Population Genetics of Animals and Plants—2nd Edition

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 127

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Nature Research Centre, Akademijos Str. 2, 08412 Vilnius, Lithuania
Interests: parasitology; population genetics; taxonomy; phylogeny; conservation genetics; molecular ecology; molecular biology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This is a second Edition of our previous Special Issue entitled “Population Genetics of Animals and Plants” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/diversity/special_issues/Population_Genetics). Due to the success of the first edition, we have established a second edition of this Special Issue and welcome your submissions.

Population genetics is closely related to genetics, ecology, and evolution. The main evolutionary factors changing allele and genotype frequencies in current natural populations are gene drift, gene flow, mutation, and natural selection. This branch of modern biology aims to identify intra-population and inter-population genetic variability. The genetic diversity of natural populations expressed in heterozygosity, allelic richness or nucleotide diversity is essential for long-term population survival and adaptation to constantly changing environmental conditions. Genetic variability between the subpopulations of a metapopulation can lead to genetic differentiation between these subpopulations. The most important tools associated with population genetics are genetic markers (such as SNP, microsatellites, AFLP, and others) and the DNA sequencing of a certain highly polymorphic locus. With the help of these molecular tools, the frequencies of genotypes and alleles and the heterozygosity of populations can be determined, and the main evolutionary factors that influence the genetic diversity, structure and adaptation of populations can be examined.

Recent advances in molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics, as well as advances in statistical tests and packages analyzing genetic polymorphism data, have led to the rapid development of population genetics and the accumulation of large amounts of empirical data in wildlife populations of animals and plants. Due to direct and indirect human activities, biodiversity is decreasing on our planet. Many species have already become extinct, while others have experienced a decline in their population size. Therefore, one of the main directions of population genetics currently is conservation. In a changing world, population genetics does not only encompass theoretical research, but also addresses population fragmentation, small population sizes and inbreeding, anthropogenic hybridization, phylogeography, invasive species, the determination of population boundaries, and the management of exploited populations.

We welcome the submission of manuscripts that focus on various theoretical and practical areas of population genetics, and hope to receive studies that have been conducted in any geographical region examining wildlife animals and plants. If you are interested in this opportunity or have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Dr. Petras Prakas
Guest Editor

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. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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

  • genetic variability
  • genetic structure
  • conservation
  • fragmentation
  • hybridization
  • phylogeography
  • migration
  • population demography
  • invasive species
  • exploited populations

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