Abstract
The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, with
only 50% of its native biodiversity remaining, leading to an overall
decline in UK ecosystems and genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is
essential for evolution to occur and determines the capacity for
populations to respond adaptively to a changing environment. Although
recognised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
as a form of biodiversity, genetic diversity is often overlooked in
conservation programmes due to lack of genetic data and difficulties in
generating it. We have devised a framework which utilizes life history
data as an alternative to genetic data to infer population genetics
parameters which are used to inform conservation recommendations. Our
framework combines approaches incorporating risk assessments predicting
species population genetics parameters based on a combination of
specific biological trait values and provides management recommendations
to ensure conservation of genetic diversity. Here we apply our framework
to the assessment of 52 UK native or archaeophyte plant species of
conservation and ecological restoration interest. We found that species
assessed as least likely to require conservation management were in line
with the IUCN’s assessment of Least Concern species. This infers a level
of agreement in the interpretation of life history trait values used in
our framework. In the absence of genetic data, this framework proved to
be very informative for conservation practitioners. However, further
species-specific genetic analysis is still needed to confirm the results
of this study and provide robust conservation management
recommendations.