Processes and Consequences
Population bottlenecks create shrinking gene pools, which leave fewer and fewer fertile mating partners. The genetic implications can be illustrated by considering the analogy of a high stakes poker game with a crooked dealer. Consider that the game begins with a 52-card deck (representing high genetic diversity). Reduction of the number of breeding pairs with unique genes resembles the situation where the dealer deals only the same five cards over and over, producing only a few limited "hands".
As specimens begin to inbreed, both physical and reproductive congenital effects and defects appear more often. Abnormal sperm increase, infertility rises, and birthrates decline. "Most perilous are the effects on the immune defense systems, which become weakened and less and less able to fight off an increasing number of bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic, and other disease-producing threats. Thus, even if an endangered species in a bottleneck can withstand whatever human development may be eating away at its habitat, it still faces the threat of an epidemic that could be fatal to the entire population."
Read more about this topic: Genetic Erosion
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