In this article we will talk about the case of inbreeding caused by the habitat fragmentation and its catastrophic effects in mountain lions of Los Angles, United States. Let us understand all these terms one by one and then look further into the case of the KINK-TAILED MOUNTAIN LIONS OF LOS ANGLES.
"Habitat Fragmentation can be described as the discontinuity in an organism's preferred living environment, which eventually led to the decay of ecosystem"
Habitat fragmentation is a major phenomenon which, when accelerated by anthropogenic factors (Human interference), can be lethal for any ecosystem. There are many ill-effects of this phenomenon and one exceedingly disturbing species-specific effect is the pressure of ‘inbreeding’.
“Inbreeding means the mating of organisms closely related by ancestry. Organisms (animals) mostly inbreed when it is hard to find mates with different gene pool. This led to many severe conditions and disabilities, including morphological alterations (change in appearance).”
Los Angeles is home to a decent population of mountain lions. These pumas (another name of mountain lions) have become so cut off from other cats that their tails are changing as the result of inbreeding. A new research conducted on these cats and their tail malformation serves as confirmation that the animals are at risk of becoming sterile if nothing is done to increase diversity within the population. Trapped in by the dense network of roads surrounding the Santa Monica Mountains, the mountain lions in LA have the lowest genetic diversity of any mountain lion population in the western United States. Loss of genetic diversity is a vicious event within a population, as the whole population become prone to genetic diseases and lead to malformations and sterility in future generations. The effects of inbreeding are already being seen in the L-shaped kinks at the end of the mountain lions’ tails and some males are exhibiting cryptorchidism.
“Cryptorchidism is a condition in which one or both of the testes fail to descend from the abdomen into the scrotum. This means the individual will be sterile.”
The study has been underway for past 18 years, but a recent announcement from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) marked the first time discovery of physical malformations and it is thought to be directly linked to the population’s inbreeding depression. “Along with a similarly isolated population in the Santa Ana Mountains south of LA, we have seen the lowest levels of genetic diversity ever documented in the West,” said Seth Riley, chief of the wildlife branch for the SMMNRA. The same type of kinked tails and ‘cryptorchidism’ were also seen in these animals, but the crucial difference is that, unlike Florida, LA’s mountain lions have options as there are other large populations in the West.
The best way to fight this problem is to connect the areas and introduce fresh gene pool so that genetic variability increases. Seth Riley suggests that rather than importing mountain lions from other areas it would be better to establish wildlife crossings to bring populations together. These wildlife corridors are quite successful and there are many wildlife corridors in India as well. The bridge or corridor could connect populations of wildlife beyond just mountain lions from south of the 101 Freeway to those in other natural areas to the north in the Simi Hills, the Santa Susana Mountains, and in Los Padres National Forest. If funding efforts are successful, this ambitious project will be the first wildlife overpass established in such a large metropolitan area and will begin construction in 2021. Let’s hope everything goes fine and these pumas are saved as soon as possible.
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Article By – Skand Prateek Kaushik
3 Comments
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