Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources: Global Development and Environmental Concerns

Cohen, Joel I.; Williams, Joseph; Plucknett, Donald L.; Shands, H. L.

doi:10.1126/science.253.5022.866

Cited by 100 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…Although the need to address this challenge has been recognized for many years now (e.g. Ledig 1988;Cohen et al 1991;Yang and Yeh 1992;Etisham-Ul-Haq et al 2001), no significant improvements have been made in the last decades (Ensslin et al 2011;Rucinska and Puchalski 2011). Namoff et al (2010) proposed to collect at least 15 plants preferably from 3 accessions for purposes of maintaining genetic diversity.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of threatened relict trees through living ex situ collections: lessons from the global survey of the genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae)

et al. 2011

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Maintaining living ex situ collections is one of the key conservation methods in botanic gardens worldwide. Despite of the existence of many other conservation approaches used nowadays, it offers for many endangered plants an important insurance policy for the future, especially for rare and threatened relict trees. The aim of this research was to investigate the global extent of living ex situ collections, to assess and discuss their viability and inform the development of conservation approaches that respond to latest global conservation challenges. We used as a model taxon the tree genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae). The genus includes six prominent Tertiary relict trees which survived the last glaciation in disjunct and isolated refugial regions. Our comprehensive worldwide survey shows that the majority of botanic institutions with Zelkova collections are in countries with a strong horticultural tradition and not in locations of their origin. More importantly, the acutely threatened Zelkova species are not the most represented in collections, and thus safeguarded through ex situ conservation. Less than 20% of the ex situ collections surveyed Published in which should be cited to refer to this work.http://doc.rero.ch contain plant material of known wild provenance while the majority (90%) of collections are generally very small (1-10 trees). Botanic gardens and arboreta particularly in regions where iconic relict trees naturally occur should play a vital role in the conservation of these species. The coordination of conservation efforts between gardens has to be enhanced to prioritise action for the most threatened relict trees. Large scale genetic studies should be undertaken, ideally at genus level, in order to verify or clarify the provenance of ex situ collections of relict trees in cultivation. For the most threatened relict tree genera, wellcoordinated specialist groups should be created.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of threatened relict trees through living ex situ collections: lessons from the global survey of the genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae)

et al. 2011

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“…La conservación in situ, permite que las poblaciones se desarrollen y se relacionen dentro de sus hábitats naturales. Sin embargo, en el mundo real y en la práctica, los dos métodos son necesarios dado que la conservación ex situ actúa como respaldo para ciertos segmentos de la diversidad que podrían desaparecer en la naturaleza y en los ecosistemas dominados por la humanidad (Cohen et al, 1991;Wyse Jackson y Sutherland, 2000). Los jardines botánicos son quizás las únicas instituciones que cuentan con infraestructura y personal especializado con la experiencia en taxonomía, horticultura y especialmente, adaptados para el manejo de especies vivas en colecciones que jamás han sido cultivadas ni domesticadas.…”

Section: Los Jardines Botánicos Y La Crisis De La Biodiversidadunclassified

“…A nivel mundial se reconoce la importancia de conservar las variedades antiguas de plantas no comerciales y los parientes silvestres de los cultivos para el fi tomejoramiento, la resistencia a plagas y condiciones ambientales adversas (Heslop-Harrison, 1974;Cohen et al, 1991). Por ejemplo, existen 7,500 variedades de manzanas (Malus domestica L.) a nivel mundial (University of Illinois); sin embargo, en los supermercados únicamente están disponibles unas cuantas.…”

Section: Conservación De Variedades En Desusounclassified

Los jardines botánicos y la crisis de la biodiversidad

Vovides¹,

Iglesias²,

Luna³

et al. 2013

Bot. Sci.

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Resumen: Históricamente, los jardines botánicos se enfocaban sobre especies con interés económico, y no había mención alguna de la conservación hasta mediados del siglo XX. La destrucción de las selvas y bosques, pérdida de biodiversidad y el cambio climático son problemas reales y los jardines botánicos modernos desarrollaron estrategias para enfrentarlos; la conservación ex situ e in situ, y una alianza de jardínes botánicos para la restauración ecológica. Los jardines botánicos cumplieron ocho de las 16 metas de la Estrategia Global para la Conservación Vegetal, entre ellas, la capacitación de horticultores, que aun hace falta impulsar en México. Se debe fomentar la horticultura a todos niveles, especialmente en la restauración. Los jardines botánicos modernos están repletos de conocimiento sobre la diversidad vegetal, y su acervo de especímenes documentados, respaldados en los herbarios, se utiliza para la sistemática molecular moderna entre otras disciplinas taxonómicamente más tradicionales. Son centros principales para la conservación y han tenido éxito en la educación ambiental. Gracias a las redes nacionales e internacionales, la localización de especies es posible y el concepto de Colecciones Nacionales fue adoptado por jardines botánicos mexicanos. La médula de los jardines botánicos es la calidad de sus bases de datos e información; es urgente reforzar lo anterior entre los jardines de México, incluso utilizar la tecnología del microchip que hace el control de ejemplares más efi ciente. Hoy más que nunca, la sociedad necesita el apoyo de los expertos en los jardines botánicos, así como potenciar los mismos como lugares de esparcimiento y tranquilidad. Palabras clave: alianza de restauración ecológica, colecciones nacionales, colecciones vivas documentadas, conservación ex situ e in situ, horticultura de restauración. Abstract:Historically, botanic gardens have concentrated on species of economic interest, and no mention of conservation has been made until the mid XX Century. The destruction of forests, loss of biodiversity, and climate change are real problems and modern botanic gardens have developed strategies to confront them; ex situ and in situ conservation and a botanic gardens alliance for ecological restoration. Botanic gardens have addressed eight of the 16 targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, among these the training of horticulturists. These need to be promoted in Mexico with horticulture courses at all levels, especially in restoration. However, we have succeeded in environmental education. Modern botanic gardens are replete with information on plant diversity, and their holdings of documented specimens include herbarium voucher backup, that are used in modern molecular systematics, among other taxonomically traditional disciplines. Botanic gardens are principal centres of plant conservation and, through national and international networks, specimen location is possible and the concept of national collections has been adopted by Mexican botanic gardens. The backbone of b...

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“…Cohen et al (1991) found the performance of IRRI and CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) to be exemplary, having 90 per cent of accessions sucient for distribution, and the performance of the other IARC centres was apparently good relative to most other germplasm facilities.…”

Section: Current Ex Situ Facilities and Their Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crop genetic resource policy: the role of ex situ genebanks

Wright

1997

Aus J Agri & Res Econ

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The world-wide capacity of genebanks for ex situ conservation of crop genetic resources has increased greatly since the 1970s, improving the access of crop breeders to landraces and wild and weedy relatives. But utilization of genebank resources has not kept pace. The set of popular cultivars in major crops is typically rather small, and their ancestry encompasses only a fraction of the genetic diversity currently available in other cultivars. Discussions of farmers' rights that focus on compensation for current incorporation of farmers' varieties in new cultivars have diverted attention from the question of why so little of the newly accessible genetic diversity is currently being utilized by public and private breeders. To optimize the future provision of genebank services, research is needed on the costs of genebanks, the market for their services, the use of genetic resources by breeders, and the implications of recognition of farmers' rights, evolving intellectual property rights, continued funding problems and developments in biotechnology.

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Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources: Global Development and Environmental Concerns

Cited by 100 publications

References 11 publications

Conservation of threatened relict trees through living ex situ collections: lessons from the global survey of the genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae)

Conservation of threatened relict trees through living ex situ collections: lessons from the global survey of the genus Zelkova (Ulmaceae)

Los jardines botánicos y la crisis de la biodiversidad

Crop genetic resource policy: the role of ex situ genebanks

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