Genetic tools for biodiversity conservation and wildlife management

Abstract

Applied conservation genetics is a seemingly ever-evolving field and still highly relevant as many species are lost or further endangered each day. Most recently genomics has added more tools to the conservation geneticist’s arsenal for untangling wildlife relationships, population connectivity, and genetic diversity. Today, some are pushing those boundaries further into investigating the efficacy, safety and morality of synthetic DNA for aiding biodiversity conservation. The challenge for applied practitioners and wildlife managers is to know what tools exist, their limitations, and which are best to answer a specific question. This challenge has increased in recent years not decreased. One of the most effective ways to demystify genetic tools for managers and practitioners is to provide an array of empirical examples of the application of various genetic tools in management of wildlife damage and biodiversity conservation. Many practitioners of wildlife management understand the power of genetics for wildlife management but also may not see a way to bring it into their work because it seems expensive or inaccessible. The goal of my talk is to provide real-world examples of conservation genomics and the ease of which some of these tools may be applied and accessed.