Premium
Optimizing ex situ genetic resource collections for European livestock conservation
Author(s) -
De Oliveira Silva Rafael,
Ahmadi Bouda Vosough,
Hiemstra Sipke Joost,
Moran Dominic
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of animal breeding and genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1439-0388
pISSN - 0931-2668
DOI - 10.1111/jbg.12368
Subject(s) - ex situ conservation , breed , productivity , resource (disambiguation) , gene bank , genetic resources , business , gene pool , extinction (optical mineralogy) , livestock , marginal cost , environmental resource management , genetic diversity , natural resource economics , biology , computer science , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology , economics , gene , economic growth , population , genetics , endangered species , computer network , paleontology , demography , sociology , habitat , microeconomics
Abstract Ex situ collections offer the potential to reduce extinction risks, affording option to society in maintaining future breeding opportunities for productivity and heritage traits. However, how much should we be seeking to collect and conserve in gene banks, and where? We developed a mathematical model to optimize logistical decisions of breed conservation choices and to evaluate alternative scenarios for efficiently re‐allocating genetic materials currently stored in different European gene banks, allowing for cross‐country collections, cost and cryogenic capacity differentials. We show how alternative allocations for the breeds that are currently stored in 11 European gene banks could reduce overall conservation costs by around 20% by selecting cryogenic banks that have relatively lower combination of fixed and collection costs, and are geographically closer to collection regions. Our results show that centralizing collections in one gene bank would double the costs, relative to collective European collections approaches. We also calculate marginal costs of collections and show that increasing diversity within the gene banks implies in higher costs per conserved breed.