Comparative Conservation Genomics of an Endangered Cooperative Breeder: The African Wild Dog

Small populations face elevated extinction risks due to processes such as genetic drift and inbreeding.

These processes work to homogenise small populations, reducing their adaptive potential and exposing recessive deleterious alleles.

These genetic processes may be exacerbated in cooperatively-breeding species, where the social suppression of reproduction can greatly reduce effective population size (Ne). At the same time, behavioural avoidance of inbreeding can halt reproduction in exceedingly small populations.

Understanding these impacts of social behaviour on the genetics and viability of small populations, may have great conservation importance. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is a globally endangered cooperatively-breeding canid. Most populations