Sam Mitchell

Project: Genetic load, fitness and conservation in the Seychelles warbler.

Advances in genomics now enable us to predict the genetic load - the effect of each deleterious mutation in an individual’s genome on fitness. Incorporating this information into conservation management planning may better effectuate translocations and assisted gene flow, increasing the viability of vulnerable populations. However, the relationship between load predictions and empirical impacts on fitness remains unclear, largely due to the difficulty in obtaining comprehensive fitness data in wild populations. Sam will use the long-term Seychelles warbler fitness records in combination with recently developed genomic data from more than 1,900 individuals to: investigate the relationship between predictions of genetic load and fitness; quantify the fitness effect of fixed deleterious mutations in the Seychelles Warbler; and assess how genetic load estimates can inform translocation planning.