Sorry kids, the Gene Pool is closed.
Dog breeds can be looked at like wild island populations, as long as we take care to coordinate assumptions and quantify terms. In breeds, the virtual island is the stud book and immigration to the island only happens when the stud books are open and breeders bring in fresh blood.
A fundamental fact of population genetics is that in closed populations (i.e., without immigration) the presence of only a small number of individuals, sustained over several generations, will lead to the depletion of genetic variation. Thus, the number of individuals is a crucial parameter in determining the amount of genetic variability that can be maintained in a population. This, in turn, influences the probability of long-term survival of a population because genetic variation is requisite for evolutionary adaptation to a changing environment. Thus, maintaining the population numbers and genetic variation must be a central theme of plans for long-term population management.
– Viable Populations for Conservation, Soulé
Chapter 6: Effective population size, genetic variation, and their use in population management; Lande and Barrowclough
In the context of population genetics, every single dog breed was founded by “only a small number of individuals.” Even ones where official stud books show hundreds of “founders.” Hundreds are small numbers in terms of population genetics, and even if we have a stud book with several hundred founders, they are not ideal founders, they are likely already related with many alleles in common, many alleles in saturation, and many genes with only one allele.
Except for definitional hybrids like Longdogs, Lurchers, and Designer Dogs; all breeds also fit the next condition: sustained closed breeding over several generations. This is absolutely true for breeds within closed registries and it is substantially true even for dogs in “open” registries.
To my knowledge, the last non-Border Collie to be Registered on Merit with the ISDS was a Bearded Collie named Turnbull’s Blue in 1984. I’ll write more about him later.
So our breeds exist as closed populations, with a small number of individuals, and this is sustained over many generations. Thus, it’s no surprise that we see the depletion of genetic variation.
And this last bit is so important, it’s worth saying twice.
Genetic variation is a requirement for evolutionary adaptation to a changing environment.
It’s not only that we should strive to give dogs the genetic capital to survive the great arc of history and the imperceivable progress of evolution, but we should likewise seek to preserve and and cherish their versatility and diversity that we haven’t already squandered.
The more traits, qualities, and abilities we appreciate the more likely those traits are to survive to the next generation and beyond. One trick breeds live and die on that trick. So a diversity of purpose as well as a diversity of genes are essential tools for the long term survival and health of our breeds.
* * *
Comments and disagreements are welcome, but be sure to read the Comment Policy. If this post made you think and you'd like to read more like it, consider a donation to my 4 Border Collies' Treat and Toy Fund. They'll be glad you did. You can subscribe to the feed or enter your e-mail in the field on the left to receive notice of new content. You can also like BorderWars on Facebook for more frequent musings and curiosities.
* * *
Anton
Christopher
Lawrence Dillard
Lech
Stephanie
Essere
Michael Soule is also the fellow who discovered the coyotes keep songbird populations viable in the suburbs of San Diego because they prey upon cats. Not only do coyotes keep their numbers down, those cats that want to stay alive don’t wander around where there might be a coyote. So the birds are able to thrive.
retrieverman recently posted..Polar bears eat whale carcass
The AKC might take a lesson from the equestrian set. From the Oldenburg Registry North America website:
The ISR – Oldenburg Registry N.A. is North America’s largest independent Sport Horse Breeding Organization which complies to the highest international standards for modern sport horse breeding:
Open books for all approved sport horse blood lines from North America and Europe
Mandatory inspection of all stallions, mares and foals
Mandatory stallion performance tests according to European / German standards
Just a thought.
Ruth Crisler recently posted..Dog Frustrated by Statue’s Refusal to Throw a Stick
Well… considering the recent progressivism of the Swedish and Finnish Kennel Clubs; and the fact their dogs are still recognized by AKC and CKC, it is sort of a pseudo-open registry. However even if the kennels did follow suit and opened up the studbooks, trying to convince people that it’s okay to use foreign blood is another matter altogether.
Dave recently posted..Trio of Göteborg
No. Dogs are magic; they don’t suffer from inbreeding depression, and they are not livestock! Cows and horses and rabbits are completely and totally different from dogs! Dogs aren’t even mammals!
What we are going to end up with in the US, due to AKC’s head in the sand policy and their relationship with the breed clubs, is governmental regulations regarding dog breeding, made by people who never bred so much as a hamster.
Jess recently posted..Pathology
It certainly is going that way. I don’t blame the voters as they’re furious about the state of affairs of their own pets. Too bad they forget where their pets come from.
Dave recently posted..Trio of Göteborg
Oh, it’s not the Voters, these aren’t ballot initiatives. The HSUS and AR lobby works through the legislature, they don’t trust the unwashed masses to know what’s best for them and they don’t believe in democracy… no, this is the sort of legislation that no one runs on, no one puts on their campaign websites, but which gets pushed through via the special interest lobby.
The HSUS and the Animal Rights Lobby also works very well through “direct democracy.” California is subject to all sorts of ballot initiatives that they sponsor.
I have family in agribusiness, and the absolute last thing they want is to go up against the animal rights lobby in a direct vote. They always lose.
Show some bad examples of farming practices. Make people cry.
And they’ll vote it all away to make sure the cute animals don’t hurt anymore!
retrieverman recently posted..Where the big wolves run
http://www.furcommission.com/resource/perspect95.htm
This is what they do.
retrieverman recently posted..Where the big wolves run
I wasn’t thinking of voters in term of party platform, but rather how politicians will do anything to calm down the outcries. You know, pretend to be the good guy so people will remember all their good deeds for the next election four years down the line.
It seems like most of these animal rights issues pushed are “pat on the back, feels good, we defeated the bad guys” scenarios.
Dave recently posted..Trio of Göteborg
I could not reply to Dave, so…
Animals are a hot button issues. People will frequently get all het up about puppy mills but give not a shit that WIC has been cut. Politicians are often gutless and will avoid saying nay on a bill that involves puppies and kitties.
The HSUS backed breeding bill in my state has passed the house and will now go to a floor vote in the senate. The bill would require that all ‘large scale commercial breeders,’ anyone with more than ten intact bitches, follow USDA regs. These people will decide whether my cross-breeding program lives or dies. My hopes are pinned on the fact that the bill is fiscally crap, there’s no way it will pay for itself through licensing as the ARs say it will.
Jess recently posted..Pathology
I wouldn’t bet on it. We have a gun registry here that is a complete tax drain, yet the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois keep it alive. Canadians don’t give a damn because they honestly believe it “keeps the crime rate down” even though it almost got no hits by the police departments! Politicans are too afraid to admit that it’s useless without receiving huge backlash from the voters. Hopefully the Conservatives will eliminate the stupid program.
So as long there is a “feeling good, bro” association with the bill, people are not exactly rational.
Dave recently posted..Trio of Göteborg
Stalin once said: “One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”
He was not referring to the millions he was killing.
He was referring to the way that the deaths of certain people are portrayed in the West. For example, we go on and on about presidents and celebrities when they pass, but we really don’t care about how many “common” people die every day.
I think in this post-modern, non-fact-based, highly emotionalist world, the phenomenon is even worse. We are more worried about puppies looking sad on TV than we are about whatever happens to people.
It’s now the sadness of a puppy is a tragedy; the deaths of millions of people, chickens, hogs, or butterflies are mere statistics.
retrieverman recently posted..A smooth Irish wolfhound bitch
It’s easier to cry over one puppy than over the death of a thousand people.
The tears shed over the puppy are not tainted by guilt, because its tragedy does not betray our selfishness and apathy like that of the victims of mass atrocities.
Ruth Crisler recently posted..White Belt
Is the ISDS not prepared to register Welsh Sheepdogs? Maybe not, because their way of working is significantly different.
http://www.welshsheepdogsociety.com/onemanandhisdogs.htm
It will be interesting to see what the results of the proposed genetic study shows up because the Welsh Sheepdogs seem to represent the remnant of the population from which the Border Collie was created.
rosemary recently posted..Phones and phone calls
Every single dedicated breeder should have the knowledge found in this book.
In addition to important information on genetics, it has very interesting information on the evolution of dogs and a great chapter on behavior which even goes into detail on the stages of development in puppies and effects of environment on behavior.
There is excellent information about hereditary problems, genetic disorders, and even mate selection. There is a list at the back of every breed with their hereditary disorders listed and mode of inheritance when known, which should be especially helpful for breeders. There is also breed-specific information on coat colors and alleles- which, by the way, used to look like an exotic foreign language to me and now makes sense!
I had a very simple understanding of Mendelian genetics before I read this (from reading “The Joy of Breeding Your Own Show Dog by Anne Seranne- another great book.) This book made my understanding complete.
Before I read this book I thought that genetics were going to be difficult and boring to learn, but the author does a great job of keeping the subject interesting. The preface mentions that the author had her breeder friend, who was confused and intimidated by genetics, read the manuscript and point out areas that were especially confusing to a beginner or areas that needed clarification, etc. Maybe this is one of the reasons why this book is so effective.
A great, absolute must-have book that I highly recommend!