Conservation Genetics the use and importance of genetic information

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Conservation Geneticsthe use and importance of
genetic information

• ???(Ayo)
• ?????? ??????? ??
• Japalura_at_hotmail.com

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Contents

• Genetic variation what is it and why is it
  important?
• Forces that affect genetic variation within
  populations
• Using conservation genetics to inform management
• Identifying and prioritizing groups for
  conservation
• Genetic information and design and implementation
  of breeding strategies
• Forensics and species or population
  identification
• Understanding effects of population exploitation
  on levels of genetic diversity
• Limitations of using genetics in conservation
  planning

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Supplements

• Box 11.1 measures of genetic diversity
• Box 11.2 estimation of effective population size
• Box 11.3 calculation of F-statistics
• Essay 11.1 co-adaptation, local adaptation, and
  out-breeding depression
• Essay 11.2 a rose is a rose is a rose

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Supplements

• Case study 11.1 genetics and demography of
  grizzly bear populations
• Case study 11.2 using genetic analyses to guide
  management of Pacific salmonids
• Case study 11.3 Scat-singing the wildlife
  conservation blues.

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Introduction

• Contemporary extinction rates are as high as any
  that have ever occurred on Earth.
• When a population or species disappears, all of
  the genetic information carried by that
  population or species is lost.
• Gene pools are becoming diminished and fragmented
  into gene puddles.

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Genetic issues in conservation biology

1. inbreeding depression
2. Loss of genetic diversity and ability to evolve
   in response to environmental change
3. Fragmentation of populations and reduction in
   gene flow
4. Genetic drift
5. Genetic adaptation to captivity and its adverse
   effects on reintroduction success
6. Resolving taxonomic uncertainties

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1. Defining management units within species
2. Use of genetic analyses in forensics(????)
3. Use of molecular genetic analyses to understand
   aspects of species biology.
4. Deleterious effects of fitness that sometimes
   occur as a result of out-crossing (outbreeding
   depression)

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Using conservation genetics to inform management

• Allow continued evolutionary change.
• Ecological systems are dynamic and generally are
  not at equilibrium.
• The best way to manage such dynamic, changing
  systems is to permit and allow for change.

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Time scales of concern

1. Maintenance of viable population in the short
   term (extinction avoidance)
2. Maintenance of the ability to continue adaptive
   evolutionary change,
3. Maintenance of the capacity for continued
   speciation

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Identifying and prioritizing groups for
conservation

• Conserve basal taxa
• Conserve species-rich groups
• Conserve species that are most different from one
  another
• Conserve those taxa maximize phylogenetic
  diversity (PD)

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Genetic information and design and implementation
of breeding strategies

• Use of pedigrees (??)
• Pedigree analysis represents the genetic study of
  multigenerational population with ancestral
  linkages that are known.
• Use of pedigrees is typically restricted to
  relatively small captive populations (zoos,
  domestic, or companion animals)
• Estimation of degree of relatedness without
  knowledge of pedigree relationships
• Polymorphic loci analysis
• Genetic markers

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Forensics (????)

• Molecular genetics has been used for forensic
  identification of commercial products from
  endangered species.
• Products including ivory, horn, shell, meat,
  feathers, dried leaves and a host of other
  commercially valuable items that are derived from
  plant or animal materials.

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Individual identification and estimation of
population size

• Small quantities of DNA can be routinely
  collected noninvasively using hairs, feathers,
  feces, and even sloughed skin.
• Reviews of technology and empirical applications
  are provided in Cornuet et al. (1999), Mills et
  al. (2000), and Palsboll (1999).
• ???? identify individuals, ??mark-recapture
  ???????????

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Fig. 11.13 Forensic identification using mtDNS of
dolphin or minke whale meat samples legally
sold in Japanese markets. All bold faced
specimens were from whale species that have not
been legally harvestable since 1976.
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Understanding effects of population exploitation
on levels of genetic diversity

• Many species are subjected to sport or commercial
  harvest.
• Exploitation changes population size, sex ratio,
  and age structure that can have effects on
  genetic diversity.
• Male-only harvest of deer and the resulting sex
  ratio skew in favor of females in populations of
  mule deer.
• Commercially exploitation of Pacific salmon

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Limitations of using genetics in conservation
planning

• The fields of evolutionary biology, and
  population and molecular genetics, which are the
  foundations of conservation genetics, are well
  established.
• Genetic technology does have limitations however,
  and will not alone be the savior of biodiversity.
• Habitat availability and biological interactions
  and processes should be the primary focus of
  conservation every where.

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• Without suitable ecosystems and dynamic
  ecological processes, high levels of genetic
  diversity alone would not ensure long-term
  population viability.

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Supplements

• Case study 11.1 genetics and demography of
  grizzly bear populations
• Case study 11.2 using genetic analyses to guide
  management of Pacific salmonids
• Case study 11.3 Scat-singing the wildlife
  conservation blues.

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http//mail.nutn.edu.tw/hycheng/