Conservation managers typically need to make prompt decisions based on limited
information and resources. Consequently, generalisations have essential roles in guiding …

As wild environments are often inhospitable, many species have to be captive‐bred to save
them from extinction. In captivity, species adapt genetically to the captive environment and …

Behaviours are exceptionally complex quantitative traits. Sensitivity to environmental
variation and genetic background, the presence of sexual dimorphism, and the widespread …

Explanations for the genetic variation ubiquitous in natural populations are often classified
by the population–genetic processes they emphasize: natural selection or mutation and …

Many threatened species are being maintained in captivity to save them from extinction,
often with the eventual aim of reintroduction. The objective of genetic management in …

Equalization of parental contributions is one of the most simple and widely recognized
methods to maintain genetic diversity in conservation programs, as it halves the rate of …

We assess the relative importance of migration rate, size and number of subpopulations on
the genetic load of subdivided populations. Using diffusion approximations, we show that in …

Optimal outbreeding theory predicts fitness benefits to intermediate levels of inbreeding. In
the present study, we test for linear (consistent with inbreeding depression) and nonlinear …

Reproductive fitness characters are crucial in animal and plant breeding, evolutionary
genetics and conservation biology. However, the nature of their variation is not well …

There is mounting evidence consistent with a general role of positive selection acting on the
Drosophila melanogaster X‐chromosome. However, this positive selection need not …