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Animals
Special Issues
Integrating Genetic Data into Conservation Practice
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Integrating Genetic Data into Conservation Practice

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2023) | Viewed by 3594

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Piero Cossu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Interests: zoology; population genetics; marine biology; marine invertebrates and fish; conservation genetics; molecular taxonomy and phylogeoagraphy
Dr. Marco Casu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Interests: zoology; genetics; conservation genetics; molecular taxonomy; ichthyology; one health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Genetic data are increasingly used in conservation, and their importance as a tool to help improve decision making in conservation practice is widely acknowledged by stakeholders and conservation professionals. However, genetic information is often not considered in conservation policy and management decisions. The mismatch between the availability of genetic data and their use in conservation practice depends on the limited information transfer between scientists and conservation practitioners. One pillar of the barrier that hampers the integration of genetic data into effective conservation management is that academic research mainly focuses on fundamental science questions, whereas it seldom aims at providing applied impact.

The goal of this Special Issue is to help break through the barrier to the application of genetic data as a conservation tool by giving equal room to both types of studies. Therefore, original research papers and reviews dealing with any aspects of the application of genetic data to conservation are welcome. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, theoretical and empirical case studies focusing on the conservation and management of endangered as well as ecologically or economically important species.

Dr. Piero Cossu
Dr. Marco Casu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • conservation genetics
  • conservation practice
  • biodiversity conservation
  • restoration
  • genetic diversity
  • dispersal
  • population connectivity

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 2574 KiB  
Article
Appraising the Genetic Makeup of an Allochthonous Southern Pike Population: An Opportunity to Predict the Evolution of Introgressive Hybridization in Isolated Populations?
by Marco Casu, Ilenia Azzena, Fabio Scarpa, Chiara Locci, Alessio Niffoi, Giovanni Battista Delmastro, Paolo Lo Conte, Antonio Varcasia, Stefano Bovero, Alessandro Candiotto, Daria Sanna and Piero Cossu
Animals 2023, 13(3), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13030380 - 22 Jan 2023
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Abstract
Biological invasions are a major threat to the conservation of biodiversity, as invasive species affect native biota through competition, predation, pathogen introduction, habitat alteration, and hybridisation. The present study focuses on a southern pike population, Esox cisalpinus (Teleostei: Esocidae), that has been introduced [...] Read more.
Biological invasions are a major threat to the conservation of biodiversity, as invasive species affect native biota through competition, predation, pathogen introduction, habitat alteration, and hybridisation. The present study focuses on a southern pike population, Esox cisalpinus (Teleostei: Esocidae), that has been introduced outside the species’ native range. Using microsatellite markers, this study’s objective was to gather baseline genetic information and assess the presence of hybrids between this species and E. lucius in the introduced population. The resulting estimates of genetic diversity and effective population size are comparable to those observed in the species’ native range. Although different methods yield contrasting and uncertain evidence regarding introgressive hybridization, the presence of late-generation hybrids cannot be completely ruled out. Large numbers of breeders as well as multiple introductions of genetically divergent cohorts and introgressive hybridisation may explain the high genetic diversity of this recently introduced southern pike population. The present study issues a warning that the conservation of southern pike’ introgressive hybridisation between northern and southern pike might be underestimated. The genetic information gathered herein may unravel the origin, number of introduction events, and evolutionary trajectory of the introduced population. This information may help us understand the evolution of introgressive hybridisation in the southern pike’s native areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrating Genetic Data into Conservation Practice)
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23 pages, 2100 KiB  
Article
Mitochondrial DNA of Sardinian and North-West Italian Populations Revealed a New Piece in the Mosaic of Phylogeography and Phylogeny of Salariopsis fluviatilis (Blenniidae)
by Ilenia Azzena, Fabio Scarpa, Chiara Locci, Piero Cossu, Alessio Niffoi, Flavio Orrù, Stefano Bovero, Giuseppe Sotgiu, Daria Sanna and Marco Casu
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3403; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233403 - 02 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1747
Abstract
The genus Salariopsis (Blenniidae) comprises freshwater blenny fish that inhabits Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and north-east Atlantic areas. Three species were formally described to date: Salariopsis fluviatilis. S. economidisi, and S. atlantica. In this study, 103 individuals were collected from [...] Read more.
The genus Salariopsis (Blenniidae) comprises freshwater blenny fish that inhabits Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and north-east Atlantic areas. Three species were formally described to date: Salariopsis fluviatilis. S. economidisi, and S. atlantica. In this study, 103 individuals were collected from different Italian regions (Sardinia, Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy) and analyzed using the mtDNA Control Region and the ribosomal 16s gene. We aimed (i) to depict the phylogeographic patterns of S. fluviatilis in northern Italy and Sardinia and (ii) to compare the genetic structure of Italian samples with those from other Mediterranean regions. Results obtained showed the presence of a well-supported genetic structuring among Italian S. fluviatilis populations, shedding new light on the phylogeographic patterns of northern Italian populations of S. fluviatilis sensu stricto across the Ligurian Alpine ridge and the Sardinia Island-mainland dispersal patterns. Furthermore, our species delimitation analysis was consistent in supporting results of previous research about the presence of genetic differentiation among S. fluviatilis, evidencing: (i) a large group of S. fluviatilis sensu stricto that includes two sub-groups (Occidental and Oriental), (ii) one group comprising populations from the Middle East of a taxonomic entity corresponding to Salariopsis cf. fluviatilis, and (iii) one group of Iberian individuals from the Guadiana River. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrating Genetic Data into Conservation Practice)
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