DNA-FINGERPRINTING OF CAPTIVE BREEDING PAIRS OF LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (ANSER ERYTHROPUS) WITH UNKNOWN PEDIGREES

For a number of decades, the lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythro pus) has been almost-absent from the Fennoscandian fauna and has a cur rent population size of only about 60 breeding pairs, with fewer than 10 pairs in Sweden. During the period 1981-1991 more than 200 young ha ve been reintroduced in northern Sweden. However, the origin and possi ble relatedness of lesser white-fronted individuals were unknown when the breeding program started. We have used DNA fingerprinting to asses s the similarity of 18 individuals, ie., the entire captive population used for breeding in 1991 and about 60% of the captive population use d in 1981-1991. Minisatellite probe 33.15 provided an index for an ave rage similarity of 0.39 between the mates of the 12 breeding pairs use d for producing offspring for reintroduction. This is a higher similar ity than in natural populations of birds in general but lower than in populations that have passed through serious population bottlenecks. I ndividuals originating from different breeders are more dissimilar tha n those from the same breeder. However, the close relationships (simil arity, 0.5-0.6) found in a group of five individuals from different br eeders show that selecting individuals from different breeding groups is not sufficient to prevent mating between closely related individual s.