Managing Individuals' Contributions to Maximize the Allelic Diversity Maintained in Small, Conserved Populations

Abstract:  The maintenance of diversity is, from a genetic perspective, one of the key aims in a conservation program. Because the most widely used measure of genetic diversity is the expected heterozygosity of the population, or gene diversity (GD), most research has been devoted to finding optimal strategies for maximizing this parameter. Little attention has been paid, however, to the development of strategies to manage allelic diversity (AD), the number of alleles maintained in the population. Using computer simulations, we show that the strategies that maximize GD, by managing contributions from parents, keep levels of AD as high as strategies maximizing AD itself, for a wide range of situations including different numbers of molecular markers used and the possibility of evaluating a number of offspring per parent to make decisions. Because maximization of GD also minimizes levels of inbreeding, this should be the strategy of choice in any conservationprogram.