Genetic ranking for biological conservation using information from multiple species Original Research Article

Few studies have utilised genetic information from multiple taxonomic groups to compare the conservation values of geographic regions or particular taxa. None has examined how this information should be standardised to accommodate biological differences between taxa such as vagility or the level of genetic variability. Here we examine procedures for summarising genetic information using protein electrophoretic data from seven reptile species in the Great Dividing Range, and Western Tablelands and slopes of Northern New South Wales. The examination suggests the following recommendations for using genetic information in ranking. As many taxonomic groups as possible should be included in investigations. Using the present data, the average pairwise correlations between taxonomic groups were generally low to medium for all genetic metrics (absolute values ranging from 0.01 to 0.45). This indicates that single taxa are not usually good surrogates for the prediction of genetic value in other groups. Representatives of each class of metrics should be calculated as these may reveal distinct aspects of the genetic data. Four classes were identified here by examination of metrics’ pairwise correlations. Comparisons between regions should be based on metrics standardised to accommodate variation in the biology of the studied taxa. Conservation priority should be accorded to populations or regions ranking highly on any individual metric, with highest priority allotted to those ranking highly on uncorrelated metrics. If sample pooling is necessary to accommodate low sample sizes, preliminary inspection of the primary data is necessary to confirm that this will not obscure biologically significant patterns such as fixed allelic differences between local populations.