Blackberry Lane Studios (Lesli Kathman)

The Cleveland Bay is among the horse breeds classified as Critically Endangered

General Information Sites

Extensive listing of articles on the subject of genetic diversity as it relates to the breeding of purebred dogs. Most are written for laymen, particularly those breeding dogs.

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

This organization offers a wealth of educational resources.

European Farm Animal Biodiversity Information System (EFABIS)

This site has extensive census information on various breeds of livestock, including horses.

Videos

Pedigree Dogs Exposed (Original)

Few things have generated as much attention for issues of genetic diversity as this BBC documentary. Public reaction in the United Kingdom led to a number of studies and, most recently, very controversial changes to show ring procedures. Warning: Contains scenes that some may find upsetting. A follow-up was made in 2011, and can be purchased here.

Morphological Changes

This video shows the morphing of a gray wolf skull into that of a French Bulldog.

General Interest Articles (not peer reviewed)

The Poodle and the Chocolate Cake

A short, very readable overview of why genetic diversity is an issue in purebred animals, using Standard Poodles as an example

Significant Relationships

This is probably one of the best "plain English" explanations of inbreeding coefficients and what they really mean in terms how two animals are related.

Eliminating Mutation - The Impossible Dream

Like the above two articles by the same author, this one is very straight-forward and covers a broad range of topics relevant to genetic diversity, including the founder effect, genetic drift and inbreeding depression.

Purebred Dogs into the Twenty-First Century

This article ties together issues surrounding genetic diversity and the current culture of purebred dog breeding, and offers potential solutions. Be sure to follow the links at the end, since it is long four-part article.

Genetics and the Shape of Dogs

Talks a bit about the clustering effect among different dog breeds, mutations that change body size and shape, including a bit about the "bully" gene in Whippets which gives a visual effect a bit like HYPP in horses

The Village Dog Diversity Project

Researchers are collecting samples from feral dog populations in remote areas of the world to compare them to existing dog breeds. Results so far have had surprising implications for the origin stories of a number of "African" breeds.

You Can Blame Garrison Keillor's Grandfather

A humorous account of the founding of the (fictional) Minnesota White-Toed Chipmunk Dog, designed to poke fun at breed mythologies.

Breed-Specific Sites and Articles (not peer reviewed)

Genetic diversity of the Irish Draught Horse population and preservation of pedigree lines

This report prepared for the Irish Draught Horse Society contains interesting information on the breed's relationship to other Celtic breeds, including ponies, as well as a handful of Spanish breeds.

Is Subfertility or Infertility Related to Chromosome Abnormalities in the Sorraia Horse?

Bygone Bulldogs

This is a South African site devoted to exploring the changes in the English Bulldog. The extensive collection of skeletal comparisons are of particular interest. (It should be noted that structural extremes are a separate, but interrelated issue when it comes to producing healthy animals.

Genetic Diversity in the Przewalski's Horse

Inbreeding Coefficients for Register of Merit (ROM) Shetland Sheepdogs

Old-Time Farm Shepherd

This website holds the archives for the Farm Collie Movement, which began online in the mid-1990s with sites like the Once and Future Collie, Friends of the Old Farm Collie and the Classic Victorian Collie Club.

Outcross and Backcross Experiments

The Dalmation Backcross Project

Project started in 1973 to reintroduce the gene for normal uric acid (LUA) in Dalmations using a cross to a single purebred Pointer

The Bobtail Boxer Project

This series of articles details attempts to introduce the bobtail gene in Boxers using Corgis. The images are of particular interest, since they show how quickly the Boxers returned to type despite such an extreme outcross. (The bobtail mutation was later shown to be a homozygous lethal, as detailed in this peer-reviewed paper.)

The Basenji African Stock Project

This project was initiated to expand the very limited founder animals (7 males, 5 females - not all of which bred forward, some probably already related) in the Basenji breed.

Society for the Perpetuation of Desert Bred Salukis

This group promotes the use of Salukis imported from the Middle East in Western breeding programs. Further information on history of the Desert Bred Saluki Critique Program and its relationship with the Saluki Club of American can be found here.

Peer-Reviewed Papers - General

Coefficients of Inbreeding and Relationship (1921)

This is the paper that outlines the basis for the Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI) widely used to assess genetic diversity in animals

The Role of Inbreeding in the Extinction of a European Royal Dynasty (2009)

This paper deals with the human Habsburg Dynasty, included here since it is one of the most familiar cases of inbreeding.

Peer-Reviewed Papers - Horses

Most of these links take you to articles of a more technical nature, though the introduction and conclusions often contain information that laymen can find helpful.

Whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of domestic horses reveals incorporation of extensive wild horse diversity during domestication (2011)

This study suggested that an unusually high number of wild founder mares - at least 46 - contributed to the modern domestic horse.

Conservation Genetics of Endangered Horse Breeds (2005)

Published by the European Association for Animal Production, this is a collection of papers on genetic diversity and some of the endangered horse breeds. Along with general topics, there are papers on the Kladruber, Lipizzan, Connemara, Akhal-Teke, Italian Heavy Draft, as well as Norse and British native breeds.

European Domestic Horses Originated in Two Holocene Refugia (2011)

This study examined the genetic diversity in 24 different European breeds, and identified two potential hot spots that contributed to the development of modern horses. A news article on the findings can be found here.

Microsatellite diversity, pedigree relatedness and the contributions of founder lineages to thoroughbred horses (2002) abstract only

History of Lipizzan horse maternal lines as revealed by mtDNA analysis (2002)

This study looked at dam lines in the Lipizzan, which has a pretty broad genetic base with 56 maternal lines representing 37 different haplotypes. The study also identified likely pedigree errors which suggested that lost female lines might still exist in the modern breed.

Genetic diversity of a large set of horse breeds raised in France assessed by microsatellite polymorphism (2009)

This study looked at 34 different French breeds from four different groups (warmblood, draft, Nordic and pony) to assess conservation priorities.

A High Density SNP Array for the Domestic Horse and Extant Perissodactyla: Utility for Association Mapping, Genetic Diversity, and Phylogeny Studies (2012)

The highest diversity in this particular study was the Mongolian Horse, while the lowest was the Thoroughbred. Low levels of diversity in the Thoroughbred have been consistent in a number of studies, which shows that breeding for performance rather than type or fashion does not in itself increase diversity.

Genetic diversity and bottleneck studies in the Marwari horse breed (2005)

Marwaris show a high level of diversity, which suggests the breed has not undergone recent population bottlenecks.

Inbreeding and Genetic Structure in the Endangered Sorraia Horse Breed: Implications for its Conservation and Management

Influence of coat color trends on genetic variability of the Spanish Purebred horse population (2009) abstract only

Genetic Disease - Horses

Please be aware that some of these links may contain disturbing images.

General

Hairless Foal Syndrome (Akhal-Tekes) link may be temporary

JEB - Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (Belgians and other draft breeds)

Wobbler Syndrome (Akhal-Tekes) link may be temporary

HYPP - Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (descendants of Impressive AQHA)

CA - Cerebellar Abiotrophy (Arabians)