Genomics and conservation seem quite unrelated, right!?
Well... not really!
With new technologies, namely high-throughput DNA sequencing, vast amounts of genetic information may be obtained from beautiful, long-lived (and non-model) organisms as mangrove trees. You may reasonably ask: OK, so what?
Well, sometimes, only by looking at mangrove trees it is quite hard to tell different species apart! Sometimes, there may even be inter-species hybrids (as in Brazilian red- or black-mangroves)! Because species are one of the basic units for management and conservation plans, genetic (and genomic) tools help us properly identify them. Besides, these tools may help national and international stakeholders and policy makers to better identify and design across-borders conservation units based not only on species distribution but also on genetic/genomic diversity. This is particularly important for a rapidly changing world as there may be evolutionary 'winners' and 'losers' of climate changes (as we are currently studying). Want to know what some colleagues from Brazil, China, Mexico and Japan and I think about it? Check it out here.