How Useful are Neutral Genetic Markers in Conservation?
“Conservation genetics” is a new field that has grown rapidly, and there are now several books and a peer-reviewed journal with that exact title. Conservation geneticists use putatively neutral genetic markers, like microsatellites and mitochondrial DNA, to identify genetically distinct groups of organisms that should be conserved. “Neutral” in this case means that the genetic variation observed is not thought to make a difference to the fitness of the organisms, and therefore it is not affected by natural selection. For example, in a particular species, all of the western populations might have neutral genotypes that are quite similar to each other, but substantially distinct from the neutral genotypes of the eastern populations. Even if this east-west distinction is not apparent by looking at the phenotypes of the organisms, a conservation geneticist might recommend that the two populations be managed as distinct units, since they are different at the DNA level. The idea is that thes
