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Models based on best-available information support a low inbreeding load and potential for recovery in the vaquita

Heredity volume 130, pages 183–187 (2023)Cite this article

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In Robinson et al. (2022), we employed genomic and simulation analyses to demonstrate that the critically endangered vaquita porpoise has a reduced potential for future inbreeding depression (inbreeding load), and is therefore not doomed to extinction by deleterious genetic factors. Garcia-Dorado and Hedrick (2022) (hereafter, GD&H) critique our analysis for not sufficiently demonstrating that the vaquita has a low inbreeding load and a good chance of recovery in the absence of continued incidental mortality in fishing gillnets.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on this manuscript. CCK and KEL were supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant R35GM119856 (to KEL). ACB was supported by the Biological Mechanisms of Healthy Aging Training Program, NIH T32AG066574. SFN-M was supported by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) postdoctoral fellowship 724094 and the Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development postdoctoral fellowship. We dedicate this work to our mentor, colleague, and friend Bob Wayne, who passed away in December 2022.

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Author notes

  1. Deceased: Robert K. Wayne.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Christopher C. Kyriazis, Robert K. Wayne & Kirk E. Lohmueller

  2. Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jacqueline A. Robinson

  3. Advanced Genomics Unit, National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (Langebio), Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav); Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico

    Sergio F. Nigenda-Morales

  4. Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Annabel C. Beichman

  5. Ocean Wise, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho

  6. Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Kelly M. Robertson, Barbara L. Taylor & Phillip A. Morin

  7. MIVEGEC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, Montpellier, France

    Michael C. Fontaine

  8. Centre de Recherche en Écologie et Évolution de la Santé (CREES), Montpellier, France

    Michael C. Fontaine

  9. Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Michael C. Fontaine

  10. Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Kirk E. Lohmueller

Authors
  1. Christopher C. Kyriazis
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Contributions

CCK wrote the manuscript with input from all coauthors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Christopher C. Kyriazis, Jacqueline A. Robinson, Kirk E. Lohmueller or Phillip A. Morin.

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Kyriazis, C.C., Robinson, J.A., Nigenda-Morales, S.F. et al. Models based on best-available information support a low inbreeding load and potential for recovery in the vaquita. Heredity 130, 183–187 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-023-00608-7

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