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Captive breeding appears to have saved the Vancouver Island marmot, but genetic problems may lie hidden in the population, says VIU biologist Prof. Jamie Gorrell who is embarking on a five-year study to determine if the marmot recovery program, breeding animals in zoos and introducing offspring into the wild, has led to a wild population whose individuals are more closely related than is healthy.

Jamie Gorrell, a biology professor at Vancouver Island University, is studying ... inbreeding between the rodents and the resulting lack of genetic diversity. Gorrell has received a 2018 Discovery Grant by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, which will grant him $24,000 per year for five years to conduct the research.