Conservation concerns and collecting priorities for crop wild relatives of Australia

Colin K. Khoury, Nora P. Castañeda-Álvarez, Chrystian C. Sosa,

Harold A. Achicanoy, Steven Sotelo, and Sally L. Norton

2016 National Seed Science Forum16 March 2016

Australian PlantBankSydney, Australia

https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/

CWR in global conservation targets

“By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as well as culturally valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity.”

Convention on Biological DiversityStrategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020

Aichi Biodiversity Targets

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300

CWR in global development targets

“By 2020 maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed”

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Target 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote

sustainable agriculture

Crop wild relatives are valuable

Aluminium tolerance fromOryza rufipogon

Salinity tolerance from Solanum cheesmaniae

Western corn rootworm resistance

from Tripsacum dactyloides

Salinity tolerance from Helianthus paradoxus

Publications- 2% of citations recorded prior to 1970, 13% in the 1970s, 15% in the 1980s, 32% in the 1990s and 38% 2000-2009 (n=234)

Disease resistance 39%, pest and disease resistance 17%, abiotic stress tolerance 13%, quality improvement 11% yield increase 10%, husbandry improvement 6%, cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restorers 4% (Maxted & Kell 2009)

2055

CWR are threatened

Jarvis et al. 2008 Agric. Ecosys. Environ. 126: 13-23.

1950-2000

6

Wild Pecos sunflower Helianthus paradoxusWild squash Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp.

okeechobeensis

Scrub plum Prunus geniculataTexas wild rice Zizania texana

Including in countries with strong conservation programs

Gather occurrence

data

Make collecting

recommendations

Model distributions

Process data

Determine gaps in

collections

TaxonomicGeographicEcological

Choose species or

area81 crop

genepools 1076 crop wild relative taxa

(close relatives)

CWR gap analysis method

Crop Wild Relative Global Occurrence Database

http://www.cwrdiversity.org/checklist/cwr-occurrences.php

www.cwrdiversity.org

Distributions of the CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Collecting priorities for the CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Gaps in genebanks for CWR of pigeonpea

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

Targeted proposed collecting for adaptive traits for the CWR of pigeonpea

Potential distributions of selected CWR in A) south Asia and B) Australia that are not currently represented in germplasm collections and which occur in regions with <500 mm annual

precipitation.

Khoury et al. 2015. Biological Conservation 184: 259-270.

A B

Distributions of CWR worldwide

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

High Medium Low No further collecting recommended

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

71.1%

13.8% 11%

4.2%

Collecting priorities for CWR worldwide

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Gaps in genebanks for CWR worldwide

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

China

TurkeyUSA

SpainIndia Ira

nIta

ly

GreeceFrance

Indonesia

MexicoBrazil

Russian Federation

Morocco

Algeria

Pakistan

Portugal

Peru

Ukraine

Azerbaija

n

Thailand

Malaysia

Armenia

BulgariaJapan

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Syrian Arab Republic

Australia

Israel

Romania

Turkmenistan

Tunisia

Viet Nam

AlbaniaNepal

Hungary

Georgia Iraq

Lebanon0

20

40

60

80

100

120 Number of high priority species (HPS) for col-lecting per country

Australia’s got under-conserved CWR

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Distributions of pigeonpea CWR in Australia

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Distributions of rice CWR in Australia

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Distributions of sorghum CWR in Australia

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Distributions of soybean CWR in Australia

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Distributions of CWR in Australia

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

Gaps in genebanks for Australian CWR

Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016 Global conservation priorities for crop wild relatives. Nature Plants. doi:10.1038/NPLANTS.2016.22

The clock is ticking

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329772-500-australias-epic-scheme-to-farm-its-northern-wilds/#.VBMrW_ldUek

CWR resources

Primary regions of diversity of crops and their CWR

Khoury et al. 2015. Research Study 8 (Rome: FAO). Available online at: http://www.planttreaty.org/content/research-paper-8