Molecular techniques can be used to address questions of conservation significance. At the individual level, these questions concern how kinship affects reproduction, group structure, dispersal, and cooperation which leads to social group assembly rules such that populations can be genetically managed and restored. Furthermore, inbreeding can now be measured at the individual level in natural populations, and, in combination with field studies, can be used to assess fitness declines that might require active management to arrest. We discuss genetic units for conservation and attempt to integrate data on phenotype and the environment into an evaluation that includes genetic data. To a limited extent, genetic surveys can now include genes that may influence fitness, as well as those not under selection. We discuss the use of animal and plant remains to monitor current populations and to determine directly the demographic changes that have occurred in the past.