Abstract

The accelerating decline of global biodiversity poses a serious threat to ecosystem functioning and long-term environmental sustainability. While conventional conservation strategies based on ecological surveys and morphological identification have contributed significantly to species protection, they often fail to capture underlying genetic variation critical for species persistence. Advances in genomic technologies have transformed conservation biology by enabling detailed analyses of genetic diversity, population structure, evolutionary history, and adaptive capacity. Tools such as DNA barcoding, microsatellites, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD- seq), whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and environmental DNA (eDNA) support accurate species identification, population monitoring, and evidence-based conservation decision- making. This review paper synthesizes major genomic tools used in species conservation, highlights their applications, and discusses associated challenges, ethical considerations, and emerging trends for integrating genomics into conservation policy and practice.