Side Event

Genetic biodiversity in forests, inland waters, and marine environments – targets and indicators for monitoring genetic variation for resilience and future adaptation

Organizer
Swedish Scientific Council on Biological Diversity, the NCEAS/NESCent Working Group on Genetic Monitoring

Date and Time
18 October 2010 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 10)

This seminar presents key aspects concerning how to assess and monitor diversity at the genetic level. Species and ecosystems depend on biological variation at the gene level for retaining resilience and evolutionary potential. Genetic biodiversity also provides the basis for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem goods utilized in forestry and fishery. Scientists warn that gene pools are being depleted globally at increasing rate but few efforts are currently devoted for assessment and monitoring of these processes. This seminar discusses concrete suggestions for targets and indicators for genetic biodiversity for animal and plant species in inland waters, forest and marine environments.