[1] It is largely implemented through translocation, a type of demographic rescue and technical migration that adds individuals to a population to prevent its potential extinction.
[2] The conceptual foundation of genetic rescue can be traced back to the work of geneticist Sewall Wright, who studied the effect of immigration among populations linked by gene flow.
[6] This conservation technique intended to increase the fitness of a small, imperiled population[2][3] through the introduction of beneficial alleles through migration.
[2] An unsuccessful genetic rescue may occur if the addition of new genes causes outbreeding depression, which decreases their population fitness.
An Introduced individuals can also positively or negatively affect genetic rescue through behaviors such as mate choice, dominance hierarchies, and infanticide.
[16] This effort was deemed successful after analysis showed a 4% annual population growth rate following the immigration event.
[10] it is possible that the new immigrant brought a new detrimental allele that increased in frequency as he interbred with the original population or that a single individual was insufficient to overcome the negative impact of genetic load.
[10] The greater prairie chicken is a ground-nesting bird with ecological and evolutionary hurdles that necessitated genetic rescue to avoid extinction.
[1] It was widely distributed across the North American great plains but now requires population management in small remnant areas.
This prompted genetic rescue efforts and movement of individuals from neighboring states to increase Illinois greater prairie chicken numbers.
Although the initial genetic rescue actions seem to have led to an increase in fitness, prairie habitat is now limiting recovery.