\u201cOr they have to be a sub-species, or for vertebrates, they can be a distinct population segment,\u201d said Emily Latch, associate professor of biological sciences at 51ÁÔÆæ. \u201cIt\u2019s important to delineate taxonomic groups appropriately, because taxonomic classifications have important implications for conservation efforts and ESA protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
That means there could be high stakes for red wolves and Mexican gray wolves as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducts an assessment on the taxonomic status of each breed. Taxonomy refers to an animal\u2019s classification \u2013 its genus, species, etc.<\/p>\n Currently, red wolves are classed as a separate species from the ubiquitous gray wolf that most people are familiar with. Mexican gray wolves are considered a sub-species of the gray wolf. As part of an appropriations bill passed last year, Congress directed the wildlife service to determine if those designations are correct. The outcome could affect conservation efforts for each animal.<\/p>\n Congress directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct an independent assessment of each wolf, so the service turned to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The scientists convened an independent group of experts, including Latch, to give the academy a crash course in wolf taxonomy. Because wolf conservation can be a controversial topic, each expert is a scientist who has a good understanding of genetics or animal behavior but has not been previously involved in wolf conservation debates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve presented information at a series of meetings and webinars. The webinars have been on topics like, \u2018What constitutes a species or a sub-species?\u2019\u201d Latch said. \u201cI talked about how hybridization occurs, how hybrids are maintained and what approaches we might use to evaluate hybridization in species in the wild. Those are the sorts of things my lab does. We use genetic tools to help understand how animals use landscapes and how changes to those landscapes affect evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n Most people are already familiar with hybridization, if only because they\u2019ve seen purebred dogs versus mutts \u2013 hybrids between two or more breeds.<\/p>\n \u201cBut they\u2019re all one species: dogs,\u201d Latch said. \u201cOne of the purest definitions of a species is that they\u2019re two things that don\u2019t interbreed. So once they start to interbreed, it becomes challenging to determine what is a species.\u201d<\/p>\n Hybrids are not afforded protection under the Endangered Species Act.<\/p>\n She\u2019s talking specifically about red wolves. Today, red wolves can be found only in a recovery area in eastern North Carolina. Red wolves frequently interbreed with coyotes and produce hybrid pups. Sometimes, hybrid offspring are sterile and cannot produce babies of its own, such as mules, hybrids between horses and donkeys.\u00a0But red wolf\/coyote hybrids are fertile, challenging managers to keep the populations from mixing and to remove hybrid pups from the wild. With only about 30 red wolves left in the wild, Latch said, it\u2019s an ongoing struggle.<\/p>\n By comparison, conservation efforts for Mexican gray wolves have seen more success, though it has been hard-won and recovery remains a challenge. At one point, the subspecies was extinct in the wild, and the initial captive population was started with just 5 wolves. Through careful breeding efforts, said Latch, the population began to grow and researchers began releasing wolves back into the environment. Today, there are 114 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in the United States and a good captive breeding program, according to the Wolf Conservation Center.<\/p>\n The future of conservation efforts for both breeds is uncertain as the government debates their taxonomic status. Latch isn\u2019t sure of her own opinion either \u2013 the fact that red wolves can hybridize with coyotes makes determining a designation tricky, and the evolutionary history of wolves is complex \u2013 but she\u2019s enjoyed learning from her colleagues around the country as she\u2019s listened to their webinars.<\/p>\n And if she was able to shed some light on hybridization, so much the better.<\/p>\n \u201cI was honored to be able to help the National Academies with this difficult charge, and happy to apply my lab\u2019s work and experience to a new and important conservation problem,\u201d Latch said.<\/p>\n The committee\u2019s report will be released in March. You can learn more about the taxonomic debate at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine website<\/a>, and you can view Latch\u2019s presentation on the academies\u2019 wolf taxonomy webpage<\/a>, starting at 29:20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Emily Latch, associate professor of biological sciences at 51ÁÔÆæ, is giving the U.S. government a hand as it tries to figure out which wolves should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":66159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[249],"section":[139],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[158,161],"class_list":["post-66158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","tag-community-engagement","section-science-technology","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-letters-science","uwmnews-feed-hard-science"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2019\/01\/latch2-latch-emily_600-250x300.jpg\")
Hybrids not protected<\/h3>\n
Future uncertain<\/h3>\n