title: Multispecies genetic objectives in spatial conservation planning.
abstract: Growing threats to biodiversity and global alteration of habitats and species distributions make it increasingly necessary to consider evolutionary patterns in conservation decision making. Yet, there is no clear-cut guidance on how genetic features can be incorporated into conservation-planning processes, despite multiple molecular markers and several genetic metrics for each marker type to choose from. Genetic patterns differ between species, but the potential tradeoffs among genetic objectives for multiple species in conservation planning are currently understudied. We compared spatial conservation prioritizations derived from 2 metrics of genetic diversity (nucleotide and haplotype diversity) and 2 metrics of genetic isolation (private haplotypes and local genetic differentiation) in mitochondrial DNA of 5 marine species. We compared outcomes of conservation plans based only on habitat representation with plans based on genetic data and habitat representation. Fewer priority areas were selected for conservation plans based solely on habitat representation than on plans that included habitat and genetic data. All 4 genetic metrics selected approximately similar conservation-priority areas, which is likely a result of prioritizing genetic patterns across a genetically diverse array of species. Largely, our results suggest that multispecies genetic conservation objectives are vital to creating protected-area networks that appropriately preserve community-level evolutionary patterns.
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Erica S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, U.K.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beger
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Henriques
authors.affiliation: National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, 735 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, U.S.A.
authors.forename: Kimberly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Selkoe
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Genomics Group, Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: von der Heyden
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D060047:Reproductive Isolation
keywords: Marxan; aislamiento genético; conservation genetics; diversidad genética; ecología intermareal; genetic diversity; genetic isolation; genética de la conservación; intertidal ecology; priorización espacial; spatial prioritization