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This study describes efforts to define and protect traditional knowledge and the associated issues of access to genetic resources, from the negotiation of the Convention on Biological Diveristy through to the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Nagoya Protocol.

Conservation in protected areas has focused on preserving biodiversity of ecosystems and species, whereas conserving the genetic diversity contained within species has historically often been ignored. However, maintaining genetic diversity is fundamental to food security and the provision of raw materials and it is best preserved within plants' natural habitats. This is particularly true for wild plants that are directly related to crop species and can play a key role in providing beneficial traits, such as pest or disease resistance and yield improvement. These wild relatives are presently threatened due to processes of habitat destruction and change and methodologies have been adapted to provide in-situ conservation through the establishment of genetic reserves within the existing network of protected areas. Providing a long-awaited synthesis of these new methodologies, this book presents a practical set of management guidelines that can be used for the conservation of plant genetic diversity of crop wild relatives in protected areas.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are plant species which are more or less closely related to crops. They are a vital resource by providing a pool of genetic variation that can be used in breeding new and better adapted varieties of crops that are resistant to stress, disease, drought and other factors. They will be increasingly important in allowing crops to adapt to the impacts of climate, thus safeguarding future agricultural production. Until recently, the main conservation strategy adopted for CWR has been ex situ - through the maintenance of samples as seed or vegetative material in various kinds of genebank or other facilities. Now the need to conserve CWR in their natural surroundings (in situ) is increasingly recognized. Recent research co-ordinated by Bioversity International has produced a wealth of information on good practices and lessons learned for their effective conservation. This book captures the important practical experiences of countries participating in this work and describes them for the wider conservation community. It includes case studies and examples from Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, which are important centres of diversity for crop wild relatives, and covers four geographical regions - the Caucasus, South America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific Region. It provides practical, relevant information and guidance for the scaling-up of actions targeting CWR conservation around the world.

The renewed focus on cereal landraces is a response to some negative consequences of modern agriculture and conventional breeding which led to a reduction of genetic diversity. Cereal landraces are still cultivated on marginal lands due to their adaptability to unfavourable conditions, constituting an important source of genetic diversity usable in modern plant breeding to improve the adaptation to abiotic or biotic stresses, yield performance and quality traits in limiting environments. Traditional agricultural production systems have played an important role in the evolution and conservation of wide variability in gene pools within species. Today, on-farm and ex situ conservation in gene bank collections, together with data sharing among researchers and breeders, will greatly benefit cereal improvement. Many efforts are usually made to collect, organize and phenotypically and genotypically analyse cereal landrace collections, which also utilize genomic approaches. Their use in breeding programs based on genomic selection, and the discovery of beneficial untapped QTL/genes/alleles which could be introgressed into modern varieties by MAS, pyramiding or biotechnological tools, increase the potential for their better deployment and exploitation in breeding for a more sustainable agricultural production, particularly enhancing adaptation and productivity in stress-prone environments to cope with current climate changes.

Conference Information: 12th International BIOVEG Symposium \"Plant Biodiversity and Food Diversification\" Place: University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, September 27-29, 2010 Cluj-Napoca, Romania The aim of the BIOVEG Symposium is to present the latest scientific results on all aspects of research in plant biotechnology. Various tools are now available to describe the biological diversity of plant species useful for food diversification. They allow fine analysis of basic components, but also their interactions, using different and complementary disciplines such as genetics, microbiology, biochemistry and physiology. The involvement of \"Plant biodiversity\" and \"Food diversification\" in one symposium is not a common process. However, the FAO data (2008) relevant to the state of the food worldwide are clear on at least two main points: I) there is a well defined relationship between quality of diet and dietary diversification; II) the most affected countries are India, countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific area of Asia and China as they have a high potential of biodiversity. If food is a vital necessity, the overall diet is different between rich and poor countries. In poor countries, cereals, roots and tubers cover 66% of eaten plants. In rich countries, fruits and vegetables play a much larger role (19% vs. 11%). In rich countries, attention is increasingly paid to the nutritional quality and food intakes for a better life. In poor countries, it is foremost \"eat to survive\". Nearly 900 million peoples suffering from hunger in the world but 90% of them live in developing countries. India (231 MH) is at the head, followed by sub-Saharan Africa (212 MH), Asia - Pacific (189 MH) and China (123 MH). The rest of the world has barely 100 MH malnourished peoples. However, the Pacific area of Asia provided the world in many domesticated plant species (Citrus, numerous fruits and vegetables). Tools to describe biodiversity of plant species for food diversification have made many advances in recent years. New technologies allow deep and detailed analysis of the biodiversity and quality of the food supply. Several different and complementary disciplines such as genetics, microbiology, biochemistry and physiology are involved. Beyond the simple description step, it is to improve products or value-added varieties and also to maintain traditional pools of genetic diversity for tomorrow. We must also appeal to disciplines such as plant breeding or the wide range of plant biotechnologies to generate new diversity aspects and to preserve existing genetic resources. This requires of course a broad collaboration of local people, the best able to defend their specificities. In this context, 2010 Conference of \"Scientific Journeys of the BIOVEG network\" was organized around five main sessions: 1. Genetic resources, local domestication, plant breeding, cytogenetics. 2. Plants - micro-organisms interaction which include phytopathology, symbiotic relationship, toxins impacts. 3. Final biochemical composition, antioxidants analysis, lipid contents and composition, metabolic pathways regulations. 4. Non-conventional diversity creation methods such as induced mutations. 5. Ex situ and in situ genetic resources conservation.

Genetic diversity parameters are used by plant breeders to develop efficient genetic resources sampling and conservation strategies. Extending previous developments on the use of ANOVA on allele frequencies in a fixed set of populations, we show that this approach allows unbiased estimation of diversity parameters, including Nei’s diversity parameters, HS, the within-population diversity; DST, the between-population differentiation; HT, the total gene diversity; and other related parameters well suited for guiding conservation decisions. We consider two cases: selfing plants and outcrossing plants. For outcrossing plants, this approach also allows the estimation of the average frequency of heterozygotes (H0) and average departure of populations from a random mating equilibrium. These unbiased ANOVA estimators correspond to those derived by Nei and Chesser (Ann Hum Genet 47:253–259, 1983) by using properties related to the multinomial sampling of genotypes. With an equal number of individuals sampled per population, we first developed analyses of variation for each allele at one locus. Then, considering the whole set of alleles, we show the correspondence between the sum of the variances in allele frequencies over the alleles and Nei’s within- and between-population diversities. Considering large populations leads to Nei’s relationship, HT = HS + DST, which is a decomposition of the total variance in allele frequencies into within- and between-population variance components, variance meaning the sum of the variances of each allele over the whole set of alleles. Finally, we use theoretical results of the ANOVA approach to consider a genetic resources conservation design with only one individual per population, which allows Nei’s total gene diversity to be maintained.

Understanding the genetic variation and differentiation of natural populations is essential for their protection, specifically if the species status is endangered as with Pinus bungeana. Here, we used 346,840 high density and strong specificity SNP loci to carry out genetic analyses (i.e., genetic diversity, genetic structure, phylogeny, and geographical differentiation) on 52 P. bungeana individuals from 5 populations (4 natural and one artificial) representing the main regions of the species distribution in China. Genetic diversity assessment indicated a trend of genetic diversity gradual decrease from west to east across the species distribution areas. Population genetic structure, PCA and phylogenetic analyses consistently indicated that populations in the central and eastern regions were clustered together, while those from the western regions were separated. Mantel test values indicated the presence of geographic isolation among populations, an important factor contributing to the observed genetic differentiation. The maximum likelihood tree and potential migration events inferred from TreeMix analysis indicated the presence of historical genetic exchanges between the west of Qinling Mountains and the Lvliang Mountains populations. Based on the generated genetic information, in situ and ex situ conservation strategies for P.bungeana germplasm resources are proposed, these strategies could be valuable for the conservation, protection and genetic improvement of this endangered species.

Guatemala’s wild avocado germplasm holds vital genetic value, but lacking conservation strategies imperils it. Studying its diversity is pivotal for conservation and breeding. The study aimed to comprehensively assess the wild avocado germplasm in Guatemala by combining phenotypic and genotypic data and to create a core collection for conservation and future breeding programs. A total of 189 mature avocado trees were sampled across Guatemala’s northern, southern, and western regions. Morphological characteristics were documented, and genetic diversity was assessed using 12 SSR loci. The investigated germplasm revealed three distinct genetic clusters, exhibiting an average gene diversity of 0.796 and a 7.74% molecular variation among them. The samples showed various morphological characteristics that indicate the presence of three avocado races in Guatemala. The weak correlation between phenotypic and genotypic distances highlighted their independence and complementary nature. The joint matrix effectively integrated and captured genotypic and phenotypic data for comprehensive genetic diversity analysis. A core collection comprising 20% of total accessions that captured maximum genetic diversity was formed. This study exposed wild Guatemalan avocados’ genetic diversity, morphological traits, and conservation significance. Integrated data capture via clustering validates holistic genetic insight for conservation and breeding strategies.

Deep-sea genetic resources and the interest of the biotechnology industry in their exploitation are emerging as a significant challenge for international oceans governance. This book is the first comprehensive examination of this issue and explores its relationship with marine scientific research and other activities in the deep sea. As well as a detailed survey of the state of industry interest in this new field of biotechnology it also sets out proposals for future sustainable management of these resources utilizing many existing international law and policy regimes.

The Wattle-necked Softshell Turtle ( Palea steindachneri ) is the only species in the genus Palea , and is listed as a critically endangered species by IUCN Red List due to the extreme decline in its natural populations as a result of human capture and trade activities. However, the lack of studies on molecular markers is not conducive to the genetic diversity assessment and population conservation of P. steindachneri . Here, a total of 68 novel polymorphic SNP markers were developed and characterized based on whole-genome sequencing of P. steindachneri . The observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, and polymorphism information content of the 68 SNP markers ranged from 0.1250 to 0.6875, 0.3047 to 0.5000, and 0.2583 to 0.3750, respectively. Only five SNPs significantly deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( P HWE <0.05). These novel polymorphic SNP markers will be useful for future genetic management and population conservation of P. steindachneri.