Greek Tulips: Worldwide Electronic Trade over the Internet, Global Ex Situ Conservation and Current Sustainable Exploitation Challenges.

Theodora Matsi,Mats Havström,Ioannis Ipsilantis,Christos Lykas,Stina Weststrand,Nikos Krigas,Georgios Tsoktouridis

doi:10.3390/plants10030580

Theodora Matsi, Mats Havström + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10030580

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Abstract

From an ornamental viewpoint, tulips are famous clonally propagated crops. This research focuses on 15 wild-growing Greek tulip species including 11 range-restricted species, i.e., six Greek endemics and five Balkan or Aegean endemics and subendemics, among which seven are currently threatened with extinction (two Critically Endangered, three Endangered and two Vulnerable). An overview of the global electronic trade over the internet is presented herein for these valuable phytogenetic resources in an attempt to define the extent of their commercialization (25 nurseries in three countries, mainly bulb trade at various prices) with concomitant conservation implications. In the frame of the repatriation initiatives launched, their global ex situ conservation is overviewed according to the PlantSearch facility of the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (materials from 15 species stored in 41 botanic gardens of 14 countries). The results of this study on the Greek tulips showed that there are both well-established value chains and gaps in the market regarding the “botanical tulips”; revealed the compromised effectiveness of ex situ conservation for the majority of them; raised conservation concerns related to authorized access to these wild phytogenetic resources; and indicated that their future utilization should comply with the provision of national and international legislation. All these are envisaged and discussed within the framework of the newly launched research project TULIPS.GR which aims to be the pilot establishment of a national collection regarding all Greek tulips (currently holding 38 accessions of 13 species, including almost all of the threatened ones). The project’s scope is to enable the creation of a sustainable value chain for the Greek tulips with authorized collections, sustainable conservation schemes, production of DNA barcoded propagation material, species-specific propagation and cultivation protocols, mycorrhizal investigations, field studies, applying innovative precise soil/foliar fertigation, and investigation of the postharvest treatment of fresh cut flowers, promoting networking and synergies with producers and associations in Greece and abroad.

Highlights

The electronic plant trade over the Internet has been largely facilitated by social media and communication platforms resulting to date in a popular new way of easy plant trade worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
11 Greek tulip species are readily available as bulbs over the internet; 10 of them are traded globally by 13 UK nurseries, five species are supplied from nine Dutch nurseries and two from others that are located in the USA (Table 1)
Given the high demand for Greek tulips satisfied by 24 nurseries in four countries and the relatively high prices of the traded materials which are clonally produced, this ongoing research demonstrated that there are opportunities and potential for the introduction of new tulip species into the market [12]

Summary

Introduction

The electronic plant trade over the Internet has been largely facilitated by social media and communication platforms resulting to date in a popular new way of easy plant trade worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Due to severe anthropogenic disturbance of wild habitats and under the threat of climate change, ex situ plant conservation serving as back-up of in situ conservation has become increasingly important over the last decades for the conservation of phytogenetic resources [13,14,15,16,17] In this framework, botanic gardens (BGs) and seed banks (SBs) play a pivotal role in achieving effective species’ conservation [13,14], with their greatest concentration occurring in northern temperate regions (especially Europe) [13,14]. BGs and SBs often house in man-made environments several socioeconomically important plants from around the globe They may be considered as sources of valuable donor material and species-specific propagation and cultivation know-how, activating considerable opportunities for the sustainable exploitation of phytogenetic resources in the short-term, medium-term or long-term [12,22,23]. This applies to major crop plants, including widely appreciated ornamentals such as tulips, and to neglected and underutilized plants such as local endemics confined to specific regions [12,22]

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