Conservation Genetics and Genomics in Fisheries, Part 1

Rapid advances in tools and approaches from molecular genetics, genomics, and the analysis of phenotypic data associated with molecular pedigrees are providing unprecedented opportunities to improve our understanding of the amount, distribution and functional significance of genetic variation in natural populations and its dynamics over ecologically relevant time. Complete genome sequences will soon be available for many species, although such information for many organisms that are highly exploited or of conservation concern may take considerably longer to emerge. However, it is also increasingly clear that our ability to detect natural or human-induced selection in species of conservation concern is usually confounded with ecological heterogeneity or genetic drift—we often overestimate our ability to detect, much less characterize, change associated with selection. This symposium will examine what we know about functional genomic variation, what we need to know, and the implications of this state of knowledge for conservation of fishes. The contributors to this symposium will also explore the limits as well as the promise of genetics and genomics as applied to conservation and management of fishes. In doing so we seek to indicate where genomics is likely to have the most impact in documenting and helping to stem the widespread loss of genetic and genetically based phenotypic diversity in the wild.