Conservation Genetics of Threatened Mammals: Policy And Practice

Abstract

The conservation of threatened mammal species faces unprecedented challenges from habitat loss, climate change, and anthropogenic pressures. Conservation genetics has emerged as a critical discipline integrating molecular tools, population genetics theory, and conservation practice to address genetic threats to biodiversity. This review examines the application of conservation genetics to threatened mammals, focusing on the assessment of genetic diversity, identification of inbreeding depression, delineation of management units, and implementation of genetic rescue strategies. Recent advances in genomic technologies have revolutionized our capacity to detect adaptive variation, quantify genetic load, and predict population viability. Evidence demonstrates that small, isolated populations experience significant losses in heterozygosity, increased inbreeding coefficients, and accumulation of deleterious mutations. Effective conservation requires integration of genetic data into policy frameworks at international, national, and local scales. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework explicitly recognizes genetic diversity as a conservation target. This paper synthesizes current knowledge on conservation genetics applications in mammalian systems, evaluates evidence-based management interventions, and provides recommendations for translating genetic science into effective conservation policy and practice.