Improving conservation policy with genomics: a guide to integrating adaptive potential into U.S. Endangered Species Act decisions for conservation practitioners and geneticists
WC Funk, Brenna R Forester, Sarah J. Converse, Catherine Darst, and Steve Morey
This article discusses the advances in genomics and the ability to quantify adaptive potential when estimating extinction risk and laws protecting endangered species. The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) was established in 1973 to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. This paper outlines why these advances are important for population existence and management, and how geneticists and federal agencies can work together using genetic models and tools regarding adaptive potential. While genetics may seem out of reach for policy makers, or even the general public, this article strives to make population genetics understandable for the common person. This would be a great review article for those interested in conservation genetics, the process of quantification, and understanding adaptive potential and extinction risk from both a genetics and policy-maker viewpoint.
Flow chart showing steps involved in U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing decisions (yellow boxes) and recovery decisions (orange boxes). Blue boxes show possible outcomes of listing decisions. Green boxes show examples of ways in which information on adaptive potential (based on genomics and other data) and other inferences from genomics can inform different steps of listing and recovery decision workflows. And finally, how information on adaptive potential can be incorporated into models of extinction risk to improve ESA listing and recovery decisions (shown in bold red font) (Funk et al., 2019).
Potluck for 7 April 2020
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-018-1096-1
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