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Population Ecology: First Principles

ARTICLE in AUSTRAL ECOLOGY DECEMBER 2004
Impact Factor: 1.84 DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01359.x

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Barry W Brook
University of Tasmania
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Retrieved on: 24 October 2015

Austral Ecology (2002) 27, 000-000

Introduction to Conservation Genetics

R. Frankham, J. D. Ballou and D. A. Briscoe.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United
Kingdom, 2002, xxi + 617 pages. Price AUD$300.00
(hardback). ISBN 0 521 630142.
Like it or not, contemporary ecologists and conservation biologists need to understand genetics. The
managers of the Greater Prairie Chicken will attest to
this fact. The size of the remnant Illinois population
declined from more than 25 000 in 1933 to 2000 in
1972 and <50 by 1992. The initial threat was clearly a
loss and fragmentation of habitat, but later, a
concurrent decline in genetic diversity and reproductive fitness was documented. Despite intensive conventional management efforts (habitat restoration)
targeted at arresting the original cause of the decline,
the species continued to plummet towards extinction.
It was only when genetically prescribed conservation
measures were tried (translocations of unrelated birds
from large, genetically diverse populations) that reproductive fitness and, subsequently, population size
began to recover. This case study, and many others
described in Introduction to Conservation Genetics, highlights the critical need to understand genetic factors
when attempting to manage and recover threatened
species.
Unfortunately, until ecologists actually study some
genetics, or at least some case studies where genetics

have played a major role, they tend to remain blissfully

(or wilfully) ignorant of its potential importance to
them. For instance, although it is widely accepted that
species in natural habitats face the threat of extinction
from both deterministic factors (e.g. habitat loss, over
exploitation, pollution and introduced species) and
stochastic hazards associated with small population size
(e.g. demographic and environmental fluctuations and
catastrophes), genetic threats (inbreeding depression,
loss of genetic diversity and mutational accumulation)
have a long history of being dismissed as unimportant.
Introduction to Conservation Genetics provides, among
other things, a compelling and up-to-date critique of
this widely-held viewpoint.
The book begins with its leading punch, setting the
context for conservation genetics in the big picture (i.e.
the current biodiversity crisis) and providing a succinct
overview of the critical interactions between genetics
and extinction. Once youre hooked, the remainder of
the book draws you in to the theory, evidence and
methods that lie behind the science of conservation
genetics through extensive reviews of the literature and
the authors own work. The text (more than 600 pages
organized into 20 chapters in three sections) is highly
readable yet concise and full of interesting case studies,
examples, problem exercises and marginal focus boxes
designed to hammer home the main points. In addition,
the book is copiously illustrated with beautiful pen and
ink portraits of the threatened species being discussed,
which brings the subject matter to life.
Section I is essential reading for those not familiar
with the fundamental principles of population and
evolutionary genetics. Of particular interest is the
contrast provided between evolutionary processes in
large versus small populations (chapters 68). In large
(i.e. most non-threatened) populations, adaptation
through natural selection prevails. However, in small
(i.e. threatened) populations, random processes such
as genetic drift and mutational accumulation become
the predominant evolutionary forces. This disturbing
fact needs to be borne in mind when arguing for the
preservation of so-called locally adapted subpopulations with no other justification than that they show
genetic differentiation.
Section II gets to the heart and soul of conservation
genetics: the genetic implications of population size
reduction. Inbreeding is the most immediate and
potentially damaging of these. By drawing on a wealth
of laboratory, zoo and field studies, the authors
demonstrate that essentially all well-studied naturally
outbreeding species show depressed reproductive
fitness in inbred individuals and that this increases
their vulnerability to extinction. Further, rather than
treating genetics in isolation, they underscore the
important interactions between the impacts of
inbreeding and both deterministic factors and nongenetic stochastic factors (summarized in chapter 20),

BOOK REVIEWS

highlighting the patent absurdity of treating these

factors in isolation.
Section III is perhaps of most interest to ecologists,
as it describes the myriad of really useful genetic
methods now available, which have the potential to
provide answers to otherwise unresolvable ecological
and taxonomic questions. For instance, dispersal rates
can be notoriously difficult to estimate in wild conditions because of the often enormous logistical
demands and small sample sizes associated with
radiotracking or markrecapture methods. Molecular
genetic analyses, on the other hand, can provide many
of the same answers, yet do so more rapidly, at
much reduced cost, with minimal disturbance to the
organism or habitat and with the additional benefit of
illuminating the broader evolutionary theatre within
which all conservation and management priorities
should ideally be evaluated. It also provides a framework for making sense of contemporary debates
regarding the real-world application of biotechnology,
such as the detection and environmental impact of
genetically modified organisms.
Where does this new book sit in relation to other
authoritative works in this field? The discipline of
conservation genetics came of age in the early 1980s
with the publication of Conservation and Evolution
(Frankel & Soul 1981). Subsequently, with an explosion of interest in both the genetic and non-genetic
components of species endangerment, and their interaction, there has been a proliferation of work in this
field. A number of recent edited books (e.g. Conservation Genetics Case Studies from Nature; Avise & Hamrick
1996) present advanced treatments of cutting-edge
techniques and topics. However, Introduction to
Conservation Genetics provides the first teaching text
specifically designed to open up conservation genetics
to the masses. The target audience is advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, wildlife managers and professional biologists largely unacquainted with genetics.
My reviewing this book may appear somewhat
nepotistic; after all I did my postgraduate training
under the supervision of the first author (Dick
Frankham), took an undergraduate genetics course run
by the second (David Briscoe), and had my thesis
examined by the third (Jon Ballou)! Further, I still
collaborate with all of these scientists. So why should
you trust my opinion? Because irrespective of my
personal biases, reading this excellent book really will
make you comfortably conversant with conservation
and evolutionary genetics and thats a useful weapon in
any modern ecologists armoury.

BARRY W. BROOK
Key Centre for Tropical Wildlife Management
Northern Territory University
Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia

REFERENCES
Frankel O. H. & Soul M. E. (1981) Conservation and Evolution.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Avise J. C. & Hamrick J. L. (1996) Conservation Genetics: Case
Studies from Nature. Chapman & Hall, New York.