Genetic Rescue of Australia's Arid Zone Plants

许多澳大利亚干旱地区的植物物种由于放牧、传粉媒介的丧失和其他影响而受到严重破坏，如果不采取紧急干预措施，就无法生存。 有些人作为小的分散的种群存在，遗传变异太少，无法繁殖或适应进一步的环境变化。 我们建议结合联合收割机调查的遗传（DNA）多样性和人口的生殖状况，以确定物种，可以保存的过程中的“遗传拯救”。 遗传拯救将涉及实验授粉，以产生高度适合的幼苗，然后移植这些幼苗，以增加遗传缺陷的人口。

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.