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Is local provenance important in habitat creation?
Author(s) -
Wilkinson David M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.503
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2664
pISSN - 0021-8901
DOI - 10.1046/j.0021-8901.2001.00669.x
Subject(s) - provenance , habitat , ecology , fitness landscape , geography , environmental resource management , biology , sociology , environmental science , paleontology , population , demography
Summary1 Many habitat creation schemes specify that biological material of local provenance should be used in reintroductions. This has come to be the ‘text book’ approach. However, very little discussion of the theory underlying this idea has been published in the scientific literature. This paper aims to initiate this much‐needed discussion. 2 A major reason for the use of local provenance is the claimed importance of conserving locally adapted genotypes, which are assumed to show high fitness. Using both genetic arguments and a consideration of Quaternary environmental change I argue that this reason will seldom be important. 3 I make tentative suggestions of when local provenance is likely to be important and when it can be given a low priority in habitat creation schemes.