Incorporation of new founders into captive populations

This report describes preliminary studies intended to develop generalizations for the optimal incorporation of newcomers into breeding pools. Small populations, which grow from four to a stable size of 16 animals per generation, were simulated on a computer. New founders were introduced and various breeding schemes tried and evaluated for their effect on inbreeding coefficients and founder representation. Two variables were examined for their effects on inbreeding and founder representation: number of progeny produced by crossing new founders with the established population, and number of mates the new founder had from the established population. Increasing the value of these variables to the point at which new‐founder representation was equal to the original founders' representations decreased inbreeding. Beyond this point, inbreeding increased.