The latest methods of molecular biology and genetics have been brought into the service of conservation of biodiversity. The main task in conservation efforts is to manage small captive or wild, fragmented population – both demographically and genetically – to ensure their survival through time.

The recent change in the concept of species has resulted in the observation that molecular, morphological and geographical distribution data should be examined to evaluate the genetic structure of the population. Molecular techniques are also being used to measure the heterozygocity in founders and captive populations to validate the pedigree assignment audi evaluate the origins of founder stock.

Karyotyping, many forms of electrophoresis, immunological comparison of proteins, sequencing of proteins and DNA and the comparison of DNA restriction fragment lengths polymorphism etc. are some of technique which are being used to study the genetic structure of wild as well as captive populations to identify individuals and the familial relationships. The use of automation in many of these procedures allows rapid collection of data and its analyses today.

These methods are going to have significant impact on the management of captive and wild populations. They have already been used to establish separate sub-species of Orang-utangs from Borneo and Sumatra by karyotyping.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Two of the serum proteins have also been found to differ in the sub-species. In the case of Asiatic lions it has been demonstrate that African lions are the founders of nearly all populations of lions now existing in captivity. In the case of tigers the molecular evidence has failed to support the traditional separation of species into sup-species.