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Where to now with the evolutionarily significant unit?

Hoelzel, A. Rus

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Abstract

The designation of units for conservation has been a necessary but challenging objective since conservation efforts began. Most species are divided, typically by environment, into populations with independent evolutionary trajectories. There are practical conservation objectives for defining these boundaries. Separate genetic clusters provide future evolutionary potential as environments change, and individuals in isolated populations may lose fitness when population size is reduced. The history of the effort to define units is briefly reviewed here, but I focus on finding a process that may facilitate uniform and effective application at a time when conservation urgency is great. I propose a refinement of the designated unit concept, distinguishing between conservation units (CUs) and evolutionarily sustaining conservation units (ESCUs).

Citation

Hoelzel, A. R. (2023). Where to now with the evolutionarily significant unit?. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 38(12), 1134-1142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.005

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 14, 2023
Online Publication Date Aug 16, 2023
Publication Date 2023-12
Deposit Date Dec 4, 2023
Publicly Available Date Dec 4, 2023
Journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution
Print ISSN 0169-5347
Electronic ISSN 1872-8383
Publisher Cell Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 38
Issue 12
Pages 1134-1142
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.07.005
Keywords Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1980938

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