Consequences of ex situ cultivation of plants: Genetic diversity, fitness and adaptation of the monocarpic Cynoglossum officinale L. in botanic gardens

2011 ◽  
Vol 144 (1) ◽  
pp. 272-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Enßlin ◽  
Tobias M. Sandner ◽  
Diethart Matthies
Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Emma Suzuki Spence ◽  
Jeremie B. Fant ◽  
Oliver Gailing ◽  
M. Patrick Griffith ◽  
Kayri Havens ◽  
...  

Genetic diversity is a critical resource for species’ survival during times of environmental change. Conserving and sustainably managing genetic diversity requires understanding the distribution and amount of genetic diversity (in situ and ex situ) across multiple species. This paper focuses on three emblematic and IUCN Red List threatened oaks (Quercus, Fagaceae), a highly speciose tree genus that contains numerous rare species and poses challenges for ex situ conservation. We compare the genetic diversity of three rare oak species—Quercus georgiana, Q. oglethorpensis, and Q. boyntonii—to common oaks; investigate the correlation of range size, population size, and the abiotic environment with genetic diversity within and among populations in situ; and test how well genetic diversity preserved in botanic gardens correlates with geographic range size. Our main findings are: (1) these three rare species generally have lower genetic diversity than more abundant oaks; (2) in some cases, small population size and geographic range correlate with genetic diversity and differentiation; and (3) genetic diversity currently protected in botanic gardens is inadequately predicted by geographic range size and number of samples preserved, suggesting non-random sampling of populations for conservation collections. Our results highlight that most populations of these three rare oaks have managed to avoid severe genetic erosion, but their small size will likely necessitate genetic management going forward.


Author(s):  
Andreas Ensslin ◽  
Sandrine Godefroid

The discipline of horticulture, growing and propagating plants under artificial conditions, has a centuries-long tradition and has developed into a vital industry of breeding, propagating and trading ornamental and wild plants around the globe. Botanic gardens have always been at the centre of horticultural training and have provided excellence and advancements in the field. In recent decades, botanic gardens have also become an active part of ex situ conservation activities by storing seeds of endangered wild plants, growing living collections for conservation purposes, or propagating plants for direct reintroduction measures. While this shift in focus has been necessary and very important, ex situ collections of wild plants have been criticised for beinggenetically impoverished, potentially hybridised with congeners, or adapted to the artificial garden conditions and potentially having lost specific adaptations to their original wild habitat. In this review, we provide an overview of these potential threats to wild plants in ex situ living collections and outline examples of how ex situ cultivation can affect genetic diversity, trait expression and adaptive responses of the plants. We evaluate what these changes could mean for the conservation value of the collections, and discuss how they could be avoided by refining horticultural practices. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 03 (01) ◽  
pp. 44-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Edwards ◽  
Peter Wyse Jackson

Botanic gardens play major roles in plant conservation globally. Since the 1980s, the number of botanic gardens worldwide and their involvement in integrating ex situ and in situ plant conservation has increased significantly, with a growing focus on understanding, documenting, and capturing genetic diversity in their living collections. This article outlines why genetic diversity is important for conservation, and explores how botanic gardens can establish and expand the use of molecular techniques to support their plant conservation efforts.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Marlien M. van der Merwe ◽  
Jia-Yee S. Yap ◽  
Peter D. Wilson ◽  
Helen T. Murphy ◽  
Andrew Ford

Maximising genetic diversity in conservation efforts can help to increase the chances of survival of a species amidst the turbulence of the anthropogenic age. Here, we define the distribution and extent of genomic diversity across the range of the iconic but threatened Acacia purpureopetala, a beautiful sprawling shrub with mauve flowers, restricted to a few disjunct populations in far north Queensland, Australia. Seed production is poor and germination sporadic, but the species occurs in abundance at some field sites. While several thousands of SNP markers were recovered, comparable to other Acacia species, very low levels of heterozygosity and allelic variation suggested inbreeding. Limited dispersal most likely contributed towards the high levels of divergence amongst field sites and, using a generalised dissimilarity modelling framework amongst environmental, spatial and floristic data, spatial distance was found to be the strongest factor explaining the current distribution of genetic diversity. We illustrate how population genomic data can be utilised to design a collecting strategy for a germplasm conservation collection that optimises genetic diversity. For this species, inclusion of all field sites will capture maximum genetic diversity for both in situ and ex situ conservation. Assisted cross pollination, within and between field sites and genetically structured groups, is recommended to enhance heterozygosity particularly at the most disjunct sites and further fragmentation should be discouraged to avoid loss of genetic connectivity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annae M. Senkoro ◽  
Pedro Talhinhas ◽  
Fernanda Simões ◽  
Paula Batista-Santos ◽  
Charlie M. Shackleton ◽  
...  

AbstractThe pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris) is one of the most highly valued medicinal plant species worldwide. Native to southern Africa, this species has been extensively harvested for the bark, which is widely used in traditional health practices. Illegal harvesting coupled with habitat degradation has contributed to fragmentation of populations and a severe decline in its distribution. Even though the species is included in the IUCN Red List as Endangered, genetic data that would help conservation efforts and future re-introductions are absent. We therefore developed new molecular markers to understand patterns of genetic diversity, structure, and gene flow of W. salutaris in one of its most important areas of occurrence (Mozambique). In this study, we have shown that, despite fragmentation and overexploitation, this species maintains a relatively high level of genetic diversity supporting the existence of random mating. Two genetic groups were found corresponding to the northern and southern locations. Our study suggests that, if local extinctions occurred in Mozambique, the pepper-bark tree persisted in sufficient numbers to retain a large proportion of genetic diversity. Management plans should concentrate on maintaining this high level of genetic variability through both in and ex-situ conservation actions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 582
Author(s):  
Ji Hee Jeong ◽  
Zin-Suh Kim

The amount and distribution of genetic diversity within and between Megaleranthis saniculifolia Ohwi populations were compared between the central and peripheral regions of the species distribution. Allozyme and ISSR markers were used for genetic analysis of six populations from the central region (DY) and five populations from the peripheral region (MJ). Genetic diversity was substantially higher in the DY region than in the MJ region. Relatively uniform homozygote excess at many loci in most populations indicated that M. saniculifolia was influenced by a substantial degree of inbreeding in both regions. The degree of differentiation between populations was remarkably higher in the MJ region than in the DY region. Cluster analysis showed a trend towards separation between regions, although populations in the MJ region exhibited a slightly different trend according to the markers. We conclude that genetic drift has been affecting the populations in the MJ region for a long time, on the basis of their low genetic diversity, high differentiation, U-shaped allele-frequency distribution, and fixation of alleles towards opposing frequencies (1 or 0) among populations. In contrast, the DY region maintained relatively stable populations, although evidence of a recent bottleneck was found in one population. Along with some practical measures for genetic conservation, we present an optimal sample size for ex situ conservation to secure as many common alleles as possible.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0245965
Author(s):  
Catherine Kiwuka ◽  
Eva Goudsmit ◽  
Rémi Tournebize ◽  
Sinara Oliveira de Aquino ◽  
Jacob C. Douma ◽  
...  

Wild genetic resources and their ability to adapt to environmental change are critically important in light of the projected climate change, while constituting the foundation of agricultural sustainability. To address the expected negative effects of climate change on Robusta coffee trees (Coffea canephora), collecting missions were conducted to explore its current native distribution in Uganda over a broad climatic range. Wild material from seven forests could thus be collected. We used 19 microsatellite (SSR) markers to assess genetic diversity and structure of this material as well as material from two ex-situ collections and a feral population. The Ugandan C. canephora diversity was then positioned relative to the species’ global diversity structure. Twenty-two climatic variables were used to explore variations in climatic zones across the sampled forests. Overall, Uganda’s native C. canephora diversity differs from other known genetic groups of this species. In northwestern (NW) Uganda, four distinct genetic clusters were distinguished being from Zoka, Budongo, Itwara and Kibale forests A large southern-central (SC) cluster included Malabigambo, Mabira, and Kalangala forest accessions, as well as feral and cultivated accessions, suggesting similarity in genetic origin and strong gene flow between wild and cultivated compartments. We also confirmed the introduction of Congolese varieties into the SC region where most Robusta coffee production takes place. Identified populations occurred in divergent environmental conditions and 12 environmental variables significantly explained 16.3% of the total allelic variation across populations. The substantial genetic variation within and between Ugandan populations with different climatic envelopes might contain adaptive diversity to cope with climate change. The accessions that we collected have substantially enriched the diversity hosted in the Ugandan collections and thus contribute to ex situ conservation of this vital genetic resource. However, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to enhance complementary in-situ conservation of Coffea canephora in native forests in northwestern Uganda.


AGROFOR ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoran MALETIC

Recently, highly productive breeds of various species of domestic animals have been used in livestock production, which has resulted in the destruction of indigenous breeds of domestic animals around the world, even in our area. This is the first reason why indigenous races and strains have been endangered. Another reason is that domestic, indigenous breeds were crossed with specialized breeds, which were imported, and in that way their genetic diversity was negatively affected. Resistance is lost, adaptation to the conditions in which they were created, the ability to survive in nature. Indigenous breeds of different species of domestic animals, which are recognized in the Republic of Srpska (BiH) are gatačko cattle and buša (cattle), Vlašić pramenka, Podveleška pramenka, Kupres pramenka (sheep), domestic Balkan horned goat (goats), Bosnian mountain horse (horses), mangulica (pigs) and pogrmuša hen or živičarka hen (poultry). By acceding to international conventions, BiH /Republic of Srpska has committed itself to establishing a system of measures that will enable the conservation of biological diversity and the protection of indigenous and endangered breeds of domestic animals. The choice of a strategy for the conservation of diversity, the establishment of an adequate conservation scheme, and the implementation of a conservation strategy are some of the key elements of any process for the conservation of genetic diversity. Preservation of autochthonous and protected breeds of domestic animals is possible through preservation in the original environment (in situ) and preservation outside the original environment (ex situ). There is a possibility of combining these models of conservation of animal genetic resources.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247586
Author(s):  
Christine E. Edwards ◽  
Brooke C. Tessier ◽  
Joel F. Swift ◽  
Burgund Bassüner ◽  
Alexander G. Linan ◽  
...  

Understanding genetic diversity and structure in a rare species is critical for prioritizing both in situ and ex situ conservation efforts. One such rare species is Physaria filiformis (Brassicaceae), a threatened, winter annual plant species. The species has a naturally fragmented distribution, occupying three different soil types spread across four disjunct geographical locations in Missouri and Arkansas. The goals of this study were to understand: (1) whether factors associated with fragmentation and small population size (i.e., inbreeding, genetic drift or genetic bottlenecks) have reduced levels of genetic diversity, (2) how genetic variation is structured and which factors have influenced genetic structure, and (3) how much extant genetic variation of P. filiformis is currently publicly protected and the implications for the development of conservation strategies to protect its genetic diversity. Using 16 microsatellite markers, we genotyped individuals from 20 populations of P. filiformis from across its geographical range and one population of Physaria gracilis for comparison and analyzed genetic diversity and structure. Populations of P. filiformis showed comparable levels of genetic diversity to its congener, except a single population in northwest Arkansas showed evidence of a genetic bottleneck and two populations in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas showed lower genetic variation, consistent with genetic drift. Populations showed isolation by distance, indicating that migration is geographically limited, and analyses of genetic structure grouped individuals into seven geographically structured genetic clusters, with geographic location/spatial separation showing a strong influence on genetic structure. At least one population is protected for all genetic clusters except one in north-central Arkansas, which should therefore be prioritized for protection. Populations in the Ouachita Mountains were genetically divergent from the rest of P. filiformis; future morphological analyses are needed to identify whether it merits recognition as a new, extremely rare species.


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