title: Conservation genetics and genomics of amphibians and reptiles.
abstract: Amphibians and reptiles as a group are often secretive, reach their greatest diversity often in remote tropical regions, and contain some of the most endangered groups of organisms on earth. Particularly in the past decade, genetics and genomics have been instrumental in the conservation biology of these cryptic vertebrates, enabling work ranging from the identification of populations subject to trade and exploitation, to the identification of cryptic lineages harboring critical genetic variation, to the analysis of genes controlling key life history traits. In this review, we highlight some of the most important ways that genetic analyses have brought new insights to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles. Although genomics has only recently emerged as part of this conservation tool kit, several large-scale data sources, including full genomes, expressed sequence tags, and transcriptomes, are providing new opportunities to identify key genes, quantify landscape effects, and manage captive breeding stocks of at-risk species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
authors.forename: H Bradley
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Shaffer
authors.forename: Müge
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gidiş
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCartney-Melstad
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Neal
authors.forename: Hilton M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Oyamaguchi
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tellez
authors.forename: Erin M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Toffelmier
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D056727:Endangered Species; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D012104:Reptiles / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: captive breeding; endangered species; hybridization; landscape genetics; management units; phylogenetic prioritization