Abstract Detail

Crops and Wild Relatives

Khoury, Colin [1], Beckman, Emily [2], Warschefsky, Emily [3], Meyer, Abby [4].

North American Fruit and Nut Tree Crop Wild Relative Conservation.

A 2018 assessment found that 74% of U.S. threatened crop wild relative (CWR) priority species are represented in botanic garden collections, indicating that these collections could fill a critical gap in agrobiodiversity preservation. In response, the U.S. Botanic Garden has partnered with Botanic Gardens Conservation International (U.S.), San Diego Botanic Garden, and Missouri Botanical Garden to promote coordination and connections between botanic garden and public genebank communities in the U.S. The aims of this project are to (a) explore current gaps, capacity, needs, and potential roles to enhance crop wild relative preservation, and (b) to promote collaborative conservation of priority taxa through seed banking, germplasm collection, and monitoring of wild populations. Stakeholder interviews and a literature review found tree crop wild relatives to be among those in greatest need of coordinated action, and 90 taxa from 10 genera of fruit and nut trees Asimina, Diospyros, Malus, Persea, Prunus, Carya, Castanea, Corylus, Juglans, and Pistacia) were selected as initial priority taxa. Thus far, three virtual meetings on North American fruit and nut tree CWR conservation have been held, serving as platforms to share ongoing conservation and research activities, foster collaborations across institutions, and to begin establishing genus-level working groups. A comprehensive dataset of collections information for the priority taxa has been compiled from existing sources and additional surveys of botanic gardens. This dataset is being used to conduct a gap analysis of ex situ collections of each priority species, and the results of this work will facilitate the prioritization of collaborative conservation projects among botanic gardens and genebanks.

1 - San Diego Botanic Garden, San Marino, CA, USA
2 - Morton Arboretum & BGCI-US
3 - Missouri Botanical Garden, William L. Brown Center, 4344 Shaw Blvd, Saint Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States
4 - Botanic Gardens International U.S., USA

Keywords:
ethnobotany
Crop Wild Relative
Fruit and Nut
Trees
conservation
Botanic Garden.

Presentation Type: Poster
Number: PCW012
Abstract ID:971
Candidate for Awards:None