Conservation translocation projects must carefully balance multiple, potentially competing objectives (e.g. population viability, retention of genetic diversity, delivery of key ecological services) against conflicting stakeholder values and severe time and cost constraints. Advanced decision support tools would facilitate identifying practical solutions. We examined how to achieve compromise across competing objectives in conservation translocations via an examination of giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands with ancestry from the extinct Floreana Island species ( We developed a novel approach to this conservation decision problem by coupling an individual‐based simulation model with generalized additive models and global optimization. We identified several incompatibilities among programme objectives, with quasi‐optimal single‐objective solutions (sets of management actions) differing substantially in programme duration, translocation age, incubation temperature (determinant of sex ratio) and the number of individuals directly translocated from the source population. Quasi‐optimal single‐objective solutions were able to produce outcomes (i.e. population size and measures of genetic diversity and
Genetic diversity plays a key role in maintaining population viability by preventing inbreeding depression and providing the building blocks for adaptation. Understanding how genetic diversity varies across space is, therefore, of key interest in conservation and population genetics. Here, we introduce Tests with simulated and empirical datasets demonstrate that
- Award ID(s):
- 1845682
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10401324
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Methods in Ecology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2041-210X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 1175-1181
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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