Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon Guidelines for genetic management in mammal translocation programs Carlo Pacioni a,b, ⁎ , Adrian F. Wayne a,c , Manda Page d a School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch 6150, Western Australia, Australia b Arthur Rylah Institute, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg 3084, Victoria, Australia c Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Manjimup 6258, Western Australia, Australia d Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington 6151, Western Australia, Australia ABSTRACT Adequate levels of genetic diversity are important for the long-term success of translocated populations. Typically, population genetic theory and mathematical models are used to inform expected outcomes in different contexts. However, difficulties arise when trying to translate theoretical expectations into management actions. Providing practical guidelines on how to maximise the genetic diversity of translocated populations will help bridge this gap. In this study we develop guidelines for genetic management in translocation programs that consider genetic dynamics associated with population establishment, the harvest of founders from a source population, and the supplementation of an existing population over eight generations. Guidelines were informed by individual-based modelling. Given the nature of the modelling framework that we adopted, we report results in terms of the actual number of individuals and genetic diversity parameters as these are estimated in field-based studies. Our results demonstrate that 10 releases of 50 or two releases of 100 individuals should be carried out to establish a new population. Repeated harvests (each) of > 30% of a source population within a generation had a negative impact on its genetic diversity and demographics. The survival of > 20% of the supplemented individuals was needed for the supplementation program to be effective. Concurrently, the survival of resident animals also had a major effect. We make available a R utility to explore potential outcomes under different management scenarios. We considered our results to be directly applicable to polygamous, continuous breeder species, and generally informative for a wide range of vertebrate species. 1. Introduction Species translocations are an important conservation tool (Griffith et al., 1989; IUCN, 2012; Seddon et al., 2007) and their success is de- pendent not only on the establishment and persistence of demo- graphically viable populations, but also on retaining genetic fitness and evolutionary potential (Goossens et al., 2002; IUCN, 2012; Pacioni et al., 2013). Population genetic theory has been used to provide broad guidelines on genetic management of translocated populations; how- ever, genetic considerations have rarely received primary attention, especially in vertebrates, in either the planning, execution or mon- itoring phases of translocation programs (Mijangos et al., 2015). Moreover, testing of the applicability and efficiency of such theories has been limited (but see Frankham, 2015, 2016). This work aims to pro- vide more specific and practical guidelines to translocation programs to maximise the genetic diversity of translocated populations. Using in- dividual-based simulations (i.e. where single individual characteristics are explicitly modelled and monitored through time), the effect of different management actions was explored by considering population dynamics that include deterministic as well as demographic and en- vironmental stochastic processes. Specifically, three common situations were modelled to investigate associated genetic dynamics: the establishment of a new population, the harvest of founders from a source population and the supplementation of an existing population. During the establishment of a new population the aim from a ge- netic point of view should be to replicate as much as possible the ge- netic profile of the source population. Generally, the use of a large number of founders is recommended, but there is no strict prescription on the minimum to be used. Weeks et al. (2011) recommend the use of 20–50 founders to capture > 95% of the genetic diversity of the source population. However, practical limitations (e.g. availability of in- dividuals, human and financial resources, etc.) are often the main fac- tors that determine the number of individuals that are actually moved. The harvest of individuals can affect the demographic growth and the genetic profile of the source population. On the other hand, when many populations need to be supplemented and/or established as part of a conservation program, large numbers of founders may be required. To date, there have been no practical guidelines to assist managers in the timing, frequency and number of animals that can be harvested, without impacting the source population. Supplementation of existing populations may be performed to boost their demography and/or to improve their genetic diversity (Hedrick and Fredrickson, 2010; Hedrick, 1995; IUCN, 2012). Wright (1931) established that one migrant per generation (OMPG) would be https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.019 Received 9 February 2019; Received in revised form 14 June 2019; Accepted 16 June 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. E-mail address: Carlo.pacioni@delwp.vic.gov.au (C. Pacioni). Biological Conservation 237 (2019) 105–113 0006-3207/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T