Reply to Garner et al.

Abstract

The letter by Garner et al. [1] continued an important discussion regarding the role genomics might play in conservation biology. In general, we do not see a dichotomy between our point of view [2] and that put forth by Garner et al. [1]. At the heart of the issue is how to define an actual impact of genomics on applied conservation and find suitable ways to remove existing barriers limiting the use of genomics for managing wild populations. The promised gains of identifying adaptive loci and the genes underlying phenotypes 3, 4 have in most systems not yet been realized and recent empirical work further highlights the challenges 5, 6. Thus, our take-home message boiled down to the application of genomics in wild populations being at an early developmental stage that is far from straightforward and far from regularly applied [2].