Toward integrated conservation of North America’s crop wild relatives

Authors: Khoury, Colin; Greene, Stephanie; KRISHNAN, SARADA - Denver Botanic Gardens; MILLER, ALLISON - St Louis University; MOREAU, TARA - University Of British Columbia; Williams, Karen; RODRIGUEZ-BONILLA, LORRAINE - University Of Wisconsin; SPURRIER, CAROL - Us Forest Service (FS); Zalapa, Juan; NABHAN, GARY - University Of Arizona

Submitted to: Natural Areas Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/23/2019
Publication Date: 1/14/2020
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/6862090
Citation: Khoury, C.K., Greene, S.L., Krishnan, S., Miller, A., Moreau, T., Williams, K.A., Rodriguez-Bonilla, L., Spurrier, C.S., Zalapa, J.E., Nabhan, G.P. 2020. Toward integrated conservation of North America’s crop wild relatives. Natural Areas Journal. 40(1):96-100. https://doi.org//10.3375/043.040.0111.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3375/043.040.0111

Interpretive Summary: Crop wild relatives - the wild cousins of agricultural plants - are valuable for agriculture, but threatened in their natural habitats and underrepresented in genebanks. North America harbors a rich native flora. Ambitious coordinated efforts among plant conservation, land management, agricultural science, and botanical education and outreach organizations are needed to take the major strides necessary to secure, enhance the use of, and raise awareness with regard their diversity. We present examples of productive collaborations focused on wild cranberries and chile peppers. We then outline five shared priorities for further action: 1) understand and document North America’s crop wild relatives and wild utilized plants, 2) protect threatened species in their natural habitats, 3) collect and conserve the diversity of prioritized species, 4) make this diversity accessible and attractive for plant breeding, research, and education, and 5) raise public awareness of their value and the threats to their persistence.

Technical Abstract: North America harbors a rich native flora of crop wild relatives - the progenitors and closely related species of domesticated plants - as well as a range of culturally significant wild utilized plants. Despite their current and potential future value, they are rarely prioritized for conservation efforts, thus many species are threatened in their natural habitats, and most are under-represented in plant genebanks and botanical gardens. Further coordination of efforts among land management, botanical, and agricultural science organizations will lead to better protection and greater conservation practitioner as well as general public awareness with regard to these species. We present examples of productive collaborations focused on wild cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton and Vaccinium oxycoccos L.) and chile peppers (Capsicum annuum L. var. glabriusculum (Dunal) Heiser & Pickersgill). We then discuss five shared priorities for further action: 1) understand and document North America’s crop wild relatives and wild utilized plants, 2) protect threatened species in their natural habitats, 3) collect and conserve ex situ the diversity of prioritized species, 4) make this diversity accessible and attractive for plant breeding, research, and education, and 5) raise public awareness of their value and the threats to their persistence.