Prospects and limitations of genomic offset in conservation management

Evolutionary Applications

Moises Exposito‐Alonso¹  Christian Rellstab²  Benjamin Dauphin² 

[1] Department of Plant Biology Carnegie Institution for Science Stanford CA USA;Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Birmensdorf Switzerland;

关键词: assisted migration;    conservation management;    genomic offset;    genomic vulnerability;    local adaptation;    predictive genomics;   

DOI  :  10.1111/eva.13205

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract In nature conservation, there is keen interest in predicting how populations will respond to environmental changes such as climate change. These predictions can help determine whether a population can be self‐sustaining under future alterations of its habitat or whether it may require human intervention such as protection, restoration, or assisted migration. An increasingly popular approach in this respect is the concept of genomic offset, which combines genomic and environmental data from different time points and/or locations to assess the degree of possible maladaptation to new environmental conditions. Here, we argue that the concept of genomic offset holds great potential, but an exploration of its risks and limitations is needed to use it for recommendations in conservation or assisted migration. After briefly describing the concept, we list important issues to consider (e.g., statistical frameworks, population genetic structure, migration, independent evidence) when using genomic offset or developing these methods further. We conclude that genomic offset is an area of development that still lacks some important features and should be used in combination with other approaches to inform conservation measures.

【 授权许可】

Unknown