Enhancing the Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives in England

<div><p>Humans require resilient, rapidly renewable and sustainable supplies of food and many other plant-derived supplies. However, the combined effects of climate change and population growth compromise the provision of these supplies particularly in respect to global food security. Crop wild relatives (CWR) contain higher genetic diversity than crops and harbour traits that can improve crop resilience and yield through plant breeding. However, in common with most countries, CWR are poorly conserved in England. There is currently no provision for long-term CWR conservation <i>in situ</i>, and comprehensive <i>ex situ</i> collection and storage of CWR is also lacking. However, there is a commitment to achieve their conservation in England’s Biodiversity Strategy and the UK has international commitments to do so as part of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy. Here, we identify a series of measures that could enhance the conservation of English CWR, thereby supporting the achievement of these national and international objectives. We provide an inventory of 148 priority English CWR, highlight hotspots of CWR diversity in sites including The Lizard Peninsula, the Dorset coast and Cambridgeshire and suggest appropriate sites for the establishment of a complementary network of genetic reserves. We also identify individual <i>in situ</i> and <i>ex situ</i> priorities for each English CWR. Based on these analyses, we make recommendations whose implementation could provide effective, long-term conservation of English CWR whilst facilitating their use in crop improvement.</p></div

Threatened taxa listed in the English CWR inventory.

<p>VU = Vulnerable; EN = Endangered; CR = Critically Endangered; A2c = reduction in population size based on trend in Area of Occupancy (AOO) or Extent of Occurrence (EOO); B1ac(iv) = EOO less than 5000km² and highly fragmented or in no more than 5 locations and extreme fluctuations in number of locations; B2ac(iv) = AOO less than 500km² and highly fragmented or in no more than 5 locations and extreme fluctuations in number of mature individuals; D = restricted population size (less than 50 mature individuals if CR and less than 250 mature individuals if EN); D1 = Very restricted population of less than 1000 mature individuals; D2 = Very restricted population based on Area of Occurrence or number of locations). Data Source: [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0130804#pone.0130804.ref069" target="_blank">69</a>].</p><p>Threatened taxa listed in the English CWR inventory.</p

Summary of inventory containing 148 priority CWR in England.

<p>(A = Archaeophyte, N = Native).</p><p>Summary of inventory containing 148 priority CWR in England.</p

Geographic coverage of accession data.

<p>Taxa falling above the line show those with a GRS score higher than the mean GRS across all taxa, the accessions for these taxa cover a larger proportion of the taxon’s native range in England.</p

Complementarity analysis.

<p>The locations of all 15 priority grid squares/candidate sites recommended for CWR genetic reserves.</p