RE: Further thoughts on SMP -- from Dave's response sort of a refutation

[Jota Melgar <jsmelgar@compuserve.com>]

>If collections are done along a
>stretch of a river for the same species, there is some genetic drift as
>isolated pockets do develop--that's what happens in the hobby as well.

Theoretically all populations go through drift to some extent since none =
of
them are infinite. However, the amount of drift seen in our aquariums doe=
s
not compare by any stretch of the imagination, for most species, to that
seen in wild populations.

> And by that nature, anything we work with, is
>highly likely to be from a single pair (especially of a rare fish).
>Can't get away from that unless we collect multiple specimens on our
>own.

Sure we can. All we have to do is make sure that every few years we
introduce some unrelated male or female to our breeding stock. This is
another reason why it is important to have a SMP.

Julio