Integrating cryobanks into conservation frameworks: The case of boreal caribou in Ontario

Abstract

The global biodiversity crisis demands urgent action, yet conventional recovery strategies—habitat protection, population monitoring, and threat mitigation—are proving insufficient for many threatened species. Conservation cryobanks are an underutilized but powerful complementary tool, offering both insurance against genetic loss and a means to access and recover genetic diversity across time. Here, we review what conservation cryobanks are, how they have been used to date, and how they can be formally integrated into species recovery frameworks. Using boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in Ontario as a case study, we illustrate a stepwise process for determining which populations require cryobanking, how cryopreserved material can be incorporated into population management, which partners must be engaged, and how to ensure cultural and community connections are respected and supported to update recovery plans accordingly. We also discuss the critical challenges and the ethical dimensions of using cryobanked materials. Our goal is to provide conservation managers with a transferable framework applicable beyond any single species or jurisdiction.