Conservation Biology for Seven Palm Species from Diverse Genera

Christopher Wood,Laurent Rakotondranony,Helen Vautier,Wen Bin,Hugh Pritchard

doi:10.5642/aliso.20062201.23

Abstract

Arecaceae are a relatively large family with a considerable number of species of local and global socioeconomic importance. Many species are also under threat of impending extinction, indicating an urgent need to improve their conservation prospects. Here we present studies on seven palm species (Adonidia merrillii, Caryota urens, Livistona muelleri, Ravenea rivularis, Sabal [minor var. louisiana], Trachycarpus latisectus, and Wallichia disticha) from diverse genera in relation to various seed traits, including germination, desiccation tolerance, and weight. Germination varied from ca. 12-100% and mean time to germinate ranged from four days to four and one-half weeks at 30°C. Six of the species were newly screened for seed conservation biology and of these two were found to possess desiccationtolerant seeds, indicating opportunities for longer-term storage and improved use.

Highlights

Worldwide biodiversity loss is a widely accepted cns1s that requires strategic action to elicit a global response (Wood et a!. 2000)
For the seven species detailed mean seed dry mass varied by ca. 1.5 orders of magnitude, from 121 mg (Ravenea rivularis) to ca. 3 g (Adonidia merrillii)
Equilibrium relative humidities within the test containers were high for each seed lot (69-95%) and whole seed moisture contents varied from 1440% (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Worldwide biodiversity loss is a widely accepted cns1s that requires strategic action to elicit a global response (Wood et a!. 2000). One example of this is the recently launched United Nations Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which encourages government bodies to conserve 90% of threatened plant species by 2010 (Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD 2001-2004). This can be achieved by either utilizing in situ (i.e., conservation within the plants' native habitat) and/or ex situ (i.e., out of the plants' native habitat) approaches Baseline data is meager, with detailed seed storage and germination information available for less than 200 species A greater knowledge of palm seed biology will improve the conservation prospects for this highly utilized and threatened group of species (Johnson 1996)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion