Adaptation and Fitness in Animal Populations Evolutionary and Breedi
Fitness and adaptation are fundamental characteristics of plant and animal species, enabling them to survive in their environment and to adapt to the inevitable changes in this environment. This is true for both the genetic resources of natural ecosystems
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Adaptation and Fitness in Animal Populations Evolutionary and Breeding Perspectives on Genetic Resource Management
Edited by
Julius van der Werf School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
Hans-Ulrich Graser Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
Richard Frankham Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia
and
Cedric Gondro The Institute for Genetics and Bioinformatics, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
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Editors Julius Herman Jozef van der Werf School of Environmental and Rural Science University of New England Armidale 2351 Australia
Richard Frankham Macquarie University Department of Biological Sciences Sydney 2109 Australia and Australian Museum 6 College Street Sydney 2010 Australia
Hans-Ulrich Graser Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit University of New England Armidale 2351 Australia
ISBN: 978-1-4020-9004-2
Cedric Gondro The Institute for Genetics and Bioinformatics University of New England Armidale 2351 Australia
e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-9005-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933213 c Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
Emeritus Professor James Stuart Flinton Barker in honour of his contributions to Population Genetics and Animal Breeding
Preface
At the 16th AAABG conference in 2005, a proposal was launched to organise a symposium to examine advances in understanding of “adaptive fitness, both in managed populations being conserved and domestic animal species being utilised for food and agriculture production”. After discussion about the term “adaptive fitness” some of us decided we should organise a symposium “Adaptation and Fitness in Animal Populations – Evolutionary and breeding perspectives on genetic resource management” to be held at the 2007 AAABG meeting in Armidale. The term ‘adaptive fitness’ in itself is somewhat a tautology, but fitness and adaptation are both relevant concepts when one is concerned with the long term sustainability of animal breeding programs and animal production systems in a broader sense. Fitness of farm animal populations is clearly becoming a concern, especially in programs that have achieved substantial genetic change for ‘production traits’ or where environmental stressors are intense. Adaptation is required to maintain fitness in new or changing environments. Adaptive mechanisms are very important in animal production systems where genotypes are used globally without being explicitly tested in all the enviro
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