Conservation genetics: where are we now?

Genetic studies in endangered species have become widespread in the past de cade, and with new information from various genome projects, new applicatio ns and insights are forthcoming. Generally, neutral variants are used for c onservation applications, and when combined with highly variable loci and/o r many more markers, these approaches should become much more informative. Conservation genetics is also concerned with detrimental and adaptive varia tion, which are more difficult to identify and characterize; however, the a bility to predict the extent of such variation might become more successful and applied in future conservation efforts. Neutral variants might be used to identify adaptive variants, but the overlay of different mutational pro cesses and selective regimes suggests that extreme caution should be used i n making such identifications.