Joining Biological and Economic Models for Conserving Plant Genetic Diversity

Abstract Intraspecific genetic diversity is a fundamental element in the modern concept of species. Although not necessarily prominent in the public understanding, the scientific view of species is not as a homogeneous set of organisms, but as a group of evolutionarily related individuals incorporating and expressing wide variety in genetically determined traits. This view of species as biological entities not only tolerates genetic variation, but depends on it; we recognize the importance of genetic variation in re production, in ecology, and in evolution and speciation itself (Lewontin 1974). Genetic variation is increasingly recognized as a basic component of population and community structure as well. We would no more consider a single specimen to capture the full functional, ecological, and evolutionary range of a species than we would consider one individual to represent human society.