M Ehsan Dulloo – författare

Maintaining food security in the face of human population increase and climate change is one of the critical challenges facing us in the 21st Century. Utilisation of the full range of agrobiodiversity will be a necessary tool in addressing this challenge. In this book a team of international contributors review all aspects of utilization and conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) diversity as a basis for crop improvement and future food security. Enhancing Crop Genepool Use covers four key areas: · Characterization techniques - novel 'omics' techniques and predictive tools that can be used to identify adaptive traits and expedite plant breeding. · Conservation strategies - how to develop national, regional and global CWR and LR conservation strategies, how better to target conservation to meet the needs of the plant breeding community, and how to integrate CWR and LR diversity into existing biodiversity conservation programmes. · Facilitating CWR and LR use - pre-breeding using 'exotic' germplasm, meeting breeders' needs, integrating the conservation and user communities, and policy enhancement. · Informatics development - improving characterization, trait and conservation data management and accessibility, and inter-information system operability. This book will appeal to a wide array of specialists and postgraduate students, such as those working in the fields of agrobiodiversity conservation and use, conservation, ecology, botany, genetics, plant breeding and agriculture.

Based on the 2014 'Enhanced Genepool Utilization ? Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement' conference , in this book a team of international contributors address all aspects of utilization and conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) diversity for crop improvement. Focussing on characterisation techniques, conservation strategies, facilitating CWR and LR use and informatics development, this book highlights exotic plant germplasm as a potentially critical but neglected resource for crop improvement.

Based on the 2014 'Enhanced Genepool Utilization ? Capturing wild relative and landrace diversity for crop improvement' conference , in this book a team of international contributors address all aspects of utilization and conservation of crop wild relative (CWR) and landrace (LR) diversity for crop improvement. Focussing on characterisation techniques, conservation strategies, facilitating CWR and LR use and informatics development, this book highlights exotic plant germplasm as a potentially critical but neglected resource for crop improvement.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are species closely related to crop plants which can contribute beneficial traits, such as pest or disease resistance and yield improvement. These species are critical for improving agricultural production and increasing food security. They are also essential components of natural and semi-natural habitats as well as agricultural systems, and are therefore vital in maintaining ecosystem health. However, CWR, like any other group of wild species, are subject to an increasing range of threats: habitat loss, degradation and mismanagement, over-collection and climate change. Through an examination of the national, regional and global context of CWR, these authoritative studies present methodologies and case studies that review and provide recommendations for global conservation and use. Topics range from the establishment of conservation priorities and strategies, threat assessment and genetic erosion and pollution.

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.