Population Genetics & Disease

When wolves are captured to be collared, park staff draw blood samples to assess the health and condition of the wolf population. Blood work is used to: assess the genetic diversity of the wolf population and whether it is increasing or decreasing; determine whether wolves have moved into the Yellowstone population from other areas, as they will have a different genetic profile; and identify which diseases the wolves have been exposed to and which may have been responsible in years when wolf survival rates are poor. A collaborative effort with the University of California at Los Angeles was initiated in 2005 to use genetic techniques to construct a pedigree for all handled Yellowstone wolves and understand gene flow between the three Rocky Mountain wolf recovery areas. Blood samples from more than 500 wolves from Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming were sent to the canid genetics lab at UCLA for genotyping and determination of heterozygosity (a measure of genetic diversity). A high level of heterozygosity (0.64) was found for Yellowstone wolves indicating a genetically robust population. Regional differences in the wolf populations were also determined and migration assessed. Movement of Yellowstone wolves to Idaho appears to be frequent, but none moved from Yellowstone to the northwest Montana recovery area. Immi­gra­tion from Idaho and northwest Montana into Yellowstone also appears to be rare, indicating some isolation of wolves in Yellowstone.