Do We Need to Identify Adaptive Genetic Variation When Prioritizing Populations for Conservation?

Signature of mid‐Pleistocene lineages in the European silver fir (Abies albaMill.) at its geographic distribution margin

“…Populations with the highest genetic diversity are likely to display increased resilience and those harboring different ancestral alleles in past refuge zones are likely adapted to different environments, a crucial information for prioritizing population conservation (Fady et al, 2016;Fernandez-Fournier et al, 2021;. A significant number of phylogeographic studies have demonstrated the role of Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum in the distribution of species, populations, and their genetic diversity in the world's temperate regions, emphasizing climate change and dispersal as the main drivers of observed and modeled patterns.…”

“…Knowledge of how genetic diversity is structured is important for delineating conservation strategies and identifying areas where conservation efforts should be focused (Moritz & Faith, 1998 ). Populations with the highest genetic diversity are likely to display increased resilience and those harboring different ancestral alleles in past refuge zones are likely adapted to different environments, a crucial information for prioritizing population conservation (Fady et al., 2016 ; Fernandez‐Fournier et al., 2021 ; Hampe & Petit, 2005 ).…”

Applying Population Viability Analysis to Inform Genetic Rescue That Preserves Locally Unique Genetic Variation in a Critically Endangered Mammal

“…However, selection is generally weaker in small populations because genetic drift has a greater influence on allele frequencies [23]. Preserving genome-wide variation, including variation that is currently neutral, also enhances future adaptive potential [14,24,25]. Thus, it is of interest to estimate how much locally unique genome-wide variation will persist in a population under genetic rescue, especially if candidate populations for genetic rescue are small.…”

“…Sourcing migrants for genetic rescue of the lowland population from highland populations is the only available option, which has been assessed to have a low risk of outbreeding depression [37]. Although genetic variation unique to the lowland population at Yellingbo has been characterised with microsatellite markers and short mitochondrial sequences [36], it was not assessed with genome-wide markers, which should better approximate functional and standing variation [24,25]. Doing so would be an important step in planning translocation strategies that do not replace the local gene pool.…”

Plant Conservation Practitioners Can Benefit from Neutral Genetic Diversity

“…Due to the advent of genomic tools by high throughput sequencing (HTS), researchers on population and landscape genomics have primarily studied model species on the adaptation of local populations, climate change adaptation, and conservation (or restoration) biology (reviewed in [16][17][18]). Furthermore, recent advances in computational methods and reduced HTSrelated costs for using genetic data (e.g., SNPs) to identify adaptive loci through association with phenotypic traits or environmental factors have increased the number of published papers [19,20]. Recently, some conservation geneticists have suggested that policy makers integrate genomics into decision making for laws protecting endangered species [9,21].…”