The DOI matches its Crossref record; 151 of the 151 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The crucial role of genome-wide genetic variation in conservation
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
The unprecedented rate of extinction calls for efficient use of genetics to help conserve biodiversity. Several recent genomic and simulation-based studies have argued that the field of conservation biology has placed too much focus on conserving genome-wide genetic variation, and that the field should instead focus on managing the subset of functional genetic variation that is thought to affect fitness. Here, we critically evaluate the feasibility and likely benefits of this approach in conservation. We find that population genetics theory and empirical results show that conserving genome-wide genetic variation is generally the best approach to prevent inbreeding depression and loss of adaptive potential from driving populations toward extinction. Focusing conservation efforts on presumably functional genetic variation will only be feasible occasionally, often misleading, and counterproductive when prioritized over genome-wide genetic variation. Given the increasing rate of habitat loss and other environmental changes, failure to recognize the detrimental effects of lost genome-wide genetic variation on long-term population viability will only worsen the biodiversity crisis.
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Genetic load: genomic estimates and applications in non-model animals
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Genetic diversity loss in the Anthropocene
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Purging and accumulation of genetic load in conservation
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Genetic Load and Adaptive Potential of a Recovered Avian Species that Narrowly Avoided Extinction
Femerling, G., van Oosterhout, C., Feng, S., Bristol, R. M., Zhang, G., Groombridge, J., P. Gilbert, M. T., & Morales, H. E. (2023) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msad256 · Cited by 49
Metadata
- Authors
- Kardos, M., Armstrong, E. E., Fitzpatrick, S. W., Hauser, S., Hedrick, P. W., Miller, J. M., Tallmon, D. A., & Funk, W. C.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2021-11-12
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 48
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- OpenAlex
- W3182097799
- Cited by
- 607
- References
- 151
- FWCI
- 37.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (DEB 1413925, DEB 1754821, DEB 1838282)
- HHS | National Institutes of Health (RL5GM118990)
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- Kardos, M., Armstrong, E. E., Fitzpatrick, S. W., Hauser, S., Hedrick, P. W., Miller, J. M., Tallmon, D. A., & Funk, W. C. (2021). The crucial role of genome-wide genetic variation in conservation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2104642118
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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