Workpackage 6 Product Exploitation and Dissemination

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Ex situ germplasm users the in situ and
ecosystem conservation communities

• Nigel Maxted and Shelagh Kell
• University of Birmingham, UK

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Introduction

• Ex situ germplasm for in situ conservation a new
  role?
• Genetic conservation is explicitly utilitarian
• There is an intimate link between conservation
  and use
• Plant
• Genetic Conservation Utilisation
• Diversity

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PGR value to society

• Many values can be assigned to PGR in addition to
  socioeconomic use. These include
• Genetic or taxonomic distinction
• Rarity
• Threat status
• Aesthetic or recreational value
• Cultural importance
• Flagship species
• Higher value Higher conservation priority
  Higher utilisation potential
• Beware of crude valuation!

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Use of gene bank conserved germplasm

• Primary use Direct use e.g.
• Plant breeding
• Pharmaceuticals
• Recreation
• Secondary use Indirect use e.g.
• Characterisation and evaluation
• Research

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Primary use categories

• Food Food Additives
• Animal Food Bee Plants
• Invertebrate Food Materials
• Fuels Social Uses
• Vertebrate Poisons Non-Vertebrate Poisons
• Medicines Environmental Uses
• Gene Sources Recreational Uses

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Fundamental requirements of ex situ germplasm
holdings for use

• Passport descriptors (IPGRI, 1997)
• These provide the basic information used for
  the general management of the accession
  (including the registration at the gene bank and
  other identification information) and describe
  parameters that should be observed when the
  accession is originally collected.
• Characterisation descriptors (IPGRI, 1997)
• These enable an easy and quick discrimination
  between phenotypes. They are generally highly
  heritable, can be easily seen by the eye and are
  equally expressed in all environments. In
  addition, these may include a limited number of
  additional traits desirable by a consensus of
  users of the particular crop.
• Evaluation descriptors (IPGRI, 1997)
• Many of these descriptors in this category are
  susceptible to environmental differences but are
  generally useful in crop improvement and others
  may involve complex biochemical or molecular
  characterization. They include yield, agronomic
  performance, stress susceptibilities and
  biochemical and cytological traits.

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In situ and ecosystem conservation

• Biodiversity
• Ecosystem diversity
• Species diversity
• Genetic diversity
• In situ definition (CBD, 1992)
• In situ conservation means the conservation of
  ecosystems and natural habitats and the
  maintenance and recovery of viable populations of
  species in their natural surroundings and, in the
  case of domesticates or cultivated species, in
  the surroundings where they have developed their
  distinctive properties.

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In situ techniques

• Genetic reserve conservation
• The location, management and monitoring of
  genetic diversity in natural wild populations
  within defined areas designated for active,
  long-term conservation
• On-farm conservation
• The sustainable management of genetic diversity
  of locally developed traditional crop varieties
  with associated wild and weedy species or forms
  by farmers within traditional agricultural,
  horticultural or agri-silvicultural cultivation
  systems
• Home garden conservation
• The sustainable management of genetic diversity
  of minor crops, condiments and medicinal plants
  that are grown in backyard gardens for home
  consumption

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Ecosystem conservation

• Ecosystem conservation
• The maintenance of the diversity of living
  organisms, their habitats and the
  interrelationships between organisms and their
  environment
• Circa situ conservation
• The conservation of components of biological
  diversity outside their natural habitats but
  within managed within traditional systems by
  local farmers

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Ex situ conserved germplasm uses in genetic
reserves

• Natural habitat
• Semi-closed ecosystem
• Introduction of exotic material threat to
  native sp.
• SHOULD NOT USE!
• Few examples of genetic reserve conservation
• But

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Population enrichment
Qal'at Sala Hadeen, Syria
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Reserve population enrichment

• Increasing population size to the minimum viable
  population level
• Choice of ex situ accessions used to enrich in
  situ population
• Same taxon as target taxon
• Local provenance to the genetic reserve site
• Homoclinal match with reserve site (climatic,
  soils, land use, ecology, topography, spatial
  heterogeneity)
• Ecogeographic match with reserve site
• Limited examples of procedures for PGRFA

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Ex situ conserved germplasm use in on-farm
conservation

• Artificial habitat
• Semi-open ecosystem

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Ex situ conserved germplasm use in on-farm
conservation

• Artificial habitat
• Semi-open ecosystem
• Dynamic evolution and introduction
• No estimates of how often on-farm material is
  enriched
• Introduction of exotic material regular
  occurrence
• Not a serious threat to local diversity

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Participatory Plant Breeding

• Introduce of ex situ germplasm for use in
  collaborative breeding programmes between
  professional breeders and local farmers

• Avoids replacement of local material with highly
  bred varieties
• Maintains local diversity
• Involves local communities

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Participatory Plant Breeding

• Introduction of ex situ germplasm for use in
  collaborative breeding programmes between
  professional breeders and local farmers
• Avoids replacement of local material with highly
  bred varieties
• Maintains local diversity
• Involves local communities
• Choice of ex situ accessions used for PPB
• Carefully scrutiny of passport, characterisation
  and evaluation data
• Homoclinal match with reserve site
• Ecogeographic match with reserve site
• Is this PPB material in gene banks?

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Participatory Varietal Selection

• Basket of choices Cultivar and land races
  grown in provenance trial for local farmers to
  select
• Avoids complete replacement of local material
  with highly bred varieties
• Maintains traditional cultivation systems
• Involves local communities
• Choice of ex situ accessions used for PVS
• Carefully scrutiny of passport, characterisation
  and evaluation data
• Homoclinal match with reserve site
• Ecogeographic match with reserve site
• Is this PVS material in gene banks?

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Land race repatriation

• Local land races lost (e.g. natural disaster or
  civil unrest)
• Highly bred varieties may not be successful in
  marginal environments
• Maintains traditional cultivation systems
• Quicker normalisation of agriculture
• Involves local communities
• Choice of ex situ accessions used for
  repatriation
• Actual or genetically close land race match
• Carefully scrutiny of passport, characterisation
  and evaluation data
• Homoclinal match with site
• Ecogeographic match with site
• Is this land race material in gene banks?
• Does the close match matter?

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in ecosystem
conservation

• Natural habitat
• Semi-closed ecosystem
• Introduction of exotic material threat to
  native sp.
• SHOULD NOT USE!
• But

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in
single-species plant conservation

• Reintroduction / Re-establishment / Reinstatement
  / Restitution
• The introduction of an organism into a habitat
  in which it was known to exist at some time in
  the past
• Recovery
• The management of a threatened species to
  increase population numbers to a self-sustaining
  level
• Translocation
• Population relocated to suitable site
• Aims
• Halt population deleterious factors
• Re-establish minimum viable population

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in
single-species plant conservation

• Reintroduction Specialist Group of the IUCN
  Species Survival Commission
• IUCN/SSC Guidelines for Reintroductions (1995)
• Choice of ex situ accessions used for single
  species conservation
• Carefully scrutiny of passport, characterisation
  and evaluation data
• Homoclinal match with reserve site
• Ecogeographic match with reserve site
• Is wild plant species material in gene banks?

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in habitat
restoration

• Is habitat restoration possible?

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Can a destroyed habitat be replaced?
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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in habitat
restoration

• Society for Ecological Restoration
• Rehabilitation of degraded habitats e.g.
• Mining spoil tips
• Former quarry sites
• Motorway roadsides
• Brown field urban sites
• Derelict intensive agricultural land
• Logged forest
• CBD Article 8 includes a commitment to
  rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in ecosystem
conservation

• How?
• Plant keystone species
• Encourage other species from
• Surrounding ecosystem
• Remaining habitat fragments not destroyed
• Soil seed bank
• Nurse species
• Complex ecological processes, biotic and abiotic
  interrelationships of the site so no equivalence
• Problems of provenance and bulking
• Passport, characterisation and evaluation (e.g.
  spoil tips) data
• Is the required material available in gene banks?

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in plant
introduction (mitigation), refuges and species
substitutions

• Ecosystems suffering extreme and rapid changes
• Dams
• Road building
• Urban development project
• No possibility of restoration
• Introduction or translocation of habitat
  components

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Ex situ conserved germplasm Use in plant
introduction (mitigation), refuges and species
substitutions

• Simply build new diverse habitat!
• Choice of ex situ material to fit site
• Careful scrutiny of passport, characterisation
  and evaluation data
• Homoclinal match with reserve site
• Ecogeographic match with reserve site

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Ex situ conserved germplasmLinkage to use

• Museum exhibits non-use (Simmonds, 1961)
• Conservation cost for ex situ gene bank
• 6.1 million accessions in world gene banks (FAO,
  1998)
• US 870 per sample cost of collecting and placing
  in gene bank (Smith Linington, 1997)
• US 30.5 million by Hawkes et al. (2000)
• Need to maximise use

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Use of ex situ material in in situ conservation

• Is ex situ conservation doing a good job for in
  situ users?
• 66 accessions lack basic passport data
• 80 accessions lack characterisation data
• 95 accessions lack evaluation data
• 1 of gene bank accessions are appropriately
  catalogued and ready for use (Given 1994 FAO,
  1998)
• How to improve use of ex situ conserved
  germplasm?
• EPGRIS and EURISCO are major innovations!

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Potential points of discussion Conservation
planning

• Target taxa breadth include more wild species
• 4 of government funded gene banks
• 14 of CGIAR gene banks accessions (FAO, 1998)
• Target area (sampling) breadth
• Realisation that one or a few accessions of a
  wild species does not mean conservation

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Discussion points Field conservation

• Efficient Population Sampling
• Real genetic sample
• Quality Collection of Passport Data
• Sample labelling (expedition identifier,
  collector name and number, date, type of
  material)
• Sample identification (scientific name,
  vernacular name)
• Sampling information (population estimate -
  number of plants in population is , covering
  m2, sampling method)
• Collecting site location (country, province,
  precise location, latitude, longitude, altitude,
  farmer's name)
• Collecting site description and context (site
  disturbance, physiography, soil, biotic factors)
• Population information (phenology, pests
  diseases, uses)
• Conservation planning / gap analysis

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Discussion points Provenance and sourcing of
material

• How local is local? What is the spatial extent of
  adaptation?
• Population extinctions if locally extinct should
  exotic material be used?
• Lack of choice if the species is locally extinct
  and there is no ex situ material
• Genetic contamination on severely degraded sites
  what difference does exotic material make?

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Discussion points Quality Collection of
Passport Data
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Discussion points Gene bank conservation

• Collecting Reports and Other Publications
• PGR Newsletter
• Efficient Storage
• Well managed
• Efficient regeneration
• Collection advertising
• Holdings database accessible via the internet or
  a meta-database
• EURISCO, SINGER

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Discussion points Gene bank conservation

• Characterisation and evaluation
• Cannot leave completely to users build a
  relationship with users
• Publicise results
• Developing core collection
• Ensure characterisation and evaluation of core
• Quality service to users
• Quick, efficient contact with user community
• Linking Conservation and Utilisation Sites
• Form institutional links with the user community

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Discussion points In situ and ecosystem
conservation

• Genetically variable reintroduction stock
• Research into minimum viable population
• Ex situ raised reintroduction material
• Loss of genetic diversity during bulking
• Use of non-native species
• First step in rehabilitation of a severely
  degraded site may be amelioration
• Nurse species
• Beware of monocultures and / or invasive
  characteristics

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Conclusions

• Need to ensure good efficient conservation and
  utilisation
• Follow examples of the best practice in gene
  banks
• Gene bank staff need to expand role
• Need to get out of the bank because not all
  material can come from the bank
• Rather focus on meeting users demands, more
  directed collecting where gene bank act as
  intermediary
• Follow example of botanic gardens
• Face challenges of CBD In situ gt ex situ
• Re-brand gene banks as plant diversity centres?