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Sabine S. Loew
scarce resources to taxa most likely in need of management (Burgman et al. 1988;
Lacy 1993; Nunney and Campbell 1993; Ballou et al. 1995).
Failure to detect signs of increased extinction risk based on the demographic
and genetic records of populations should not be interpreted as a guarantee of
survival of a taxon, especially not for healthy populations with a limited range or
species of a specialized ecological niche that might become endangered by a
single catastrophic event. Hence listing taxa as endangered should be based on
demographic and genetic indicators of decline, while taking into consideration
vulnerabilities of the species due to its specific biology, as well as abiotic factors
such as the local political situation (Avise 1994; Ballou et al. 1995; Avise and
Hamrick 1996). In their reevaluation of the IUCN threatened species categories,
Mace and Lande (1991) applied a similar logic in their development of quantitative criteria to determine endangerment.
Acknowledgments. I appreciate the comments by J. Ballou, R. Frankham,
S. Jarvi, C. McIntosh, E. Paxinos, E. Perry, and C. Tarr on a previous draft of this
chapter. In addition, I thank Mark Burgman for his exceedingly helpful editorial
changes. Ideas and early drafts for this manuscript were developed while I was a
Smithsonian Research Fellow and was supported by a California Fish and Game
contract to K. Ralls, D. Williams, and R. C. Fleischer.
Literature Cited
Alberts SC, Ober C (1993) Genetic variability in the major histocompatibility complex: a
review of non-pathogen-mediated selective mechanisms. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36:71–89
Aquadro CF, Greenberg BD (1983) Human mitochondrial DNA variation and evolution:
analysis of nucleotide sequences from seven individuals Genetics 103:287–312
Armour JAL, Neumann R, Gobert S, Jeffreys AJ (1994) Isolation of human simple repeat
loci by hybridization selection. Human Molecular Genetics 3:599–605
Ashley M (1999) Molecular conservation genetics: assaying the structure of DNA can help
protect endangered species. American Scientist 87:28–35
Ashworth D, Parkin DT (1992) Captive breeding: can genetic fingerprinting help? Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 64:135–149
Avise JC (1994) Molecular markers, natural history and evolution. Chapman and Hall, New
York
Avise JC (1995) Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism and a connection between genetics
and demography of relevance to conservation. Conservation Biology 9:686–690
Avise JC, Ball RM (1990) Principles of genealogical concordance in species concepts and
biological taxonomy. Oxford Survey of Evolutionary Biology 7:45–67
Avise JC, Hamrick JL (1996) Conservation genetics: case histories from nature. Chapman
and Hall, New York
Avise JC, Arnold J, Ball RM, Bermingham E, Lamb T, Neigel JE, Reeb CA, Saunders NC
(1987) Intraspecific phylogeography: the mitochondrial bridge between population genetics and systematics. Annual Review of Ecological Systematics 18:489–522
Avise JC, Ball RM, Arnold J (1988) Current versus historical population sizes in vertebrate
species with high gene flow: a comparison based on mitochondrial DNA lineages and
inbreeding theory for neutral mutations. Molecular Biology and Evolution 5:331–344
Sabine S. Loew
scarce resources to taxa most likely in need of management (Burgman et al. 1988;
Lacy 1993; Nunney and Campbell 1993; Ballou et al. 1995).
Failure to detect signs of increased extinction risk based on the demographic
and genetic records of populations should not be interpreted as a guarantee of
survival of a taxon, especially not for healthy populations with a limited range or
species of a specialized ecological niche that might become endangered by a
single catastrophic event. Hence listing taxa as endangered should be based on
demographic and genetic indicators of decline, while taking into consideration
vulnerabilities of the species due to its specific biology, as well as abiotic factors
such as the local political situation (Avise 1994; Ballou et al. 1995; Avise and
Hamrick 1996). In their reevaluation of the IUCN threatened species categories,
Mace and Lande (1991) applied a similar logic in their development of quantitative criteria to determine endangerment.
Acknowledgments. I appreciate the comments by J. Ballou, R. Frankham,
S. Jarvi, C. McIntosh, E. Paxinos, E. Perry, and C. Tarr on a previous draft of this
chapter. In addition, I thank Mark Burgman for his exceedingly helpful editorial
changes. Ideas and early drafts for this manuscript were developed while I was a
Smithsonian Research Fellow and was supported by a California Fish and Game
contract to K. Ralls, D. Williams, and R. C. Fleischer.
Literature Cited
Alberts SC, Ober C (1993) Genetic variability in the major histocompatibility complex: a
review of non-pathogen-mediated selective mechanisms. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36:71–89
Aquadro CF, Greenberg BD (1983) Human mitochondrial DNA variation and evolution:
analysis of nucleotide sequences from seven individuals Genetics 103:287–312
Armour JAL, Neumann R, Gobert S, Jeffreys AJ (1994) Isolation of human simple repeat
loci by hybridization selection. Human Molecular Genetics 3:599–605
Ashley M (1999) Molecular conservation genetics: assaying the structure of DNA can help
protect endangered species. American Scientist 87:28–35
Ashworth D, Parkin DT (1992) Captive breeding: can genetic fingerprinting help? Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 64:135–149
Avise JC (1994) Molecular markers, natural history and evolution. Chapman and Hall, New
York
Avise JC (1995) Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism and a connection between genetics
and demography of relevance to conservation. Conservation Biology 9:686–690
Avise JC, Ball RM (1990) Principles of genealogical concordance in species concepts and
biological taxonomy. Oxford Survey of Evolutionary Biology 7:45–67
Avise JC, Hamrick JL (1996) Conservation genetics: case histories from nature. Chapman
and Hall, New York
Avise JC, Arnold J, Ball RM, Bermingham E, Lamb T, Neigel JE, Reeb CA, Saunders NC
(1987) Intraspecific phylogeography: the mitochondrial bridge between population genetics and systematics. Annual Review of Ecological Systematics 18:489–522
Avise JC, Ball RM, Arnold J (1988) Current versus historical population sizes in vertebrate
species with high gene flow: a comparison based on mitochondrial DNA lineages and
inbreeding theory for neutral mutations. Molecular Biology and Evolution 5:331–344