Advances of Genetics in Wildlife Conservation and Management

A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Genetics and Genomics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2025 | Viewed by 678

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale Delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: wildlife management; bee keeping; apidology; wild bee conservation; alien species

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since ancient times, global changes in natural landscapes and human practices have posed a threat to wildlife management and conservation. Conservation efforts are focused on mitigating the effects of changing environmental conditions, management of invasive species, early detection of novel pathogens and diseases, and development of more sustainable pratices, among many other concerns. In this context, genetic and phylogenetic studies on wildlife populations are necessary to understand the effects of conservation factors on population dynamics (e.g., genetic diversity, pollution and distribution), allowing us to obtain a new tool for the development and implementation of suitable conservation plans. The aim of this Special Issue is to deepen our knowledge of the implications of genetic contamination and variation for wildlife population management and conservation. Submissions using any genetic or genomic approach or simulations of data using any kind of wildlife populations (i.e., mammals, birds, insects) as model organisms to understand conservation and management are encouraged. Submissions of studies that combine genetic and ecological aspects are also strongly encouraged as well as studies that analyse genetic relationships between wild and domestic populations.

Dr. Francesca Coppola
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • genetic contamination
  • phylogenetic
  • conservation
  • adaptation
  • evolution
  • ecology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 2361 KiB  
Article
Genetic Variation and Metapopulation Structure Inform Recovery Goals in a Threatened Species
by Molly J. Garrett, Courtney J. Conway, Lisette P. Waits and Paul A. Hohenlohe
Genes 2025, 16(6), 694; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes16060694 - 8 Jun 2025
Viewed by 473
Abstract
Background: Monitoring genetic parameters is important for setting effective conservation and management strategies, particularly for small, fragmented, and isolated populations. Small, isolated populations face increased rates of genetic drift and inbreeding, which increase extinction risk especially when gene flow is limited. Methods: Here, [...] Read more.
Background: Monitoring genetic parameters is important for setting effective conservation and management strategies, particularly for small, fragmented, and isolated populations. Small, isolated populations face increased rates of genetic drift and inbreeding, which increase extinction risk especially when gene flow is limited. Methods: Here, we applied a Genotyping-in-Thousands by sequencing (GT-seq) panel to inform recovery action for the federally threatened northern Idaho ground squirrel (Urocitellus brunneus). We evaluated genetic diversity, structure, connectivity, and effective population size to address species recovery goals. Results: We delineated three types of conservation units: (1) three evolutionarily significant units that represent long-term population structure and variation, (2) nine management units that reflect current demographic connectivity and restrictions to gene flow, and (3) three adaptive units that capture adaptive differentiation across the species range. Effective population sizes per management unit were small overall (mean 38.16, range 2.3–220.9), indicating that recovery goals of 10 subpopulations with Ne > 500 have not been reached. Conclusions: Our results support the maintenance of connectivity within evolutionarily significant units through the restoration of dispersal corridors. Next steps could include further sampling of some subpopulations with low sample sizes, unsampled subpopulations, and subpopulations that are geographically isolated. Genotyping future samples with the same GT-seq panel would help to detect dispersal, assess effective population size, monitor the effects of inbreeding, and evaluate adaptive differentiation to monitor the effects of management action and environmental change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Genetics in Wildlife Conservation and Management)
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