Abstract

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are important reservoirs of adaptive traits for crop breeding programmes. Both ex situ and in situ conservation approaches should be deployed to ensure CWR availability for use. This paper aims to (a) create a regional database of occurrence records for the 441 priority CWRs in the Fertile Crescent, (b) identify CWR-rich areas in the Fertile Crescent, (c) recommend locations to implement genetic reserves intended for CWRs active in situ conservation and (d) undertake ex situ and in situ conservation gap analyses. The study area comprises Jordan, Syria, Palestine/Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. Occurrence records of the 441 priority CWR within the Fertile Crescent were gathered from herbaria, gene banks and online databases. Gaps in the current ex situ and in situ conservation were identified. Hotspots of CWR diversity were identified, and complementary analysis was carried out to identify areas for in situ conservation using DIVA-GIS. Then proposed genetic reserves were compared with the existing protected areas to establish genetic reserve areas whether within or outside the protected areas. A total of 23,878 occurrence records were collated for 441 CWR priorities. The first priority grid square is located in Syria near Tal Kalakh City, close to the Lebanese border from the north. The second priority site is located in Turkey’s Izmir Province near Kemal Atatürk Mahallesi. The third priority site is located in Turkey’s Sahinbey/Gaziantep Province. The ex situ gap analysis revealed that of the 441 taxa, 134 (30%) CWRs are totally absent from the current gene banks collections. Only 307 (70%) CWRs are represented in gene banks, and, of these taxa, 252 (57%) of them have less than 10 accessions in gene banks. A total of 353 taxa were categorised as a high priority for collection and conservation; 23 taxa were categorised as a medium priority and 41 taxa as a low priority. However, 24 taxa were identified that did not require urgent collection (see Supplementary Table 7). The most important areas for a further collection of ex situ conservation are located in the west and south of Turkey across the Mediterranean seashore, north of Lebanon and west of Syria (in Lattakia and Tartus Governorate), across the border between Turkey and Syria and northern Iraq. Ten genetic reserves are recommended in the Fertile Crescent for CWR conservation. The results and methods used will help meet the conservation targets of CWR in the Fertile Crescent; they will also help achieve global food security.

Highlights

  • The Fertile Crescent is a geographical term that has been used historically to describe the northern part of the Middle East and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Jordan, Syria, Palestine/Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq (Breasted 1916; Clay 1924)

  • A regional database of occurrence records was created for Crop wild relatives (CWRs) in the Fertile Crescent

  • The richest hotspots for CWR diversity were identified in the Fertile Crescent, located in Syria near the Lebanese border and the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range in the northwest of Syria, north-west of Jordan and several places in Turkey

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Summary

Introduction

The Fertile Crescent is a geographical term that has been used historically to describe the northern part of the Middle East and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, including Jordan, Syria, Palestine/Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq (Breasted 1916; Clay 1924). Is the Fertile Crescent recognised for plant species concentration and for its agrobiodiversity wealth (Vavilov 1926; Zhukovsky 1950; Harlan 1951; Harlan and Zohary 1966; Zohary 1969) in terms of both rich diversity of cultivated plants and wild relatives. It is the domestication centre of major crops, such as Triticum monococcum L. The Fertile Crescent is a center of plant diversity It is part of the global hotspot ‘‘the Mediterranean Basin’’. 10% of the Earth’s vascular plants (25,000) exist in the Mediterranean Basin on less than 2% of the area of land on Earth, and 50% of these species exist nowhere else on the planet (Myers 1990)

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