Which rescue to the rescue? Disentangling demographic, evolutionary, and genetic rescue.

Many populations face increasing extinction risk, but persistence can occur via 'rescue', defined as an increase in population growth rates or abundance that lowers extinction probability. Such rescue manifests as demographic rescue (immigration offsetting vital rate declines), evolutionary rescue (adaptive response to selection), or genetic rescue (gene flow introducing beneficial genetic variation). We emphasize that rescue is a population-level outcome, not a management strategy, and the three rescue types are not mutually exclusive; for example, gene flow could lead to demographic, genetic, and evolutionary rescue. Understanding the interactions within and among these types of rescue and balancing immediate demographic gains with long-term adaptive potential is crucial for developing effective management actions tailored to diverse taxa and changing ecological contexts.