Global meta-analysis shows action is needed to halt genetic diversity loss

Mitigating loss of genetic diversity is a major global biodiversity challenge1-4. To meet recent international commitments to maintain genetic diversity within species5,6, we need to understand relationships between threats, conservation management and genetic diversity change. Here we conduct a global analysis of genetic diversity change via meta-analysis of all available temporal measures of genetic diversity from more than three decades of research. We show that within-population genetic diversity is being lost over timescales likely to have been impacted by human activities, and that some conservation actions may mitigate this loss. Our dataset includes 628 species (animals, plants, fungi and chromists) across all terrestrial and most marine realms on Earth. Threats impacted two-thirds of the populations that we analysed, and less than half of the populations analysed received conservation management. Genetic diversity loss occurs globally and is a realistic prediction for many species, especially birds and mammals, in the face of threats such as land use change, disease, abiotic natural phenomena and harvesting or harassment. Conservation strategies designed to improve environmental conditions, increase population growth rates and introduce new individuals (for example, restoring connectivity or performing translocations) may maintain or even increase genetic diversity. Our findings underscore the urgent need for active, genetically informed conservation interventions to halt genetic diversity loss.

R.E.S. acknowledges funding from an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP170100061). K.A.F. acknowledges funding from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science (CE20010012). V.C.-C. acknowledges funding support from the Croatian Science Foundation (grant IP-2018-01-8708). R.E. acknowledges funding support from Uppsala University. A.B. and M.K.K. acknowledge funding support from Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences. L.L. acknowledges funding support from the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-01290) and the Swedish Research Council (grant 2019-05503). F.H. was supported by a Royal Society International Exchanges grant (IEC\NSFC\181744). J.B. acknowledges funding support from the Fundamental Research Programme ‘Circular and Climate Neutral’ (KB-34-013-003) funded by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature. E.B. acknowledges funding support from Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (programme group P1-0386 and project N1-0281). L.I. acknowledges funding support from Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (programme group P1-0314). N.L.P.K. was supported by funding to L.L. from the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-01290) and the Swedish Research Council (grant 2019-05503). P.K. was supported from the Scientific Grant Agency VEGA (1/0328/22). A.K. was supported by Norges forskningsråd (the Research Council of Norway) (project no. 160022/F40 NINA). S.K. was supported by funding to L.L. from the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-01290) and the Swedish Research Council (grant 2019-05503). A.M. acknowledges the support of NBFC, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, P.N.R.R., Missione 4 Componente 2, “Dalla ricerca all’impresa”, Investimento 1.4, Project CN00000033. D.P. was supported by funding to L.L. from the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant 2020-01290) and the Swedish Research Council (grant 2019-05503). F.A., W.P.G.-C., E.B. and J.A.L. acknowledge the support of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme of the European Union under grant agreement 101059492 (Biodiversity Genomics Europe). T.U.N. was financed through ARIS Research Group P4-0107. C.E.G. acknowledges funding support from a University of Sydney Robinson Fellowship. We thank the undergraduate students of M.W.B. at Cardiff University who participated in earlier parts of this project. This Article is based on work from COST Action G-BiKE, CA 18134, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology; https://www.cost.eu). We thank Tovetorp Research Station, Stockholm University, for hosting the initial project workshop. Open access funding provided by the University of Sydney.

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