Abstract

This paper presents a small part of an ongoing study to understand the processes and probabilities of genome descent and ancestry within the context of the population pedigrees of small populations. Here we focus on genome survival and descent from founders, using as an example a random-mating population of a diploid dioecious species of 100 males and 100 females in each generation. We consider the descendants of individuals, and then of their genomes, and specifically of the segments of founder genomes represented in the population after varying numbers of generations. We consider the strong positive dependence in survival and descent between the two genomes of founders, and the way in which initial mating structure may impact the dependence between the genomes of founder mates. We discuss these last results in the context of two species, rescued from very small remnant populations: the Przewalski horse and the California condor.