The recent extensive loss of biodiversity raises the question of whether organisms will adapt in time to survive the current era of rapid environmental change, and whether today's conservation practices and policies are appropriate. We review the benefits and risks of inter‐ and intraspecific hybridization as a conservation management tool aimed at enhancing adaptive potential and survival, with particular reference to coral reefs. We conclude that hybridization is underutilized and that many of its perceived risks are possibly overstated; the few applications of hybridization in conservation to date have already shown positive outcomes. Moreover, perceptions of potential risk change significantly when the focus of conservation is on preserving the adaptive potential of a species/population, instead of preserving the species in its original state. Further, we suggest that the uncertain legal status of hybrids as entities of protection can be costly to society and ecosystems, and that a legislative revision of hybrids and hybridization is overdue. We present a decision tree to help assess when and where hybridization can be a suitable conservation tool, and whether inter‐ or intraspecific hybridization is the preferred option.

中文翻译：

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杂交作为保护管理工具

最近生物多样性的广泛丧失提出了一个问题，即生物是否会及时适应以适应当前快速环境变化的时代，以及当今的保护做法和政策是否合适。我们审查种间和种内杂交的益处和风险，将其作为旨在增强适应性潜力和生存力的养护管理工具，特别是针对珊瑚礁。我们得出的结论是，杂交没有得到充分利用，其许多可感知的风险可能被夸大了。迄今为止，杂交在保护中的少数应用已显示出积极的成果。此外，当保护的重点是保留物种/种群的适应性潜力时，对潜在风险的认识将发生巨大变化，而不是将物种保留为其原始状态。此外，我们认为，作为保护实体的杂种的不确定法律地位可能对社会和生态系统造成巨大的损失，并且对杂种和杂种的立法修订已经过时了。我们提出了一个决策树，以帮助评估何时何地杂交可以成为合适的保守工具，以及种间杂交还是种内杂交是首选。