snowgyre
New Member
- Messages
- 588
- Location
- Athens, GA
I'm not an expert on leopard gecko genetics, but considering that there has been a lot of concern over the status of wild leopard gecko populations, I was wondering if anybody is trying to preserve subspecies genetics? At this point, I'm not even sure of the true status of wild leopard geckos, as they occur in geographical areas that aren't well studied.
I recall a thread I posted in once regarding the crossing of albino strains in leopard geckos, where we discussed that it was important to keep the albino strains 'pure' by not crossing into other strains. At first the crosses were important to verify that the albino strains were indeed genetically different, but that after the initial tests were performed, it was important to keep double albino hets out of the gene pool.
There is a lot of interest in crossing subspecies such as E.m. macularius, E.m. montanus, E.m. fasciolatus, and E.m. afghanicus, and I've seen it mainly advertised from the 'increase the genetic variation of your collection!' point of view.
While it is indeed very important to maintain genetic variation in your collection, I think it's much more important to maintain the genetic distinction of subspecies by not outcrossing them at every chance. That way, if a leopard gecko subspecies does go extinct in the wild, then we have genetic stock to work with possible reintroduction efforts.
Now, I've got two main questions for people.
1. Is anybody actually working on preserving the genetic distinction of certain subspecies by having exclusive subspecies colonies?
And:
2. Are there enough individuals from each subspecies to actually have enough genetic variety to avoid inbreeding depression in captive subspecies colonies?
I recall a thread I posted in once regarding the crossing of albino strains in leopard geckos, where we discussed that it was important to keep the albino strains 'pure' by not crossing into other strains. At first the crosses were important to verify that the albino strains were indeed genetically different, but that after the initial tests were performed, it was important to keep double albino hets out of the gene pool.
There is a lot of interest in crossing subspecies such as E.m. macularius, E.m. montanus, E.m. fasciolatus, and E.m. afghanicus, and I've seen it mainly advertised from the 'increase the genetic variation of your collection!' point of view.
While it is indeed very important to maintain genetic variation in your collection, I think it's much more important to maintain the genetic distinction of subspecies by not outcrossing them at every chance. That way, if a leopard gecko subspecies does go extinct in the wild, then we have genetic stock to work with possible reintroduction efforts.
Now, I've got two main questions for people.
1. Is anybody actually working on preserving the genetic distinction of certain subspecies by having exclusive subspecies colonies?
And:
2. Are there enough individuals from each subspecies to actually have enough genetic variety to avoid inbreeding depression in captive subspecies colonies?
