Preprint introduces kinference software for pairwise kinship detection in wildlife population studies

Close-Kin Mark-Recapture (CKMR) is a statistical framework that uses genetic relatedness — rather than physical recapture of tagged individuals — to estimate demographic parameters of wild animal populations, including population size, mortality rates, and spatial connectivity. The approach relies on identifying pairs of closely related individuals (parent-offspring or full siblings) among sampled animals, treating the detection of such pairs as the analogue of a traditional mark-recapture event.

A preprint posted to bioRxiv introduces kinference, a software tool designed specifically for the pairwise kinship-detection step that underpins CKMR analyses. The authors describe the statistical methods implemented and demonstrate the tool's application to fisheries and wildlife contexts. CKMR is described by the authors as beginning to change how wildlife managers obtain demographic information, particularly for species where traditional mark-recapture is logistically difficult.

While the primary application domain is ecology and wildlife management rather than human genetics, the methods are closely related to pairwise kinship inference techniques used in human population genetics and forensic genomics. Researchers working on kinship inference algorithms, genealogical reconstruction, or the genetics of natural populations will find the methodological developments relevant. As a preprint, the findings have not yet been peer-reviewed.