Diversity in Ecological and Socio-economic Settings

Background Changes in farm management and in resulting selection pressures gradually cause a decrease in genetic diversity. | Background Further reading

Through farm management conditions and environment under which animals are kept become more and more universal. The same accounts for the production objectives and consequently the selection by farmers. Universally, products as milk, eggs and meat are gaining in importance at the cost of factors such as wool, draught animal power, disease tolerance, ability to survive under harsh conditions, colour, size of horns etc.

Farmers engaged in livestock production for the market increasingly change local breeds for exotic breeds or crossbreeds. Genotypes from local breeds with small numbers of animals are at particular risk of disappearing. Already, significant numbers of domestic livestock breeds are extinct.

Driving Force | Pressures for change | Results
Increasing demand for animals products | Change in perceived value of species and breeds Local breeds exchanged for exotic and cross breeds | More selection on production characteristics Improved farm management resulting in incentives: to keep exotic breeds, and to increase animal production

Local breeds at risk of disappearing | Increasing requests for conservation | Measures by international organisations and national governments to conserve genetic bio diversity

Further Reading

Loss of Agricultural Biodiversity.

More on breeds and genetic bio diversity in livestock:
FAO Domestic Animal Database, http://dad.fao.org

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