Conservation genetics as a field aims to understand the effects of habitat loss, exploitation, and/or environmental change on the genetic composition of natural populations, and how these changes affect the viability of these populations. In addition, defining evolutionarily significant units for management decisions is an important goal of conservation genetics. Lastly, conservation geneticists are often called on to make prescriptions for maintaining biological diversity, and to explain the importance to human well being for doing so. These three areas employ tools and techniques from population, quantitative and molecular genetics, as well as systematics and phylogenetics. This course will provide a foundation for the acquisition, interpretation, and management decision-making process using all of these types of genetic data.
