Conservation Genetics Laboratory

The sophisticated laboratory techniques and analytical methods of conservation genetics are increasingly being applied to a variety of species in many fish & wildlife management contexts. Providing conservation genetics research and support to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and its partners is the primary function of the Alaska Region’s Conservation Genetics Laboratory (CGL). The CGL provides Service professionals the support they need to integrate genetics into their management and conservation efforts. Established in 1987, the CGL was the first conservation genetics facility in the Service. The CGL works with internal and external partners to design and conduct genetic research and to provide expertise to address conservation and management issues in Alaska, including those on its 16 National Wildlife Refuges, as well as in other Service Regions across the country. We also work collaboratively on a variety of issues with the four other conservation genetics programs within the Service’s Fish Technology Center network and the Genetics Section of the Service’s National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory.

Male coho salmon from the Kenai River drainage. Photo Credit: USFWS

Last updated: November 20, 2008