Ecology and Society (Jun 1999)

Assessing Extinction Risk: Integrating Genetic Information

  • Jason Dunham,
  • Mary Peacock,
  • C. Richard Tracy,
  • Jennifer Nielsen,
  • Gary Vinyard

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00087-030102
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
p. 2

Abstract

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Risks of population extinction have been estimated using a variety of methods incorporating information from different spatial and temporal scales. We briefly consider how several broad classes of extinction risk assessments, including population viability analysis, incidence functions, and ranking methods integrate information on different temporal and spatial scales. In many circumstances, data from surveys of neutral genetic variability within, and among, populations can provide information useful for assessing extinction risk. Patterns of genetic variability resulting from past and present ecological and demographic events, can indicate risks of extinction that are otherwise difficult to infer from ecological and demographic analyses alone. We provide examples of how patterns of neutral genetic variability, both within, and among populations, can be used to corroborate and complement extinction risk assessments.

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