The long‐standing significance of genetic diversity in conservation

Abstract

Since allozymes were first used to assess genetic diversity in the 1960s and 1970s, biologists have attempted to characterize gene pools and conserve the diversity observed in domestic crops, livestock, zoos and (more recently) natural populations. Recently, some authors have claimed that the importance of genetic diversity in conservation biology has been greatly overstated. Here, we argue that a voluminous literature indicates otherwise. We address four main points made by detractors of genetic diversity's role in conservation by using published literature to firmly establish that genetic diversity is intimately tied to evolutionary fitness, and that the associated demographic consequences are of paramount importance to many conservation efforts. We think that responsible management in the Anthropocene should, whenever possible, include the conservation of ecosystems, communities, populations and individuals, and their underlying genetic diversity.

Not out of the woods yet: Signatures of the prolonged negative genetic consequences of a population bottleneck in a rapidly re‐expanding wader, the black‐faced spoonbill Platalea minor

“…frequencies over time (genetic drift) could lead to allelic extinction or the loss of genetic diversity, that is, genetic erosion (Allendorf, 1986). Although genome-wide genetic diversity had been recently argued to be irrelevant to evolutionary potential and therefore conservation of a species (Teixeira & Huber, 2021), results of an increasing number of studies support the view that genome-wide genetic diversity is associated with individual fitness, long-term survival, and the adaptive potential of a population (DeWoody et al, 2021;García-Dorado & Caballero, 2021). Therefore, loss of genetic diversity would compromise a species' potential to evolve in response to the ever-changing environment (Barrett & Schluter, 2008;Lai et al, 2019;Lande & Shannon, 1996).…”

Plant Conservation Practitioners Can Benefit from Neutral Genetic Diversity

“…To date, the vast majority of studies on conservation genetics have been based on NGV. One of the reasons researchers use NGV is that a reservoir of genetic diversity in plant populations that is neutral now could become adaptive when the environmental conditions change in the future [1,2].…”

“…In very recent times, a debate about the assumption that NGV would be considered a proxy for AGV has arisen [2,20,[22][23][24]. In particular, Teixeira and Huber [24] claim that NGV does not predict adaptive potential (AGV).…”

Bottleneck‐associated changes in the genomic landscape of genetic diversity in wild lynx populations

“…The transition from markers to genomes offers the opportunity to incorporate functional variation into the genetic assessment of endangered species, and this has prompted calls to abandon neutral variation in favor of functional variation and even to question the relevance of neutral diversity in conservation (Teixeira & Huber, 2021 ). Whereas there are many arguments and practical considerations for maintaining a focus on neutral variation in conservation genomic studies, it is clear that the field greatly needs a better understanding of the interaction of functional genetic diversity and demographic history (DeWoody et al, 2021 ; García‐Dorado & Caballero, 2021 ). Furthermore, the incorporation of functional variation might provide novel and much needed parameters to effectively detect populations where genetic diversity might be compromising fitness and population viability.…”