Organiser: Copenhagen Zoo
Abstract
Conserving and restoring genetic diversity within a species offers adaptation to environmental changes, promotes ecosystem resilience and recovery, and supports societal needs like food security and forest productivity. Genetic diversity of wild species is an important aspect of biodiversity conservation and is acknowledged by the IUCN (Resolution 093 and 057) as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and Monitoring Framework, setting a roadmap for reversing biodiversity decline by 2030. In this, two indicators for the genetic diversity of wild species have been adopted for Goal A and Target 4.
The headline indicator relates to a) a minimum effective population size Ne of 500, enabling the quantification of genetic diversity loss and is an important parameter for assessing the long-term viability of species. The complementary indicator (b) is the proportion of genetically distinct populations retained within species. The KMGBF mandates the 196 signing parties to conserve, manage and recover genetic diversity within and between populations of wild species. The major advantage of these indicators is that they can be estimated with or without DNA-based data and applied across the taxonomy of life. Developing guidelines and workflows for their useability requires addressing methodological challenges of using data gathered from multiple and often diverse sources, across taxonomic groups, and for countries of varying socio-economic status and biodiversity levels.
This session will enable the participants to familiarize themselves with why genetic diversity is important, and how to use the genetic diversity indicators for their monitoring and reporting needs in national and regional biodiversity strategies and action plans (BSAPs). Based on a review of BSAPs from 21 countries from around the world, we will offer suggestions to help ensure that the commitment, actions, and policies are effective in supporting genetic diversity, and that capacities and needs are met. The IUCN Red List status does not inform on genetic diversity of species, highlighting the critical importance of adopting genetic diversity indicators in the species assessment process. We will showcase how this can be achieved, using a country case. Based on recent studies, we will illustrate how genetic diversity indicator-based monitoring and reporting is achievable from DNA-based or non DNA-based data, provide guidance on how to select species and which part of the species distribution range to monitor, and discuss challenges that arise by choosing and delineating populations and evolutionary significant units (ESUs), as well as handling and harmonisation of data from multiple sources and monitoring programs (Resolution 063).
Using country cases, we will show how 100 species were assessed for each of nine countries from six continents, and through an ongoing EU Biodiversa+ project GINAMO illustrates that most countries already have ample data to report on hundreds to thousands of species with a minimal investment of time and effort. And that an inclusive co-creation process with stakeholders from five European countries, will deliver genetic diversity indicator protocols and methods that fit the countries' needs and resources, ensuring that the end product is more likely to be adopted and used.
Session outline, with speakers in order of appearance and presentation titles:
- 14.30-14.45 Welcome and presentation by Joachim Mergeay, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Belgium
“Practical implementation of Genetic diversity indicators for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” - 14.45-14.55 Christina Hvilsom, Copenhagen Zoo, Denmark
“From genes to informed conservation action” - 14.55-15.05 Viktoria Köppä, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Sweden
“Genetic diversity indicators and the red list framework: Exploring synergies using Sweden as an example” - 15.05-15.20 Q&A where audience can ask questions and engage in discussions with the speakers
The session is a collaborative effort of Copenhagen Zoo, Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), and Stockholm University. The speakers are linked to several IUCN groups (IUCN SSC Conservation Genetics Specialist Group, IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group and IUCN National Committees of Denmark and Belgium) and biodiversity initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversa+ project GINAMO (Genetic Indicators for NAture MOnitoring), the EU COST-Action Network GENOA (GEnetic Nature Observation and Action), and G-BIKE (Genetic BIodiversity Knowledge for resilient Ecosystems), and GEO-BON.