Inbreeding can threaten population persistence by reducing disease resistance through the accelerated loss of gene diversity (i.e. heterozygosity). Such inbreeding depression can affect many different fitness-related traits, including survival, reproductive success, and parasite susceptibility. Empirically quantifying the effects of inbreeding on parasite resistance is therefore important for e...

The current study analyses and presents the results of ten-year establishment phase Griffon Vulture ( Gyps fulvus ) local re-introduction in Vrachanski Balkan Nature Park, north-western Bulgaria. Between 2010 2020, 61 rehabilitated captive-bred Vultures from Spain, France several European zoos were released an acclimatisation aviary. first successful breeding wild was reported 2015. Thus, speci...

Across species, diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is critical to individual disease resistance and, hence, to population health; however, MHC diversity can be reduced in small, fragmented, or isolated populations. Given the need for comparative studies of functional genetic diversity, we investigated whether MHC diversity differs between populations which are open, that is...