Marshall, AF;
Balloux, F;
Brown, L;
Flach, E;
Richardson, A;
Steeves, TE;
Spiro, S;
... Brekke, P; + view all
(2025)
True fertilisation failure in captivity is rare.
Global Ecology and Conservation
, 61
, Article e03687. 10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03687.
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Abstract
Species recovery through captive breeding can be hindered by low reproductive success. However, we know little about the drivers of early reproductive failure in captive populations, due to difficulties distinguishing fertilisation failure from early embryo mortality in most animals. Here, we apply advanced fertility diagnostics on unhatched eggs from 30 avian captive-breeding programs, to assess true rates of fertilisation failure. We find that fertilisation failure is rare across all species, and the main driver of early reproductive failure is early embryo mortality. We also find that macroscopic examination of undeveloped eggs inflates estimates of fertilisation failure rates in breeding programmes. Finally, we find no evidence that fertilisation failure rates are higher in threatened than non-threatened captive birds, providing hope that with careful management, hatching outcomes may be improved in threatened captive populations. Our results show that accurate fertility diagnosis in managed oviparous species provides crucial information on individual reproductive potential, helping the design of more appropriate management interventions to improve recovery.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | True fertilisation failure in captivity is rare |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03687 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03687 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Birds, Captive-breeding, Embryo mortality, Endangered species, Fertility, Hatching success |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10211283 |
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