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Conservation of Small Populations

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Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Linking Predation Risk, Herbivore Physiological Stress and Microbial Decomposition of Plant Litter

Published on: March 12, 2013

Disease-driven top predator decline affects mesopredator population genomic structure.

Marc A Beer¹, Kirstin M Proft², Anne Veillet³

¹School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.

Nature Ecology & Evolution

|January 9, 2024

Summary

The decline of Tasmania's top predator, the Tasmanian devil, is driving genetic changes in spotted-tailed quolls. This predator-prey interaction impacts quoll evolution and genetic diversity.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Genomics

Background:

Top predator declines significantly impact ecosystems, but their evolutionary effects are poorly understood.
Tasmanian devils, the island's apex predator, are declining due to a transmissible cancer.
Spotted-tailed quolls, as mesopredators, experience population changes and behavioral shifts following devil declines.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evolutionary consequences of top predator decline on mesopredator populations.
To identify environmental and biotic factors shaping the genomic structure and selection signatures in spotted-tailed quolls.
To explore the role of interspecific competition in driving evolutionary change within a trophic cascade.

Main Methods:

Utilized a landscape community genomics framework to analyze population genomic structure.
Identified environmental and biotic variables influencing genomic variation and selection.
Correlated landscape resistance and devil density with genetic subdivision and selection signatures in quolls.

Main Results:

Biotic factors, particularly devil density, were key drivers of spotted-tailed quoll genomic structure.
Devil declines are predicted to increase genetic subdivision in quoll populations over time.
Signatures of selection were detected in the quoll genome, linked to genes for muscle development and locomotion, influenced by devil presence.

Conclusions:

Provides novel evidence for the evolutionary impacts of top predator-mesopredator interactions in a trophic cascade.
Demonstrates that ecological changes driven by apex predator loss can induce rapid evolutionary responses in subordinate species.
The study's framework can serve as a model for assessing evolutionary impacts of altered ecological interactions globally.