Genetics and Demography in Biological Conservation

TLDR

Extinction prediction relies on ecological and evolutionary data, with key demographic drivers such as social structure, life‑history variation, dispersal, and local extinction/colonization, while in small populations inbreeding and drift reduce fitness and genetic diversity, limiting adaptability. The study seeks to elucidate how demographic and genetic factors jointly influence extinction risk, offering a foundation for conservation strategies at the ecology‑evolution interface. Demographic factors generally have a more immediate impact than genetic factors on determining the minimum viable population size of wild species.

Abstract

Predicting the extinction of single populations or species requires ecological and evolutionary information. Primary demographic factors affecting population dynamics include social structure, life history variation caused by environmental fluctuation, dispersal in spatially heterogeneous environments, and local extinction and colonization. In small populations, inbreeding can greatly reduce the average individual fitness, and loss of genetic variability from random genetic drift can diminish future adaptability to a changing environment. Theory and empirical examples suggest that demography is usually of more immediate importance than population genetics in determining the minimum viable sizes of wild populations. The practical need in biological conservation for understanding the interaction of demographic and genetic factors in extinction may provide a focus for fundamental advances at the interface of ecology and evolution.