Understanding the relative importance of these two factors is
key to designing effective conservation strategies. It may be
common sense to focus on boosting numbers if demographics matter
more, and to put together breeding programmes that expand the
remaining gene pool if genetics rule, but accurately pointing
the finger at the primary cause of decline is rarely a simple
task. The cheetah is the poster child for this problem, Wootton
told attendees of the 2012 Ecological Society of America annual
meeting in Portland, Oregon, on 6 August. Africa’s most at-risk
cat species has lost much of its habitat and its former genetic
diversity. Consequently, no one knows which factor will more
strongly influence its fate. He and Pfister wanted to do
experiments in which they could manipulate both the genetic
structures and the sizes of populations. Cheetahs being
impractical subjects, they opted instead for the sea palm,
Postelsia, a type of kelp that occurs along the western coast of
North America. Postelsia barely dis