7842

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7842
• Author: Knopf, F. L.
• Title: Biological Diversity in Wildlife Management.
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: 1992.
• Copyright Material: NO

Genetics and Biodiversity in Wildlife
Management
Michael H. Smith' and Olin E. Rhodes, Jr.,
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Aiken, South Carolina
Introduction
Biodiversity is often considered synonymous with species diversity. In this ap-
proach to biodiversity, communities are sampled, number of individuals of repre-
sented species are recorded and various indices of species diversity are calculated.
This view of biodiversity is focused on a single level of biological organization and
on one measure of diversity taken within each community. Emphasis also should be
placed upon diversity at other levels of organization (e.g., populations), alternate
measures of diversity (e.g., genetic variability), and diversity within and among
biological systems across the landscape. Measures of diversity can be derived from
a number of different characteristics measured for biological systems ranging from
the community to the individual level (Figure 1).
Reasons for interest in biodiversity center around the conservation of biological
systems and maintenance of their ability to adapt to changing environments. Part of
this adaptation will take place by species replacement within communities, but it
will also involve the evolution of populations by changes in their genetic character-
istics. Because of the latter, it is advisable to also consider biodiversity in terms of
genetic measures of diversity. This approach has been difficult, if not impossible,
until fairly recently when a variety of techniques have become available to rapidly
assess the genetic characteristics of a number of organisms from bacteria (McArthur
et al. 1988) to higher plants and animals (Nevo et al. 1984). Total communities have
not yet been assessed, but assemblages of species within communities have been
examined and measures of diversity calculated (Johnson 1973).
Measures of genetic diversity within biological systems commonly include mul-
tilocus genetic variability or heterozygosity, proportion of polymorphic loci and
alleles per locus. Genetic diversity measures among biological systems include var-
ious indices of genetic distance or identity. These genetic measures have been used
frequently for comparing populations or species, but not for communities or species
assemblages. Using genetic data for comparison of species and populations may be
of more value in wildlife management than measures of species diversity. Genetic
data also can be used to calculate more familiar indices, such as the Shannon Wiener
Index, by considering each new allele in a manner similar to that of an individual
of a new species (Lewontin 1974). Considering biodiversity from a genetic per-
spective still puts emphasis on the basic variability of the system, and it can be
measured in a way that is applicable to various levels of biological organization and
allows quantification of differences among systems. Diversity expressed in genetic
terms is also a measure of the information content of a biological system.
(Departments of Zoology, Genetics, Ecology and School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens.
Genetics and Biodiversity ? 243