Genetic diversity among and within populations of all species is necessary for people and nature to survive and thrive in a changing world. Over the past three years, commitments for conserving genetic diversity have become more ambitious and specific under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). This Perspective article comments on how goals and targets of the GBF have evolved, the improvements that are still needed, lessons learned from this process, and connections between goals and targets and the actions and reporting that will be needed to maintain, protect, manage and monitor genetic diversity. It is possible and necessary that the GBF strives to maintain genetic diversity within and among populations of all species, to restore genetic connectivity, and to develop national genetic conservation strategies, and to report on these using proposed, feasible indicators.

Under the recently adopted Kunming‐Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, 196 Parties committed to reporting the status of genetic diversity for all species. To facilitate reporting, three genetic diversity indicators were developed, two of which focus on processes contributing to genetic diversity conservation: maintaining genetically distinct populations and ensuring populations are large enough to maintain genetic diversity. The major advantage of these indicators is that they can be estimated with or without DNA‐based data. However, demonstrating their feasibility requires addressing the methodological challenges of using data gathered from diverse sources, across diverse taxonomic groups, and for countries of varying socio‐economic status and biodiversity levels. Here, we assess the genetic indicators for 919 taxa, representing 5271 populations across nine countries, including megadiverse countries and developing economies. Eighty‐three percent of the taxa assessed had data available to calculate at least one indicator. Our results show that although the majority of species maintain most populations, 58% of species have populations too small to maintain genetic diversity. Moreover, genetic indicator values suggest that IUCN Red List status and other initiatives fail to assess genetic status, highlighting the critical importance of genetic indicators.

Preservation of muscle morphology depends on a continuing regulatory balance between molecules that protect and molecules that damage muscle structural integrity. Excessive disruption of the biochemical balance that favours reactive oxygen species (ROS) in disused muscles may lead to oxidative stress, which in turn is associated with increased atrophic or apoptotic signalling and/or oxidative damage to the muscle and thus muscle disuse atrophy. Increases in the rate of oxygen consumption likely increase the overall generation of ROS in vivo. Temperature-induced increases in oxygen consumption rate occur in some muscles of ectotherms undergoing prolonged muscular disuse during aestivation. In the green-striped burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata, both large jumping and small non-jumping muscles undergo atrophy seemingly commensurate with their rate of oxygen consumption during aestivation. However, because the extent of atrophy in these muscles is not enhanced at higher temperatures, despite a temperature-sensitive rate of oxygen consumption in the jumping muscle, we proposed that muscles are protected by biochemical means that, when mobilised at higher temperatures, inhibit atrophy. We proposed that the biochemical response to temperature would be muscle-specific. We examined the effect of temperature on the antioxidant and heat shock protein systems and determined the extent of oxidative damage to lipids and proteins in two functionally different skeletal muscles, the gastrocnemius (jumping muscle) and the iliofibularis (non-jumping muscle), by aestivating frogs at 24 and 30°C for 6 months. We assayed small molecule antioxidant capacity, mitochondrial and cytosolic superoxide dismutase activities and Hsp70 concentrations to show that protective mechanisms in disused muscles are differentially regulated with respect to both temperature and aestivation. High aestivation temperature results in an antioxidant response in the metabolically temperature-sensitive jumping muscle. We assayed lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation to show that oxidative damage is apparent during aestivation and its pattern is muscle-specific, but unaffected by temperature. Consideration is given to how the complex responses of muscle biochemistry inform the different strategies muscles may use in regulating their oxidative environment during extended disuse and disuse at high temperature.

Measuring genetic diversity of wild species using DNA-based data remains resource intensive and time consuming for nearly all species. However, genetic assessments are needed for global conservation commitments, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, and for governments and managers to evaluate conservation progress, as well as prioritizing species and populations to preserve and recover genetic diversity (e.g., via genetic rescue). Recently, indicators were developed for tracking and reporting genetic diversity status and trends for hundreds of species. The indicators quantify two simple proxies of within-population and among-population genetic diversity and adaptive potential: small effective population size (N_e < 500) and the loss of genetically distinct populations. The indicators must balance scientific credibility, practicality, and simplicity. In the present article, we summarize the advantages of these pragmatic indicators, address critiques by scientists for simplifying assumptions and by policymakers for complexity, and propose potential solutions and next steps. We aim to support practitioners putting indicators into policy, action, legislation, and reporting.