Wildlife translocation: the conservation implications of pathogen exposure and genetic heterozygosity

BMC Ecology

Table 1 Multi-locus heterozygosity (MLH) and prevalence of antibodies to pathogens among bighorn sheep from the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR) in Arizona, the Red Rock Wildlife Area (RRWA) in New Mexico, and the San Andres Mountains (SAM) in New Mexico, USA.

	RRWA ^a 2002 n = 30	KNWR ^a 2002 n = 20	KNWR ^a 2005 n = 31	SAM ^a 2007 n = 9
Pathogen Exposure ^b
BTV	38.7%	0%	0%	11%
PI3	74.2%	33.3%	34.0%	22%
BRSV	19.4%	42.9%	34.0%	11%
Genetic Diversity ^c
MLH	0.39	0.57	0.60	0.59

^a Bighorn sheep from RRWA and KNWR were sampled at the time of their translocation into the SAM (2002, 2005), and offspring from these animals were sampled in 2007 in the SAM.
^b BTV = bluetongue virus, PI3 = parainfluenza-3 virus, BRSV = bovine respiratory syncitial virus
^c Based on analysis of 30 microsatellite loci

ISSN: 1472-6785