The importance of an evolutionary perspective in conservation policy planning

Abstract

Prioritization of taxa for conservation must rest on a foundation of correctly identified species boundaries, enhanced by an understanding of evolutionary history and phylogenetic relationships. Therefore, we can incorporate both evolutionary and ecological processes into efforts to sustain biodiversity. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Malaney & Cook () highlight the critical value of an evolutionary biogeographical approach, combining multilocus phylogeography with climatic niche modelling to infer phylogenetically weighted conservation priorities for evolutionary lineages of jumping mice across North America. Remarkably, they find that the Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei), long debated as a threatened taxon, in fact represents the southern terminus of a relatively uniform lineage that expanded well into Alaska during the Holocene. By contrast, some other relictual and phylogenetically divergent taxa of jumping mice likely warrant greater conservation priority. This study highlights the value of integrative approaches that place current taxonomy in a broader evolutionary context to identify taxa for conservation assessment, but also highlights the challenges in maintaining potential for adaptive responses to environmental change.

Translocated to the fringe: genetic and niche variation in bighorn sheep of the Great Basin and northern Mojave deserts

“…Repatriation programmes have facilitated the recovery of bighorn sheep (Krausman, ) following population losses (Buechner, ). From a conservation biology perspective, management action should seek to maintain ecological and evolutionary processes (Moritz, ; Crandall et al ., ; Moritz & Potter, ) and consider biogeographic history (Malaney & Cook, ). Much of the genetic and niche‐based differences we observe are presumably the result of a dynamic history following divergence from O. dalli (Rezaei et al ., ) and diversification that occurred in geographically isolated populations (Loehr et al ., ).…”

Congruent phylogeographic patterns in a young radiation of live‐bearing marine snakes: Pleistocene vicariance and the conservation implications of cryptic genetic diversity

“…For example, over one‐third of coral species are threatened with extinction due to the effects of climate change (Carpenter et al., ), and evidence of cryptic genetic diversity in corals suggests this figure could be much higher (Richards, Berry, & van Oppen, ). Traditional conservation actions that focus on tackling common causes of species declines, such as habitat loss (Thomas et al., ), may not optimize the conservation of genetic divergence and diversity (Beger et al., ), or their underlying evolutionary processes (Moritz & Potter, ), crucial for responding to more ubiquitous impacts, such as climate change or disease (Thomas et al., ). For example, the current global system of marine protected areas may not be protecting the evolutionary diversity of corals and reef fishes (Mouillot et al., ).…”

“…For example, the current global system of marine protected areas may not be protecting the evolutionary diversity of corals and reef fishes (Mouillot et al., ). Approaches for incorporating genetic information into conservation planning include identifying and prioritizing evolutionary significant lineages (Moritz & Potter, ) and/or optimizing geographic patterns of genetic diversity and divergence (Nielsen, Beger, Henriques, Selkoe, & von der Heyden, ). These approaches necessitate surveying the spatial breadth of species’ ranges to uncover important phylogeographic variation, including cryptic species (Bickford et al., ), with multispecies studies essential for elucidating key patterns and processes underlying marine biodiversity for integrative management (von der Heyden et al., ).…”

Spatial mismatches between plant biodiversity facets and evolutionary legacy in the vicinity of a major Mediterranean city

“…The inclusion of the evolutionary history of populations in conservation planning is an important issue for long-term management of biodiversity (Moritz, 2002;Sechrest et al, 2002;Tucker et al, 2012;Moritz and Potter, 2013). Historically isolated sets of populations are likely to have distinct evolutionary potential (Moritz, 1994): their existence is the consequence of past evolutionary processes that occurred within populations, shaping genome diversity and structuring genetic variation as well as a response to selection in case of environmental change .…”

“…Dealing with pattern and history, biogeography has attached great importance to macrorefugia and microrefugia (Avise, 2009;Mosblech et al, 2011;Hampe and Jump, 2011;Keppel et al, 2012;Mee and Moore, 2013) because of their role in the persistence of the genetic and specific components of biodiversity, notably species endemism (Sandel et al, 2014). In the Mediterranean region, a positive association has been observed between hotspots of plant endemism and phylogeographically defined refugia, designating them as areas requiring special attention for conservation (Médail and Diadema, 2009).…”