Population fragmentation

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Population fragmentation is a form of population segregation.[1] It is often caused by habitat fragmentation. Population fragmentation causes inbreeding depression, which leads to a decrease in genetic variability in the species involved.[2] This decreases the fitness of the population for several reasons. First, inbreeding forces competition with relatives, which decreases the evolutionary fitness of the species.[2] Secondly, the decrease in genetic variability causes an increased possibility a lethal homozygous recessive trait may be expressed; this decreases the average litter size reproduced, indirectly decreasing the population.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Proctor, Michael F.; McLellan, Bruce N. & Strobeck, Curtis (2002), "Population Fragmentation of Grizzly Bears in Southeastern British Columbia, Canada", Ursus 8: 153–160, JSTOR 3873196 .
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Proctor, M. F.; McLellan, B. N.; Strobeck, C. & Barclay, R. M. R. (2005), "Genetic analysis reveals demographic fragmentation of grizzly bears yielding vulnerably small populations", Proceedings of the Royal Society B 272 (1579): 2409–2416, doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3246, PMC 1559960, PMID 16243699 .
  3. ↑ Krebs, C. J. (2009), Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance (6th ed.), San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings, ISBN 978-0-321-50743-3 .
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