Abstract Detail

Biogeography

Khoury, Colin [1], Castañeda Alvarez, Nora Patricia  [1], Vincent, Holly [2], Jarvis, Andy [1], Maxted, Nigel [2], Eastwood, Ruth [3], Guarino, Luigi [4].

Planning for Collecting the Crop Wild Relatives of the World's Major Crops.

The wild plant species related to the world's major crops are playing an ever increasing role in providing traits of value to crop improvement programs, as techniques for utilization improve and as breeders survey ever wider diversity in order to increase agricultural production. Adaptation of agriculture to the more variable and extreme climates of the future is likely to rely substantially upon the genetic resources found within crop wild relatives (CWR). Like many plant species, CWR are exposed to increasing pressures from habitat modification, and climate change is projected to further stress populations in many areas. As the representation of CWR diversity in ex situ conservation (genebanks) is far from comprehensive, the genetic resources that are vitally important for crop adaptation are in danger of being lost, limiting the options available to future agriculture. It is becoming increasingly feasible to formulate a global plan for the efficient and effective collection of CWR diversity due to 1) the taxonomic relationships between species increasingly clarified, 2) better knowledge and tools for modelling and mapping the distribution of plant species through Geographic Information Systems, and 3) a new International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture which facilitates international collection and conservation efforts. We document the progress to date on planning for a major new global initiative for the collection and conservation of CWR, the results and products of which will be available to the global community. The genepools of 80 of the major crops of the world are listed, with the closely related species given prioritization. Ecogeographic data for these species, gathered via collaborations with herbaria, genebanks, and researchers, is utilized to model species distributions and to expose gaps in the coverage of these populations in ex situ collections. We discuss the next steps in planning for collecting trips worldwide, and invite the research community to collaborate in this global project through data provision and validation of results.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
The Global Crop Diversity Trust
Decision and Policy Analysis Program, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
CIAT Gap Analysis website
Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Seed Conservation Department, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

1 - International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Decision and Policy Analysis Program, Km 17, Recta Cali-Palmira, Apartado Aéreo 6713, Cali, Colombia
2 - University Of Birmingham, School of Biosciences, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
3 - Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Seed Conservation Department, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly , West Sussex , RH17 6TN, UK
4 - Global Crop Diversity Trust, c/o Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 1, Rome, 00153, Italy

Keywords:
Crop Wild Relative
Gap Analysis
Plant Collecting
plant genetic resources.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Topics
Session: P
Location: Khorassan Ballroom/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PBG009
Abstract ID:974