Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved

Hoban, Sean; Bruford, Michael William; Jackson, Josephine D’Urban; Lopes-Fernandes, Margarida; Heuertz, Myriam; Hohenlohe, Paul A.; Paz‐Vinas, Ivan; Sjögren‐Gulve, Per; Segelbacher, Gernot; Vernesi, Cristiano; Aitken, Sally N.; Bertola, Laura D.; Bloomer, Paulette; Breed, Martin F.; Rodríguez‐Correa, Hernando; Funk, W. Chris; Grueber, Catherine E.; Hunter, Margaret E.; Jaffé, Rodolfo; Liggins, Libby; Mergeay, Joachim; Moharrek, Farideh; O’Brien, David; Ogden, Rob; Palma‐Silva, Clarisse; Pierson, Jennifer C.; Ramakrishnan, Uma; Simo‐Droissart, Murielle; Tani, Naoki; Waits, Lisette P.; Laikre, Linda

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108654

Cited by 330 publications

(379 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Our results also have usefulness in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity Target 13 on "genetic erosion". The Red List Index is currently an indicator for this Target but we suggest that a rule of thumb such as 0.4N c below thresholds such as 50 and 500 could be complementary with more genetic relevance and a better predictor of extinction risk (Laikre et al 2020, Hoban et al 2020. We acknowledge that this approach is imperfect, but including genetic factors (which have known influences on population persistence) is an improvement over no indicators at all.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IUCN Red List and the value of integrating genetics

2020

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Many species on endangered species lists such as the IUCN Red List (RL) are categorized using demographic factors such as numbers of mature individuals. Genetic factors are not currently used in the RL even though their explicit consideration, including effective population size (Ne) and expected heterozygosity-loss (H-loss), could improve the assessment of extinction risk. Here, we consider the estimation of Ne and H-loss in the context of RL species. First, we investigate the reporting of number of mature individuals for RL Endangered species, which is needed to estimate Ne and H-loss. We found 77% of species assessments studied here did not report methods used to estimate the number of mature adults, and that these assessments rarely report other important determinants of Ne (e.g., sex ratio, variance in family size). We therefore applied common rules of thumb to estimate Ne, and found that Ne was likely < 50 for at least 25% of the 170 RL Endangered species studied here. We also estimated mean expected H-loss for these species over the next 100 years, and found it to be 9–29%. These estimates of high H-loss and low Ne suggest that some species listed as Endangered likely warrant listing as Critically Endangered if genetic considerations were included. We recommend that RL and other assessment frameworks (i) report methods used for estimating the number of mature adults, (ii) include standardized information on species traits that influence Ne to facilitate Ne estimation, and (iii) consider using concepts like Ne and heterozygosity-loss in risk assessments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IUCN Red List and the value of integrating genetics

2020

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“…Some of these taxa meet IUCN criteria for some degree of extinction risk, such as S. brassicoides and S. costae, inserted in the Red Book of Flora of Brazil (Martinelli and Moraes 2013). Hoban et al (2020) state the importance of including in global conservation policy (e.g., CDB-Convention on Biological Diversity) targets and indicators for genetic diversity for all species, and not just for domesticated species. The present study's results of the microsatellite marker transfer can contribute significantly to research about the levels and patterns of genetic diversity of Stigmatodon species, contributing for understanding the adaptive, evolutionary and survival rates of these taxa, and to the establishment of effective conservation strategies.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transferability of nuclear microsatellite markers to Stigmatodon species: a bromeliad genus endemic to vertical cliffs of inselbergs in Brazil

et al. 2020

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Stigmatodon Leme, G.K.Br. & Barfuss is one of the most representative Bromeliaceae genera that grow on the steepest slopes of the inselbergs of southeastern Brazil. Inselberg environments are characterized as islands due to their restricted, disjunct distribution and geographical isolation. These features make these sites interesting models for evolutionary and population genetic studies. In this study we report, the cross-species transferability of nuclear microsatellite markers, originally developed for other Bromeliaceae, to four Stigmatodon species: Stigmatodon brassicoides, S. costae, S. goniorachis and Stigmatodon sp. nov. Twenty-four microsatellite markers were tested, and 12 of these were successfully amplified in the four studied species. In S. brassicoides and S. costae, 10 markers showed amplification with polymorphism, and in Stigmatodon sp. nov and S. goniorachis, all 12 markers showed polymorphisms. The number of alleles ranged from two to four in S. brassicoides; from two to three in S. costae; from two to six in Stigmatodon sp. nov; and from two to seven in S. goniorachis. H O values ranged from 0.05 (P2P19 locus) in S. brassicoides to 0.689 (VgA04 locus) in S. goniorachis. The set of amplified microsatellite markers described in this study will be a useful tool for addressing various evolutionary, ecological and conservation aspects of Stigmatodon species.

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“…Seagrasses provide a broad array of services that support both biodiversity and human well-being and are thus crucial for coastal ecosystem health, with Z. capensis identified as an important keystone species in South African estuarine systems (Adams 2016). Although it is recognised that genomic diversity is important for species and ecosystem resilience (Benestan et al 2016;Evans et al 2017a, b;Timpane-Padgham et al 2017), there are limited examples of evolutionary patterns, particularly potential adaptive variation (Pearse 2016), integrated into actionable conservation and management plans (Sork et al 2009;Laikre et al 2009;Laikre 2010;Beger et al 2014;von der Heyden et al 2014;Nielsen et al 2017;von der Heyden 2017;Hoban et al 2020). One reason for this is because there is no clear evidence for how different genetic and genomic measures vary within a conservation planning framework, hindering their uptake into a more formalised process identifying priority areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We also included a measure of evolutionary potential in the form of statistical outliers, that may signal site-specific selection. Combined, the metrics cover distinctness and diversity (Hoban et al 2020), with each able to address unique conservation objectives (Table 1).…”

Section: Genomic Measures Included In Spatial Prioritisation Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying genomic data to seagrass conservation

Nielsen

Phair

Heyden

2020

Preprint

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Although genomic diversity is increasingly recognised as a key component of biodiversity, it is seldom used to inform conservation planning. Estuaries and keystone species such as the southern African seagrass, Zostera capensis, are under severe anthropogenic pressure and are often poorly protected. In this study we integrated SNP data generated from populations of Z. capensis across the South African coastline into the spatial prioritisation tool Marxan. We included different measures of genomic variation to account for genomic diversity, distinctness and evolutionary potential to explore spatial planning scenarios. We investigated how conservation priority areas identified by targeting only habitat type, differed from those identified by also including genomic measures; further we assessed how different genetic diversity metrics change prioritisation outcomes. All scenarios targeting genomic variation identified unique conservation prioritisation areas compared to scenarios only targeting habitat type. As such, omitting these estuaries from regional MPA networks risks the loss of evolutionarily important populations, threatening resilience and persistence of associated estuarine communities and their ecosystem services. We also observed a high degree of overlap between prioritisation outcomes across targeted measures of genomic variation. As such, by including even single measures of genomic variation, it may be possible to sufficiently represent the evolutionary processes behind the patterns of variation, while simplifying the conservation prioritisation procedure.

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Genetic diversity targets and indicators in the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework must be improved

Cited by 330 publications

References 67 publications

IUCN Red List and the value of integrating genetics

IUCN Red List and the value of integrating genetics

Transferability of nuclear microsatellite markers to Stigmatodon species: a bromeliad genus endemic to vertical cliffs of inselbergs in Brazil

Applying genomic data to seagrass conservation

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