sahashi, Kentaro Morita
Abstract
Captive‐breeding programs are actively engaged in conservation and resource enhancement for a variety of species around the world, yet captive‐bred individuals often experience reduced fitness in the wild due to inbreeding and adaptation to captivity. Increasing wild‐type genetic contributions has been proposed as one solution to this problem, but the demographic impacts of these contributions remain unclear. Using data from long‐term mass‐marking programs conducted by national hatcheries in Japan, we evaluated the effects of wild genes in the parental generation on the survival of captive‐bred populations. Our results indicated that increasing the percentage of wild genes improves survival of captive‐bred offspring in the wild in two salmonid species. These findings offer insights for future bioresource management efforts that use both wild and captive‐bred individuals.