Crop wild relative conservation in situ Planning, policy. and practice

Transcription

1 Crop wild relative conservation in situ Planning, policy. and practice Shelagh Kell and friends University of Birmingham, UK Plant genetic resources for food security and ecosystem services November 2015, the Natural History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden

2 IN THIS PRESENTATION... CWR conservation in situ rationale, objective and process Active vs. passive conservation In situ conservation planning aim, approaches and tools Concept for in situ CWR conservation in Europe From planning to practice the role of supporting policies

3 CWR CONSERVATION IN SITU RATIONALE, OBJECTIVE AND PROCESS Rationale CWR genetic diversity is maintained in the wild as a result of selective pressures operating under different environmental conditions Objectives Maintain viable populations of CWR species in their natural surroundings to optimize conservation of CWR genetic diversity Make the genetic diversity available for sustainable use Process Identify priority CWR populations Formulate, endorse and implement conservation and sustainable use action plans for priority populations

4 CWR CONSERVATION IN SITU RATIONALE, OBJECTIVE AND PROCESS cont d Conservation and sustainable use action plans. Define the specific actions and resources required to effectively conserve and sustainably utilize CWR genetic diversity Provide a framework and roadmap for long-term conservation and sustainable use of CWR diversity Raise awareness of the value of CWR diversity for food and economic security, particularly for adapting crops to the impacts of climate change Contribute to global efforts in CWR conservation and sustainable use

5 CWR CONSERVATION IN SITU ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE CONSERVATION There is no such thing as passive conservation! Conservation means action!

6 IN SITU CONSERVATION PLANNING AIM Find pragmatic solutions for optimal conservation of CWR diversity in situ In other words. Aim to conserve maximum diversity through active management of the minimum number of CWR populations

7 IN SITU CONSERVATION PLANNING IDENTIFYING TARGET POPULATIONS Diversity analyses can be used to identify. Areas containing occurrences of a large number of species (species richness or hotspot analysis) The minimum number of areas in which the maximum number of occurrences of species occur (complementarity analysis) Populations that are most likely to represent the full range of infraspecific genetic diversity (single or multiple species) (ecogeographic diversity analysis) The minimum number of populations in which the maximum infraspecific diversity occurs (single or multiple species) (ecogeographic complementarity analysis) Genetically distinct populations (genetic diversity analysis) Populations likely to be impacted by climate change (climate change analysis) Representation of target populations within existing protected areas (gap analysis)

8 Complementary areas selected to cover two thirds of all CWR species in the Spanish National Inventory for protection Rubio Teso et al. 2014

9 Complementary PA network for 181 priority taxa in Norway created using the Complementa tool in CAPFITOGEN Phillips in prep.

10 ELC map comprising 27 ecogeographic categories, 17 of which occur within complementary PAs identified using Complementa Phillips in prep.

11 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE ECPGR Concept for in situ conservation of crop wild relatives in Europe Nigel Maxted, Alvina Avagyan, Lothar Frese, José Iriondo, Joana Magos Brehm, Alon Singer and Shelagh Kell Endorsed by the ECPGR Steering Committee in March 2015

12 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY Europe is an important centre of diversity of many crops and their wild relatives and these CWR are potential genetic resources for crop improvement and food security Food crops with significant CWR diversity native to region include wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), cabbage and other brassicas (Brassica L. spp. and allied genera), onion and other alliums (Allium L. spp.), asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.), lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and apple (Malus domestica L.) Forage and fodder crops with CWR native to Europe include annual meadow grass (Festuca pratensis), white clover (Trifolium repens), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and common vetch (Vicia sativa L.)

13 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY cont d Other crops of socio-economic importance with native wild relatives in the region Forestry species such as Abies alba Mill., Populus nigra L. and Quercus ilex L. Ornamentals such as species of Dianthus L., Euphorbia L., Geranium L. and Primula L. Medicinal and aromatic plants such as species of Anemone L., Campanula L., Helianthemum Mill., Orchis L. and Verbascum Herb, spice, environmental and industrial crops

14 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY cont d Today, agricultural production is challenged by climate change. Although food production in Europe is likely to be less affected by climate change in the first half of the 21st century than some other regions of the world, an increase in extreme weather events due to climate change can have far-reaching impacts An extreme climate event in Europe in 2003 when temperatures were up to 6C above long-term averages and rainfall shortages up to 300mm (Trenberth et al., 2007) had some major impacts on crop production (Easterling et al., 2007) resulting in uninsured economic losses in the EU agriculture sector of some 13 billion (Sénat, 2004)

15 Production value (billion USD) CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE PRIORITIZING EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY The 23 human food crops or crop groups with an average annual production value of more than US$500 million in Europe over the period that have significant native wild relative taxonomic diversity in the region

16 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE PRIORITIZING EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY cont d Vegetables (other) 1.91% Maize/maize germ oil 2.05% Soybean/soybean oil 2.59% Olive/olive oil 2.64% Rape/mustard oil 2.69% Rice/ricebran oil 1.75% Rye 1.51% Wine 1.50% Sunflowerseed/sunflower seed oil 4.40% Alcoholic beverages 4.62% Potato 5.36% Roots & tubers 5.36% Wheat 27.20% Sugar (others) 24.61% Average annual contributions of human food crops/crop groups to dietary energy (kilocalories) per capita per day of 1.5% or more over the period in Europe. Data source: FAO (2014) Other food 11.80%

17 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE PRIORITIZING EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY cont d 23 priority human crops/crop groups 35 genera containing 568 species 150 species + 47 subspecies of greatest use potential + 42 more distantly related species threatened or Near Threatened 19 species threatened or NT (12 globally) 192 high priority species 30 endemic to Europe

18 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE PRIORITIZING EUROPE S VALUABLE CWR DIVERSITY cont d NA 2 NE 38 CR 9 EN 17 VU 17 Red List status of 192 high priority European CWR DD 36 NT 16 Increasing 2.3% Decreasing 10.9% Unknown 48.2% LC 57 Stable 38.7%

19 No. of priority species CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRIORITY FOOD CWR countries in Europe contain 20 or more high priority CWR

20 TWO CORE LEVELS OF CONSERVATION PLANNING Maxted et al.,

21 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE Maxted et al., 2013, 2015

22 No. of accessions COMPLEMENTARY CONSERVATION Accessions of European origin of 91 (47%) of the high priority CWR species related to 16 crops/crop groups are represented in European collections (data source: EURISCO, 2014) No. of accessions 24 species: >30 19 species: species:

23 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE FROM PLANNING TO PRACTICE SOME NEEDS/CHALLENGES A clear EU policy on CWR conservation (with buy-in from national PGR programmes) (e.g., a specific EU Directive on PGRFA to protect MAWPs in a coordinated way within existing European level biodiversity protection infrastructures such as the EU Habitats Directive) Address the issue of responsibility for CWR conservation at national and EU levels (agricultural /environmental sectors) Resources for monitoring and managing in situ CWR populations and for collecting and managing CWR germplasm ex situ Coordination of the integrated European CWR conservation strategy

24 CONCEPT FOR IN SITU CWR CONSERVATION IN EUROPE IMPROVING THE CONSERVATION UTILIZATION LINK The perceived value and impact of the integrated CWR conservation strategy for Europe ultimately depends on successfully channelling conserved germplasm from in situ and ex situ conservation facilities to the user community for crop improvement The strategy needs to meet the interests of the stakeholder community (public and private plant breeding research institutes, breeding companies, plant genebanks, farmers and agro-ngos) Four key challenges to enhancing utilization of conserved plant germplasm Strengthening the interface between in situ and ex situ conservation Increasing efforts to characterize and evaluate conserved germplasm Improving the availability of conservation, characterization and evaluation data to end users Addressing issues of access by the user community to in situ and ex situ conserved germplasm

25 Crop wild relative conservation in situ Planning, policy. and practice Shelagh Kell and friends University of Birmingham, UK Plant genetic resources for food security and ecosystem services November 2015, the Natural History Museum in Stockholm, Sweden