Relative influence of temporal and geographic separation of source populations in a successful marten reintroduction

Reintroduced populations face a genetic bottleneck due to the founding event of the reintroduction. Bringing in additional animals from different locations, or at different times, can restore genetic variation to a reintroduced population and offset the founder event. The reintroduced population of martens in Michigan came from 3 different locations in Ontario and occurred over a 24-year period. The high level of genetic variation found in Michigan's reintroduced marten population could be due to the multiple source locations or the temporal separation of the reintroductions. Based on the genetic variation found in martens, the 3 source locations more likely represent subsamples from a single population and the observed level of genetic variation is due to the temporal separation of the reintroduction events.