Transcript PGR Forum

PGR Forum
European Crop Wild Relative Diversity
Assessment and Conservation Forum
Nigel Maxted and Shelagh Kell
www.pgrforum.org
What is PGR Forum?
 A European forum to debate methodologies for the
conservation of crop wild relatives in Europe, with a
focus on in situ conservation
 Project participants represent a broad cross-section
of the professional PGR community, including
conservationists, taxonomists, plant breeders,
information managers, policy-makers and end-users
Who is involved?
 The project brings together national and regional
partner institutes from 21 countries across Europe,
plus partners representing IPGRI and IUCN -The
World Conservation Union
 Advisory and Stakeholder Panels representing a
number of further national, European and
International organisations provide additional input
and feedback on project activities and deliverables
 PGR Forum collaborates closely with other European
projects, including EPGRIS and Euro+Med
PlantBase
Funding
 A Thematic Network funded under the EC Framework
5 Programme for Research, Key action 2 ‘Global
change, climate and biodiversity’, 2.2.3 ‘Assessing
and conserving biodiversity’
 The project duration is 36 months, with a start date of
November 1, 2002
What is a crop wild relative?
 A taxon related to a species of direct
socio-economic importance
 These include food, fodder and
forage crops, medicinal plants,
condiments, ornamental and
forestry species, as well as plants
used for industrial purposes, such
as oils and fibres
 Minor crops, underutilised species,
and plants harvested from the wild
are included in this definition
Arnica montana
Photographer: Kerstin Olsson
Courtesy of the Nordic Gene Bank Photo Archive
European crop wild relatives
 Europe is as an important centre for crop wild relative
diversity; for example
– Major crops include oats (Avena sativa), sugar
beet (Beta vulgaris), apple (Malus domestica),
annual meadow grass (Festuca pratensis), and
white clover (Trifolium repens) have wild relatives
in Europe
– Minor crops include arnica (Arnica montana),
asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), lettuce (Lactuca
sativa), and sage (Salvia officinalis)
Why are crop wild relatives important?
 Crop wild relatives are essential
components of natural and semi-natural
habitats, as well as agricultural systems,
and are critical for maintaining
ecosystem health; their conservation
and sustainable use is vital for
improving agricultural production,
increasing food security, and
maintaining the environment
Why is action needed in Europe?
 It is widely acknowledged that populations of crop wild relatives
throughout Europe are under threat from habitat alteration and
loss; however, their conservation across the region has received
relatively little attention
 There are a number of initiatives to inventory European crop
wild relative species at the individual country level, but there has
not been a coordinated effort focusing on the production of a
comprehensive European catalogue
 While some European crop wild relative material is conserved
ex situ, their conservation in situ has not been the subject of
significant debate
PGR Forum objectives
 Bring together European PGR specialists to develop
methodologies for the conservation of European crop
wild relatives
 Establish a European level forum to enhance
dialogue between national and regional crop wild
relative conservationists, policy makers and endusers, and to promote discourse with the broader
international stakeholder communities
 Produce an assessment of baseline biodiversity data,
threat and conservation status for crop wild relatives
PGR Forum objectives
 Debate data structures and documentation
methodologies, formulate management and
monitoring regimes, and establish a means of
assessing genetic erosion and genetic pollution as an
aid to their conservation in situ
 Communicate project results to European
stakeholders, policy makers and user groups as a
means of aiding the efficient and effective
conservation and use of European crop wild relative
diversity
Work programme
 Activities are being implemented through six
workpackages:
 WP1: Produce a database of European CWRs
 WP2: Assess threat and conservation status of
European CWRs
 WP3: Formulate data structures, data
management and analysis methodologies for the
in situ conservation of CWRs
Work programme
 WP4: Devise population management and monitoring
methodologies appropriate for the in situ genetic
conservation of European crop wild relatives
 WP5: Identify and agree on methodologies to assess
and predict genetic erosion and pollution of European
crop wild relatives for in situ genetic conservation
 WP6: Final conference and product dissemination
CWR information infrastructure
The CWR database
Version
1.0 database
of European CWR list has
The CWR
been
produced
by containing
accessing crop
two
Core
database
primary
names,data
usessources:
and cropEuro+Med
wild relatives
PlantBase (via Stephen Jury,
University
of Reading,
UK) and
Accessible
via the project
web site
Mansfeld’s World Database of
Agricultural
and Horticultural
Crops
PGR
Data verification
process
will
be
Forum
(via
Helmut Knüpffer,
IPK,level
implemented
at national
Partners
Gaterslaben, Germany)
Ongoing coordination with
This
list contains
all the genera
that
Euro+Med
and Mansfeld
to ensure
contain
crops and
their wild relatives
nomenclatural
consistency
(ornamental and forestry taxa to be
added later)
Ancillary
It contains 23,072 taxa:
Data
Source 1
813 genera
15,031 species
Ancillary
Data
Source 2
Crop Wild Relative Data
Users
Euro+Med
PlantBase
Nomenclatural
Updating
PGR Forum Crop Wild
Relative Database
Nomenclatural, Crop
and CWR Status
Mansfeld’s
Database
Crop
Updating
Ancillary
Data
Source 3
Ancillary
Data
Source n
Data user requirement analysis
 Two broad user groups have been identified:
 Plant breeding community
 Conservation community
 Initial survey of user requirements underway within
PGR Forum
 Extensive user survey will be carried out via PGR
Forum partners
 Analysis of user requirements and formulation of use
cases
CWR information infrastructure
Other data types will include:
Crop Wild Relative Data
Users
Geographical data
Biological data
PGR Forum Crop
Wild data
Population
level
Relative Database
Threats
Conservation measures
PGR
Forum
Partners
Nomenclatural, Crop
and CWR Status
Crop
Updating
Link to EURISCO!
Ancillary
Data
Source 2
Nomenclatural
Updating
Mansfeld’s
Database
Ex situ data
Ancillary
Data
Source 1
Euro+Med
PlantBase
Ancillary
Data
Source 3
Ancillary
Data
Source
N
CWR case studies



A selection of CWR taxa are being used as the
subject of in-depth data sourcing and gathering
Case study taxa will be used to:
 Test and apply the CWR information
infrastructure
 Show comprehensive examples of conservation
methodologies for CWRs
Case studies to be presented on project web site
Conclusion
 European crop wild relatives are a neglected
resource
 They are threatened with genetic erosion
 There is a need to improve their conservation
 PGR Forum is taking steps to achieve this
goal
PGR Forum
European Crop Wild Relative Diversity
Assessment and Conservation Forum
www.pgrforum.org