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Conserving intraspecific variation for nature’s contributions to people

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 574–582 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

The rapid loss of intraspecific variation is a hidden biodiversity crisis. Intraspecific variation, which includes the genomic and phenotypic diversity found within and among populations, is threatened by local extinctions, abundance declines, and anthropogenic selection. However, biodiversity assessments often fail to highlight this loss of diversity within species. We review the literature on how intraspecific variation supports critical ecological functions and nature’s contributions to people (NCP). Results show that the main categories of NCP (material, non-material, and regulating) are supported by intraspecific variation. We highlight new strategies that are needed to further explore these connections and to make explicit the value of intraspecific variation for NCP. These strategies will require collaboration with local and Indigenous groups who possess critical knowledge on the relationships between intraspecific variation and ecosystem function. New genomic methods provide a promising set of tools to uncover hidden variation. Urgent action is needed to document, conserve, and restore the intraspecific variation that supports nature and people. Thus, we propose that the maintenance and restoration of intraspecific variation should be raised to a major global conservation objective.

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Fig. 1: The IUCN provides foundational data for global conservation efforts but drastically under-quantifies and thus under-protects intraspecific variation.
Fig. 2: Few studies assess the relationship between NCP and intraspecific variation.
Fig. 3: Genetic diversity within species shows drastic declines since the Industrial Revolution.
Fig. 4: Intraspecific variation and its contributions to people are threatened by anthropogenic risks.
Fig. 5: Intraspecific diversity provides material, non-material, and regulating contributions to people.
Fig. 6: Opposite extremes of conservation strategies that ignore intraspecific variation, only focusing on species (left panel in grey) versus those that explicitly focus on preserving intraspecific variation (right panel in teal).

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Acknowledgements

An initial research meeting to launch the paper was funded by the European Institute for Marine Studies’ International Chair for Marine Ecosystem Services through the French Agency for National Research’s Investissements d’avenir ISblue (ANR-17-EURE-0015) and the LabexMER (//ANR/-/-10/-/LABX/-/19). S.D. was funded by the University of California Office of the President grant for the Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts. E.P.P. was partially supported by the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystems and Climate. We thank members of the Palkovacs lab, the Leaché lab, and the Urban Eco Evo Research Coordination Network for important conversations on the manuscript.

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  1. Simone Des Roches

    Present address: School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Simone Des Roches, Beth Shapiro & Eric P. Palkovacs

  2. Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution – Ocean, Lysaker, Norway

    Linwood H. Pendleton

  3. Ifremer, CNRS, UMR 6308, AMURE, IUEM University of Western Brittany, Plouzané, France

    Linwood H. Pendleton

  4. Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Linwood H. Pendleton

  5. Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Linwood H. Pendleton

  6. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Beth Shapiro

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Contributions

S.D., L.H.P. and E.P.P. conceived the original idea for the manuscript. S.D. completed the literature review portion and the visualizations. S.D., L.H.P., B.S. and E.P.P. contributed to writing and revising the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Eric P. Palkovacs.

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Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Andrew Gonzalez and Assaf Shwartz for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

I. Search terms for literature review. II. References for Fig. 2.

Supplementary Table 1

Summary of primary literature from Web of Science search where intraspecific variation is studied in species that provide an NCP. This table includes both studies that measured the relationship between intraspecific variation and NCP, and those that only quantified intraspecific variation in a species that provided an NCP as articulated by the original authors. NCP categorizations were made by S.D. based on terms used by the original authors.

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Des Roches, S., Pendleton, L.H., Shapiro, B. et al. Conserving intraspecific variation for nature’s contributions to people. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 574–582 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01403-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01403-5

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