Clearly defined populations are an important metric in conservation work.
Populations are a basic management unit in conservation and the key metric in conservation. Populations must be defined in order to make clear conservation objectives, monitor and evaluate success, and measure the effectiveness of our conservation work. States and federal agencies often try to manage conservation projects based on geography, watershed, or even state or regional boundaries. But populations don’t always follow those boundaries. By studying the genetic relationships of populations, we can make sure we are targeting our efforts so they are most effective. Many local and national conservation plans based their work around defined populations. They are also used in the development of priority species risk and vulnerability assessments, and in implementation of the Endangered Species Act.
How does climate change impact our work?
A rapidly changing climate puts extra stress on limited conservation resources. This makes it even more important that we focus our efforts on true evolutionary units - genetically defined populations. Genetically defined populations should be incorporated into the components of biological planning and conservation design, such as risk and vulnerability assessments, inventory and monitoring programs, population and habitat assessments, and management evaluation and research.
Conservation Case Study:
Conservation units for the threatened plant Spalding’s Catchfly were originally defined based on physiogeographic regions, and it was unknown how well these units represented distinct populations. Recent genetic analysis of leaf samples collected throughout the species range revealed discrepancies between conservation units and biological populations. Modification of the original conservation units based on the genetic data allowed us to focus conservation efforts to where they are most impactful for preserving diversity in this species.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Genetics Community of Practice
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Genetics Community of Practice is spread across six regional genetics labs and the staff at the Service’s National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab. For over a decade these facilities have been pioneering genetics research to benefit the conservation of fish, wildlife, and plants.