National inventories of crop wild relatives and wild harvested plants: case-study for Portugal

Crop wild relatives (CWR) and wild harvested plant species (WHP) constitute an important element of a nation’s plant genetic resources (PGR) available for utilisation. Although their natural populations are threatened like other wild species by habitat lost and fragmentation, little attention has generally been paid to their systematic conservation. The development of checklists and inventories is considered by the convention on biological diversity (CBD) and the global strategy for plant conservation (GSPC) as the first step in any national strategy for conservation and sustainable use of plant diversity. Methodological approaches to the development of a national inventory of wild PGR are discussed in the light of a case-study for the CWR and WHP growing in mainland Portugal. The resultant inventory comprises 2319 taxa, of which 97.5% are CWR, 21.4% are WHP and 19.0% are both CWR and WHP. Approximately 6.1% are endemic to mainland Portugal; 24.1% occur in 1 to 4 Portuguese administrative regions; 15.6% are threatened, but only 5.9% are covered by legislative protection. Taxonomic misalignments and the dispersed nature of biological literature were the major impediments to the production of the national inventory, but once the inventory was established it has proven to be a powerful tool in conservation management.     

Data analysis for molecular characterization of plant genetic resources

Characterizations of plant genetic resources based on molecular markers have been increased in the last years. Studies using a broad range of markers applied on hundreds of plant species are the theoretical basis for inferring genetic diversity to propose both breeding and conservation strategies. Despite increased importance of molecular characterization in plant genetic resources, there is scarce information about analysis of this type of data. To fill this gap of information, this review discuss the rationale behind analyses achieved to study genetic relationship among accessions (within and between groups) and to identify accession, and also discuss the adequacy of some analyses and/or parameters for specific purposes. Genetic diversity within groups may be either quantified for the whole group (parameters to choose will depend on type of marker), or quantified and visualized for the relationships among individuals. Quantification parameters will be chosen depending on type of marker, reproduction mode and relatedness of individuals. Visualization is achieved by hierarchical and non-hierarchical methods. Genetic diversity between groups should be quantified either by analysis of molecular variance, or Nei’s parameters, or Wright’s F-statistics. Efficiency of accession identification can be evaluated by maximal probability of identical match by chance and number of resolved genotypes.     

Farmers' valuation and conservation of crop genetic resources

This paper focuses on the value of landraces (traditional and local crop varieties) to farmers in centers of agricultural diversity. Additional information on the factors contributing to the private value which farmers assign to landraces may help to identify a strategy for ensuring the conservation of the crop genetic resources (CGRs) which are embodied in landraces while at the same time minimizing the costs. Economic and ethnobotanical approaches for examining the value of landraces complement one another. A formal economic approach establishes a framework for quantitative analysis while ethnobotanical methods provide qualitative data for assessing the likelihood that particular farmers or farm sectors will maintain landraces. Our research synthesizes the two approaches in order to examine farmer selection of local wheat landraces in relation to that of modern varieties in three provinces in western Turkey. Multiple farmer concerns (e.g. yield, risk, quality), environmental heterogeneity, and missing markets contribute to the persistence of landraces. Household characteristics informing variety choice will also affect the household's perceptions of the importance and value of landraces.     

Towards collection of wild relatives of crop plants in India

A total of 373 species of wild relatives of crop plants representing 120 genera and 48 families were collected from different phytogeographical regions of India during a mission mode sub-project on Sustainable Management of Plant Biodiversity under National Agricultural Technology Project during 1999–2005. Significant diversity representing endemic/rare/endangered species has been discussed in this paper. The information on phytogeographical distribution, life form, economic types and assessment of threat has also been included. Thrust areas for future target collections and conservation have been discussed to serve as reference for management of genetic resources.     

The use of genetic resources in crop improvement: Lessons from China

The use of crop genetic resources in improvement programmes should be the ultimate objective of all undertakings in the field of germplasm resources. The present situation and future direction of the use of crop germplasm in China was assessed from responses to a questionnaire distributed to 165 plant breeders and curators nationwide. The general opinions for the limiting factors of germplasm utilization were also evaluated. Responses from the questionnaire indicated that the use of germplasm in breeding programmes is much more important than the direct use of germplasm in crop production as cultivars released. Among different types of crop genetic resources, released varieties and breeding lines contribute more to crop breeding. Wild relatives and genetic stocks, however, are expected to play a greater role in the future. Landraces will remain important in improvement. Limited useful germplasm available to breeders is the basic reason for the insufficient use of germplasm in crop breeding at present. The complex reasons which affect the availability of useful germplasm involve the research level, links between breeder and curator and others. To counter these, we propose some suggestions and measures which can be implemented in the near future.     

The extinction of genetic resources of Asian wild rice, Oryza rufipogon Griff.: A case study in Thailand

Natural populations of wild rice, Oryza rufipogon Griff., are now threatened with the disturbance of their natural habitats by various human activities. To obtain basic information on genetic erosion or loss of genetic diversity in wild rice, we investigated how environmental changes of habitat affected the genetic structure of its natural population at a study site in the central plain of Thailand. During 10 years from 1985 to 1994, the wild-rice population at this site was seriously destroyed and fragmented. Using two sets of seed sample collected in 1985 and 1994 from the same population, allozyme variability at 17 loci of 11 enzymes were examined. Isozyme genotypes of mother plants of seed samples were estimated by the segregation in each progeny, and we calculated genetic parameters for the population. Gene diversity severely decreased in the 1994 sample compared with the 1985 sample. It is supposed that declining and fragmentation of the wild rice population, which happened during the 10 years, caused loss of genetic variability and forced the habitually outbreeding plants to inbreed, accelerating a reduction in gene variability. Pgi1-1 allele which was common in Indica rice cultivars of this region was found in the wild rice plants growing at the side of rice fields. Probably, introgression has occurred between wild and cultivated rice plants, and consequently the intrinsic nature of wild rice was gradually blurred by cultivar genes. We must realize that the genetic erosion of wild rice is rapidly proceeding and that an action for their conservation in natural environment, so called in situ conservation, is urgently needed.     

Economic concepts for designing policies to conserve crop genetic resources on farms

The future food supply of all societies depends on the exploitation of genetic recombination and allelic diversity for crop improvement, and many of the world's farmers depend directly on the harvests of the genetic diversity they sow for food and fodder as well as the next season's seed. On farm conservation is an important component of the global strategy to conserve crop genetic resources, though the structure of costs and benefits from on farm conservation differ from those associated with ex situ conservation in gene banks. A fundamental problem that affects the design of policies to encourage on farm conservation is that crop genetic diversity is an impure public good, meaning that it has both private and public economic attributes. This concept is defined and made operational in order to assist practitioners in identifying (1) least-cost sites for on farm conservation (2) the types of policy instruments that might be appropriate for supporting conservation once a site has been located. Published findings regarding prospects for on farm conservation as economies develop are summarized and empirical examples of suitable policies to support farmers' decisions are placed in the context of economics principles.     

Conservation strategies and management guidelines for wild Prunus genetic resources in Andalusia, Spain

Six species of the genus Prunus occur inAndalusia. Matters regarding their ecology, ethnobotanical aspectsand conservation are discussed, as well as knowledge about thegermplasm of those species with greater economic importance and theirdegree of conservation, namely: P.avium, P.mahaleb and P.insititia. Various conservation measures areproposed for wild germplasm and for the germplasm of local varieties:a) conservation efforts should target the best populations,except in the case of P.avium and P.insititia, where every individual should beaddressed, including both wild and local cultivars; b) theDehesa del Camarate (Sierra Nevada) is proposed as an areafor in situ germplasm conservation; c) theawareness of the importance of Prunus germplasmshould be increased among forest workers, environmental managers andthe public; d) some silvicultural techniques are proposed, suchas mixed Prunus patches, hedge treatment,Z-tree selection at the early stages and the protection ofroot suckers; e) improved, selected P.avium and P.mahaleb germplasm should be used at highlyproductive sites since these two species can be cultivated as highvalue timber trees; f) some Prunus speciescan also provide profitable NTFPs in the region. Details regardingdifferent collection areas are covered. Finally, some topics arerecommended for scientific research. Three tables and a distributionmap of Prunus species in Andalusia areincluded.     

Research in plant genetic resources 1978–2003: General index of the second 25 volumes 'Kulturpflanze'/'GRACE'

A general index of the second 25 volumes of 'Kulturpflanze' 1978–1990/'GRACE' (Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution) 1992–2003 is provided. Its predecessor covered the first 25 volumes of the periodical 'Die Kulturpflanze' and appeared in 1977. The index can be considered as a unique source for research in plant genetic resources.     

A problem of the rich: Prioritizing local plant genetic resources for ex situ conservation in Israel

A priority list of 323 plant species was created through a consultative process for ex situ conservation in the recently inaugurated Israel Plant Gene Bank (IGB). The IGB is set up to preserve plant genetic resources and the endangered genetic variability of the Israeli flora. Upon its inauguration, we consulted with the country’s leading plant breeders and botanists in an attempt to create a list of the most important plant species to be included in the initial collections. The list includes crop wild relatives (CWRs), selected according to their contribution to humans: edible plants (grains, vegetables, oil); forage plants; species with potential industrial and biotechnological applications (e.g. spices, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, fibers, dyes), and species with horticultural and forestry potential. We further ranked the species on the basis of assessed values for each of seven characteristics: distribution range in the country; abundance; rarity of the growing habitats; endemism; red number index—representing imminent threat of extinction; availability of samples in Israeli collections, and genetic relationship to cultivated crops. The sum of the assessed values for these seven characteristics was used to group the species on the list into four main prioritized-collection schemes. Statistical analysis indicated that all attributes had similar influence on the collecting prioritization scheme. In general, rare species with low abundance in their growing habitats were ranked in the highest priority group, while highly distributed species were sorted together into a lower priority group. The prioritization scheme will be used to optimize the collection in the IGB with the aim of establishing its collecting activities.     

Isozyme analysis of genetic diversity in wild Sicilian populations of Brassica sect. Brassica in view of genetic resources management

In Sicily and in the small surrounding islands the section Brassica of the genus Brassica comprises five species, B. insularis Moris, B. incana Ten., B. macrocarpa Guss., B. rupestris Raf. and B. villosa Biv. These taxa represent a genetic resource as relatives of kale crops but some populations are endangered or threatened, thus isozyme analyses were performed to assess the genetic diversity degree at population and species levels in order to assist the design of conservation management programs.Eleven loci from five enzyme systems (aconitase, leucine aminopeptidase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucoisomerase phosphoglucomutase) were analyzed in sixteen natural population (fifteen from Sicily, one from Calabria). Mean within-population genetic diversity was moderate (P = 41%, A = 1.54, H = 0.16). In some cases a great number of heterozygous individuals were detected, in other cases fixation index (F) deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg genotypic expectations.A total of 37 alleles was recognized, six of which resulted exclusive to single populations. The among-population component of the total genetic diversity (Gst mean values) for each species was 0.30–0.37, indicating genetic differentiation among populations.Among B. villosa and B. rupestris populations genetic distance values resulted rather low and they resulted high with B. incana and B. macrocarpa populations.The results are discussed with regard to the distribution of the genetic diversity level and the genetic resources management.     

RAPD and isozyme analysis of genetic relationships between Carica papaya and wild relatives

The genetic origin of cultivated papaya is not clear. Wild relatives of papaya (Carica papaya) from central southern America were investigated using isozyme and RAPD analysis. Seven other species (including six from the genus Carica) were found to be relatively distant from papaya providing no indication of the genetic origin of papaya. Isozyme and RAPD data gave similar measures of genetic similarity within this group. C. papaya was about 70% dissimilar to the other Carica species by both methods. The other Carica species had average dissimilarities around 50%. Two species, C. pubescens and C. stipulata were much closer to each other with similarities of 87% by isozyme analysis and 82% by RAPD analysis. Although both methods gave similar measures for genetic distance the large number of RAPD markers available made RAPD analysis more reliable for analysis of the extremes (e.g. closely related taxa may show no isozyme differences and distant taxa may show no isozyme similarities).     

The diversity and sustainable development of crop genetic resources in the Lancang River Valley

This paper reviews the status of crop genetic resources in Yunnan province of China from 1978 to 1999. Results are presented of same research in the field of the diversity of cultivated and wild crop. Yunnan is one of the centre of origin or genetic diversity of more than 200 cultivated and wild crops. There are over 500 cultivated plants which account for over 80% of the total in China and more than 650 species of wild crops. In addition, there are more than 440 species of main wild flowers. According to our recently researches there are abundant species, subspecies and varieties of crop genetic resources in Yunnan Province. The Lancang River Valley is the richest genetic diversity centre of rice, maize, wheat, barley, buckwheat, legumes, ramie, sugarcane, vegetable, tea, actinidia and so on. For example, there are 59 varieties (including all varieties of Oryza sativa L. in China) in 5933 accession of Yunnan indigenous rice. The Lancang River Valley is one of the centre for genetic diversity of rice resources and a rich region for elite and rare rice resources of Yunnan, too. In order to protect the highly endangered crop genetic resources in the Lancang River Valley, it is necessary and very important to set up a collection, conservation, utilization and research system, enhancing their protection and utilization, in situ- and ex situ-conservation, farm management and sustainable production.     

Representation of wild Lactuca spp. (Asteraceae, Lactuceae) in world genebank collections

The spread of the genus Lactuca worldwide includes 16 species in Europe, 51 in Asia, 43 in Africa and 12 in America (mostly North American subcontinent). Natural distributions of Lactuca spp. are compared with the representation of wild Lactuca spp. in world genebank collections as recently summarized in the International Lactuca database (ILDB). A total of 27 wild Lactuca species are reported in world genebank collections in the ILDB, however, due to incorrect taxonomic determination the real number of species is lower. The substantial part (92%) of the collections is represented only by three species (L. serriola, L. saligna, L. virosa) and from a geographic viewpoint they are mostly European in origin. The autochthonous species originating from other continents (Asia, Africa, America), which form c. 83% of known Lactuca spp. richness, are very poorly represented in collections (only c. 3%). The majority of accessions originate from Europe (59%) and Asia (37%), nevertheless the whole area of natural distribution is not well covered. An extremely low number of accessions is available from Africa and America (2% each). Thus, the global biodiversity of Lactuca spp. germplasm is represented very poorly and is biased in genebank collections. For future studies of taxonomy, phytogeography, ecology, phylogenetic relationships, genetic diversity, inter- and intra-population structure, resistance research and practical breeding exploitation of wild Lactuca spp. germplasm, plant material from a wider ecogeographic distribution must be collected and introduced into genebank collections more intensively.     

Effectiveness of some management procedures for seed regeneration of plant genetic resources accessions

Procedures for seed regeneration of plant genetic resource accessions were investigated in terms of their effect on the variance effective population size and the probability that the initial allelic diversity is maintained after 10 and 20 cycles of regeneration. Four regeneration systems were compared: a bulk system (BL) where seeds are collected and treated in bulk, a partial sampling system (PS) where seeds are collected from not all, but some plants in the population with an equal number of offspring being raised from each sampled plant, a single seed system (SS) where accessions are regenerated so that each plant leaves one progeny, and the biparental mating system (BP) of Gale & Lawrence (1984) where plants are pollinated in pairs with one offspring being raised from each of the paired plants, or two offspring from one of the paired plants. It was shown that the relative efficiency of the four systems largely depends on the rate of selfing and that differences in the effective population size of the systems increase with increasing rates of selfing. The SS system gave by far the largest effective population size in regenerating the seed of moderately or highly selfing species. Although the BP system gave the largest effective size for outcrossing species, the SS system, when combined with selfing, gave a much larger effective size. The BL and PS systems were in no case the most effective. Of these two, PS system with a sampling fraction of 50% was as effective as BL, but less effective with a sampling fraction smaller than 50%. Calculations of the maintenance of the allelic diversity, however, revealed that differences between the systems are not appreciably large unless the accessions are regenerated over 10 or more cycles with 50 or fewer plants.     

Realizing value of genetic resources of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Allium</Emphasis> in India

The genetic resources of Allium in India are potential source of genes for widening the crop genetic base. Despite their high economic value, limited number of germplasm accessions of wild species have been collected and conserved mainly due to difficult access to areas of occurrence. The present work mainly highlights information on species diversity distribution and utilization of wild Allium species to assess the value of Indian germplasm and prioritization for future collection and conservation programmes.     

Political ecology of wildlife conservation in the Mt. Meru area of Northeast Tanzania

The wildlife conservation problems in Tanzania are examined from a political ecology perspective. The analysis is historical, exploring the establishment of national parks under British colonial rule and the tightening of state control over access to resources at the expense of customary rights. Examples are presented from the Mt. Meru area of north-eastern Tanzania. During the colonial period, the formal political debate over land and resource rights was conducted without the participation of African peasants. After independence the state continued to assert control over resource access unilaterally. As Meru peasants have effectively been shut out of the formal political process, their only recourse for defending the loss of access to natural resources is everyday forms of resistance, including de facto alliances with commercial poachers and ‘foot dragging’ in regards to compliance with conservation laws. Consequently there is little local support for current wildlife conservation policies on Mt. Meru and wildlife populations have declined in the 30 years since Arusha National Park was established there.     

The performance of procedures for selecting conservation areas: waterbirds in the UK

In recent years, much attention has been directed to the ways in which the most important areas for inclusion in reserve networks can be identified, and the most effective ways in which existing networks can be expanded. In contrast, rather little attention has been paid to the present and likely future performance of the approaches that have actually been employed. Using Wetland Bird Survey data, the effectiveness of the current Special Protection Area (SPA) network in the UK was assessed by comparing annual counts for 17 species of migratory waterbird on SPAs with the numbers supported by hypothetical site networks selected by five alternative site-selection methods. These analyses suggest that focusing on complementarity between component sites rather than applying criteria to each site individually improved the level of representation for each species, conserved a greater percentage of the national total across the 17 species and was robust over time.     

Ex situ genetic conservation of endangered Vatica guangxiensis (Dipterocarpaceae) in China

RAPD polymorphisms were applied to check the efficiency of ex situ genetic conservation of endangered Vatica guangxiensis X. L. Mo. endemic to southwestern China. Low level of genetic variation was revealed in three remaining natural populations. Twenty random primers, each with 10 base pairs, generated 231 bands with 53.68% being polymorphic, and with an average of 32.46% being polymorphic in each natural population. Strong population differentiation was revealed by AMOVA (analysis of molecular variance) and Gst value was 0.3764. The population ML ex situ conserved in the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden contained an intermediate genetic variation compared with natural populations, with 30.74% bands being polymorphic. Of the total 231 bands generated in V. guangxiensis, 204 bands were also detected in population ML, indicating that 88.31% of the total genetic variations of this species were conserved in ex situ population. If only the alleles with moderate to high frequency (P>0.05) were considered, 204 out of 209 bands (97.61%) occurred in ex situ population ML. RAPD analysis also detected one exclusive band in natural population NS, and five in natural population NP, three of these exclusive bands were generated in every samples of natural population (NP), and other three had moderate to high frequencies. While none of these exclusive bands were detected in ex situ conserved population ML. Our conclusions are that the ex situ conserved population ML contains representative genetic variation to maintain long-term survival and evolutionary process of V. guangxiensis, and that more extensive ex situ sampling in natural population NS and NP is needed to conserve more exclusive alleles in ex situ population. The tropical area in the Botanical Garden would play a more important role in the ex situ conservation of rare and endangered plants.     

水产种质资源地理信息系统设计与实观

水产种质资源地理信息系统是为了实现水产种质资源数据共享而开发的一个C/S模式共享平台。采用VB＋MapX的二次开发方式，实现了空间数据与属性数据互相查询、数据管理以及报表输出等功能，另外还绘制了水产物种地理的分布图和水系分布图。