Moray C, Game E T, Maxted N
Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia.
The Nature Conservancy, West End, QLD, 4101, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2014 Jun 17;4:5247. doi: 10.1038/srep05247.
Conserving crop wild relatives (CWR) is critical for maintaining food security. However, CWR-focused conservation plans are lacking, and are often based on the entire genus, even though only a few taxa are useful for crop improvement. We used taxonomic and geographic prioritisation to identify the best locations for in situ conservation of the most important (priority) CWR, using African cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) as a case study. Cowpea is an important crop for subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, yet its CWR are under-collected, under-conserved and under-utilised in breeding. We identified the most efficient sites to focus in situ cowpea CWR conservation and assessed whether priority CWR would be adequately represented in a genus-based conservation plan. We also investigated whether priority cowpea CWR are likely to be found in existing conservation areas and in areas important for mammal conservation. The genus-based method captured most priority CWR, and the distributions of many priority CWR overlapped with established conservation reserves and targets. These results suggest that priority cowpea CWR can be conserved by building on conservation initiatives established for other species.
保护作物野生近缘种（CWR）对于维持粮食安全至关重要。然而，以CWR为重点的保护计划却很匮乏，而且往往基于整个属，尽管只有少数分类群对作物改良有用。我们以非洲豇豆（Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.）为例，利用分类学和地理优先排序来确定最重要的（优先）CWR原地保护的最佳地点。豇豆是撒哈拉以南非洲自给农民的重要作物，但其CWR在收集、保护和育种利用方面都不足。我们确定了豇豆CWR原地保护的最有效地点，并评估了优先CWR在基于属的保护计划中是否会得到充分体现。我们还调查了优先豇豆CWR是否可能出现在现有保护区和对哺乳动物保护重要的区域。基于属的方法涵盖了大多数优先CWR，许多优先CWR的分布与既定的保护区和目标重叠。这些结果表明，可以通过在为其他物种建立的保护倡议基础上开展工作来保护优先豇豆CWR。
