Genetic Rescue of Australia's Arid Zone Plants

许多澳大利亚干旱地区的植物物种受到放牧、传粉媒介丧失等影响的严重破坏，如果不紧急干预，它们将无法生存。有些人以小而分散的群体存在，遗传变异太少，无法繁殖或适应进一步的环境变化。我们建议将遗传（DNA）多样性和种群繁殖状况的调查结合起来，以确定可以通过“遗传拯救”过程拯救的物种。基因拯救将包括实验性授粉，以产生高度适合的幼苗，然后将这些幼苗移植以增加基因缺陷的种群。

Many Australian arid zone plant species have been severely damaged by grazing, loss of pollinators and other impacts and cannot survive without urgent intervention. Some exist as small fragmented populations with too little genetic variation to reproduce or adapt to further environmental change. We propose to combine surveys of genetic (DNA) diversity and the reproductive status of populations in order to identify species that could be saved by a process of ‘genetic rescue’. Genetic rescue will involve experimental pollinations to produce highly fit seedlings and later transplanting of these seedlings to augment genetically deficient populations.