A purpose of ex-situ populations is the preservation of genetic variation, but this is a challenging task since genetic diversity is commonly lost through each generation, and so the establishment of management guidelines should be a high priority. Fifty years ago, the National University of Colombia began a breeding program in the Roberto Franco Tropical Station (in Villavicencio, Meta) to conserve the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus intermedius. Despite the large number of individuals raised and kept in captivity, the Station has not been able to release individuals due to a lack of a complete genetic characterization that could determine whether the population is genetically viable. In this study we used a panel of 17 microsatellite loci to overcome this problem. We estimated from the founder animals and the live crocodiles the inbreeding, heterozygosities, the number of alleles, and their richness, and frequencies to understand the effects of managing a captive breeding program without considering genetic profiles. Our results revealed that the living population maintains much of its founder diversity with high levels of heterozygosity and low overall inbreeding, making it suitable for maintaining captive breeding and for implementing wild releases. We estimated the individual genetic diversity of the living crocodiles, as well as their relationships. This information, combined with the size, sex, and location, allowed us to propose combinations and to restructure the breeding groups. We demonstrated that molecular data could be used to improve the management of ex-situ conservation programs well beyond what could be achieved with pedigree information alone.

中文翻译：

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希望是最后失去的东西：哥伦比亚圈养的极度濒危奥里诺科鳄鱼（Crocodylus intermedius）种群是一个遗传库，可以帮助拯救该物种免于灭绝

 异地种群的一个目的是保存遗传变异，但这是一项具有挑战性的任务，因为遗传多样性通常会在每一代中丧失，因此建立管理指南应成为重中之重。五十年前，哥伦比亚国立大学在罗伯托·佛朗哥热带站（位于梅塔比亚维森西奥）开始了一项繁殖计划，以保护极度濒危的奥里诺科鳄鱼 Crocodylus intermedius。尽管饲养和圈养了大量个体，但由于缺乏可以确定该种群在遗传上是否可行的完整遗传特征，空间站未能释放个体。在本研究中，我们使用一组 17 个微卫星位点来克服这个问题。我们估计了始祖动物和活鳄鱼的近交、杂合性、等位基因的数量及其丰富度和频率，以了解在不考虑遗传特征的情况下管理圈养繁殖计划的效果。我们的结果显示，现存种群保持了其创始人的大部分多样性，具有高水平的杂合性和较低的整体近亲繁殖，使其适合维持圈养繁殖和实施野生释放。我们估计了现存鳄鱼的个体遗传多样性以及它们的关系。这些信息与大小、性别和位置相结合，使我们能够提出组合建议并重组育种群体。