Genetic Diversity, Distribution and Conservation of Wild Animals in Captivity

Dear Colleagues,

We do not know what kind of breeds will be necessary "tomorrow", how productive they will be, what foods will be needed by future humans, nor what society and ordinary people will require of us. Some thoughts, hinting that we must abandon endlessly increasing animal productivity and instead focus more on the quality of the animal products themselves, have already been sneaked through.

One of the most important problems, and today one of the most relevant, relates to the preservation of local, well-adapted animal breeds. Local breeds usually exhibit low productivity, but they are an important factor in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem in the environments they inhabit. They have a hearty constitution, superior resistance to diseases, greater adaptability to unfavorable growing conditions, are longer-lived, and possess a number of other valuable qualities. The conservation of genetic resources is necessary to maintaining genetic variability and plasticity when environmental, nutritional, and economic conditions change.

On the other hand, greater attention should also be paid to wild animal species, some of which are on the brink of extinction. The damage or destruction of natural habitats, pollution, overhunting, the modification of the climate, and dozens of other factors threaten the existence of wild animal species.

Genomic technologies are increasingly applied in ex situ and in situ population management and genomic screening is needed to identify the most suitable individuals for breeding, translocation and "genetic rescue" programs, and to avoid increasing the genetic load on the target population. In addition, knowledge gleaned from genomic techniques helps us to compare contemporary populations, as well as enabling more detailed temporal comparisons and assessment of the relationship between the scale of change of populations and time.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Diversity.

Dr. Peter Hristov
Dr. Georgi Radoslavov
Dr. Boiko Neov
Guest Editors

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• genetic diversity
• climate change
• local animal breeds
• wild animal species
• sustainable ecosystem
• preservation