When it comes to advocating animal conservation, it is difficult to be convincing without becoming alarmist. The fact is, time is running out for many of the world’s animal species. Habitat loss, introduced species, overexploitation and pollution, all caused by human activities, combine with stochastic factors to place ever-increasing pressure on natural populations (Primack 2002). | CON5ir AIlOM BIQIOQV Population Genetics for Animal Conservation Edited by c org o 8eftordle. Michael w. Brufofd. Hedi c. Hauffe. Annapaola Rizzoli and Cristiano Vernesi This page intentionally left blank Population Genetics for Animal Conservation It is widely accepted among conservation biologists that genetics is more than ever an essential and efficient tool for wild and captive population management and reserve design. However a true synergy between population genetics and conservation biology is lacking. Following the first International Workshop on Population Genetics for Animal Conservation in 2003 at the Centro di Ecologia Alpina Trento Italy recently incorporated into the Edmund Mach Foundation the scientific committee felt that given the global urgency of animal conservation it was imperative that discussions at the conference were made accessible to graduate students and wildlife managers. This book integrates the analytical methods approach with the real problems approach in conservation genetics. Each chapter is an exhaustive review of one area of expertise and a special effort has been made to explain the statistical tools available for the analysis of molecular data as clearly as possible. The result is a comprehensive volume of the state of the art in conservation genetics illustrating the power and utility of this synergy. GIORGIO BERTORELLE currently teaches Biometry Phylogeny Reconstruction and Conservation Genetics at the University of Ferrara Italy. He is the President and Co-founder of the Italian Society for Evolutionary Biology. MICHAEL W. BRUFORD formerly Head ofthe Conservation Genetics Group atthe Institute ofZoology London has been Professorand Research Group Leaderatthe Cardiff School of Biosciences since 1999 where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in conservation biology and molecular ecology. HEIDI C. HAUFFE trained in Evolutionary Biology and established the first genetics laboratory at the Centro di Ecologia Alpina .
