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. 2025 Aug 5;122(31):e2500713122.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2500713122. Epub 2025 Jul 28.

Synergies between speciation and conservation science yield novel insights for mitigating the biodiversity crisis of the Anthropocene

Silu Wang  1 , Anne D Yoder  2
Affiliations

Synergies between speciation and conservation science yield novel insights for mitigating the biodiversity crisis of the Anthropocene

Silu Wang et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
A conceptual model of fusion and fission in the Speciation Continuum can empower conservation biology. As geographic barriers (fission) accumulate to prevent gene flow (fusion) between diverging lineages, they become increasingly diverged, ultimately leading to speciation via reproductive isolation. The process is complete with the cessation of hybridization in sympatry or when hybrids are either inviable or drastically less fit than parental lineages. While gene flow promotes fusion, habitat fragmentation drives fission. Conservation science strives to understand the population consequences of isolation (fission) and mechanisms for restoring gene flow (fusion) over fragmented habitats. Speciation and conservation science are conceptually centered around this tension between fission and fusion.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Three classic models of geographic speciation are increasingly relevant for understanding the impacts of habitat fragmentation on natural populations in an increasingly fragmented landscape. (A) allopatric, (B) peripatetic, and (C) parapatric models of speciation.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Process-driven insights from speciation research can empower restoration practice in a rapidly changing and fragmented landscape. Anthropogenic habitat loss imposes isolation analogous to natural allopatric speciation. Concepts and ideas in speciation-introgression research can guide rigorous and effective monitoring of gene flow for planning, prediction, and assessment of functional connectivity in regional restoration efforts.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Process-oriented conservation centered around the tension between fusion and fission can effectively unite species-oriented and process-oriented conservation efforts to restore, monitor, and maintain a functional species–area relationship for future ecosystems. The evolutionary trajectories of the divided population are reflected in the phylogenetic and coalescent histories (Left). The networks (Right) represent ecological interactions among species in an ecosystem. Monitoring movements, gene flow, or introgression (fusion) of species over fragmented landscapes (fission) is crucial for functional connectivity in conservation practice.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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