Contemporary evolution meets conservation biology

Recent research has revealed that evolution often occurs on contemporary timescales, often within decades. Contemporary evolution is associated with the same factors that are driving the current extinction crisis: habitat loss and degradation, overharvesting and exotic species. Thus, it is relevant to many conservation situations. First, habitat fragmentation might influence the potential of a population to adapt in response environmental degradation. Second, certain harvesting strategies can result in the evolution of life-history traits, ultimately resulting in negative impacts on harvestable yield. Third, the establishment of exotic species can be influenced by their adaptive potential and our ability to limit that potential. Furthermore, contemporary evolution is of concern for intensively managed species, because it might reduce their fitness in native habitats. Ultimately, contemporary evolution is influenced by complex interactions among population size, genetic variation, the strength of selection, and gene flow, making most management scenarios unique. In a world filled with contemporary evolution, conservation efforts that ignore its implications will be less efficient and perhaps even risk prone. Humans have become an evolutionary force of extraordinary influence [1], evidenced most obviously by an unprecedented extinction rate that is attributable to their activities [2]. Human activities are also associated with evolutionary changes that can occur within a few hundred years, otherwise known as CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTION (see Glossary) [3‐5].