Genetics and adaptation : introduction

Abstract

Because of the complexity of the measurement of animal welfare, studying genetics of animals’ potentialof adaptation to their environment or to different stresses would contribute to appreciate the contribution of genetics to the control of animal welfare. However, such studies address many questions : the animals’potential of adaptation cannot be summarised in one measurement, the choice and interpretation of the tests are difficult, partly because many factors interfere(rearing conditions, social environment, the animal’sexperience, nature of stimuli…). Moreover, the geneticanalysis of the data often leads to methodological problems. Genomics will help to better understand the contribution of genetics as well as the genetic relationships between traits. But it will neither solve the question of the interpretation of results nor that of their importance.