Current rates of habitat destruction and environmental perturbation cannot continue without a concomitant and unprecedented loss of genetic, species, and ecological diversity. The traditional forms of mitigation (isolated reserves of various kinds, captive breeding, storage of germ plasm, embryos, etc.) all suffer from various weaknesses and disadvantages. The synthetic discipline of conservation biology is positioned to improve these traditional practices and invent new ones. Nevertheless, there is little consensus about the relative importance and potential utility of various approaches. The objective of this proposal is to provide some guidelines for researchers by (1) identifying the major scientific challenges associated with the various environmental threats, (2) suggest research directions that might lead to needed advances, and (3) propose cost.effective mechanisms for the achievement of the needed breakthroughs.
