The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the primary international conservation body, recognizes the crucial need to conserve genetic diversity as one of the three fundamental levels of biodiversity. This book provides a brief introduction to the concepts required for understanding the importance of genetic factors in species extinctions and the means for alleviating them.

Conservation genetics encompasses the following activities:

• genetic management of small populations to retain genetic diversity and minimize inbreeding

• resolution of taxonomic uncertainties and delineation of management units

• the use of molecular genetic analyses in forensics and in improving our understanding of species' biology.

Purpose of the book

We have endeavoured to make A Primer of Conservation Genetics as comprehensible as possible to a broad range of readers. It is suitable for those undertaking introductory genetics courses at university, for students undertaking conservation biology courses and even for motivated first-year biology students who have completed lectures on basic Mendelian genetics and introductory population genetics (allele frequencies and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium). Conservation professionals with little genetics background wishing for a brief authoritative introduction to conservation genetics should find it understandable. These include wildlife biologists and ecologists, zoo staff undertaking captive breeding programs, planners and managers of national parks, water catchments and local government areas, foresters and farmers. This book provides a shorter, more basic entry into the subject than our Introduction to Conservation Genetics.