Linking the spatial and genomic structure of adaptive potential for conservation management: a review

Abstract

We unified the recent literature with the goal to contribute to the discussion on how genetic diversity might best be conserved. We argue that this decision will be guided by how genomic variation is distributed among manageable populations (i.e. its spatial structure), the degree to which adaptive potential is best predicted by variation across the entire genome or the subset of that variation that is identified as putatively adaptive (i.e. its genomic structure), and whether we are managing species as single entities or as collections of diversifying lineages. The distribution of genetic variation and our ultimate goal will have practical implications for on-the-ground management. If adaptive variation is largely polygenic or responsive to change, its spatial structure might be broadly governed by the forces determining genome-wide variation (linked selection, drift, and gene flow), making measurement and prioritization straightforward. If we are managing species as single entities, then population-level prioritization schemes are possible so as to maximize future pooled genetic variation. We outline one such scheme based on the popular Shapley Value from cooperative game theory that considers the relative genetic contribution of a population to an unknown future collection of populations.