Anthropogenic habitat loss and climate change are reducing species’ geographic ranges, increasing extinction risk and losses of species’ genetic diversity. Although preserving genetic diversity is key to maintaining species’ adaptability, we lack predictive tools and global estimates of genetic diversity loss across ecosystems. We introduce a mathematical framework that bridges biodiversity theory and population genetics to understand the loss of naturally occurring DNA mutations with decreasing habitat. By analyzing genomic variation of 10,095 georeferenced individuals from 20 plant and animal species, we show that genome-wide diversity follows a mutations-area relationship power law with geographic area, which can predict genetic diversity loss from local population extinctions. We estimate that more than 10% of genetic diversity may already be lost for many threatened and nonthreatened species, surpassing the United Nations’ post-2020 targets for genetic preservation.

中文翻译：

---

人类世遗传多样性丧失

人为栖息地丧失和气候变化正在缩小物种的地理范围，增加灭绝风险和物种遗传多样性的丧失。尽管保护遗传多样性是维持物种适应性的关键，但我们缺乏对整个生态系统遗传多样性丧失的预测工具和全球估计。我们引入了一个连接生物多样性理论和群体遗传学的数学框架，以了解自然发生的 DNA 突变随着栖息地的减少而消失。通过分析来自 20 个动植物物种的 10,095 个地理参照个体的基因组变异，我们表明全基因组多样性遵循突变区域关系幂律与地理区域，这可以预测当地种群灭绝导致的遗传多样性丧失。