Call for a Paradigm Shift in the Genetic Management of Fragmented Populations

By K. Ralls, J. Ballou, Michele R. Dudash, Mark Eldridge, C. Fenster, R. Lacy, P. Sunnucks, R. Frankham. 2018

430 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Thousands of small populations are at increased risk of extinction because genetics and evolutionary biology are not well‐integrated into conservation planning–a major lost opportunity for effective actions. We propose that if the risk of outbreeding depression is low, the default should be to evaluate restoration of gene flow to small inbred populations of diploid outbreeding organisms that were isolated by human activities within the last 500 years, rather than inaction. We outline the elements of a scientific‐based genetic management policy for fragmented populations of plants and animals, and discuss the reasons why the current default policy is, inappropriately, inaction.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Genetics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d91485d7011bd1db42f3bcb7b569b6e4df9597f5

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecological Modeling

1. M. Byrne
2. B. Mable
3. A. Hoffmann
4. D. Coates
5. C. Moritz
6. Andrew Lowe
7. J. Scoble
8. Jane Elith

In Ecology

1. D. Coates
2. M. Byrne
3. A. Hoffmann
4. A. Weeks
5. C. Moritz
6. Steven L. Chown
7. John S. Terblanche

In Genetics

1. B. Mable
2. M. Byrne
3. D. Coates
4. A. Hoffmann
5. C. Moritz
6. Judit Lienert
7. Andrew Lowe
8. J. Scoble

Citations in the corpus

• Unbiased population heterozygosity estimates from genome-wide sequence data (2020, background): “, 2020), an important parameter that can indicate a need for genetic intervention in threatened species (Ralls et al., 2018).”
• Genetic Diversity and Conservation Units: Dealing With the Species-Population Continuum in the Age of Genomics (2018, background): “Delimiting conservation units as important elements of intraspecific diversity also has significant implications for genetic rescue of small inbred populations through restoration of gene flow or by augmentation and it is becoming increasingly clear that genetic rescue needs to be considered more br”
• Conservation of adaptive potential and functional diversity: integrating old and new approaches (2018, background): “Nevertheless, concern remains that lack of consensus on species definitions will inhibit conservation efforts (Frankham 2010), with some promoting return to the biological species concept rather than evolutionary based definitions for making conservation management decisions (Ralls et al. 2017) and ”