Genetic factors are less considered than demographic characters in delisting species

Abstract When recovery goals for threatened and endangered species have been reached, these species will be removed from lists of threatened species. The self-sustainability of delisted species depends on both demographic and genetic factors, while genetic factors are still not considered as an essential part of evaluation in delisting decisions. In this study, we checked if genetic factors were less considered than demographic characters in delisting decisions and the following post-delisting monitoring plans (PDMPs). We found that only 32.76% (19 of 58 decisions) delisting decisions contained genetic factors, with genetic variation being the most frequently mentioned genetic factor, whereas all delisting decisions considered demographic characters. Moreover, we detected an increasing trend of genetic factors being considered in delisting decisions over time, but this may just be the result of more available genetic data produced by conservation studies rather than a rising awareness of the importance of genetic factors in policy making of delisting decisions. Genetic factors were also overlooked in PDMPs with only two out of 29 PDMPs monitoring genetic factors. As the rapid development of conservation genomics, we addressed the application value of genomic data in delisting decisions and proposed a candidate genetic criterion that effective population size should be greater than 1000 to assess the successful recovery of an endangered species and self-sustainability of delisted species.