Presentation on progress toward a national strategy for conservation of CWR in the US, given at the curators and PGOC meeting, Spokane Washington June 2012

1. Toward a Strategy for Conservation of
Crop Wild Relatives of the USA: Initial
Results
Colin Khoury, Stephanie Greene, Nora Patricia Castañeda Alvarez, John Wiersema

2. Strategy Flowchart
source: adapted from Maxted N. various publications

3. National Inventory
Taxa directly used for food, fiber, forage,
medicine, ornamental, and restoration
purposes
CWR taxa (taxa used for crop
improvement through breeding)
Both native and non-native taxa
Sources: GRIN World Economic Plants
Database; Flora of North America;
McGuffin (2000); Native Seed Network
Database.
• List reviewed by US researchers, curators,
breeders (THANK YOU!) Phaseolus angustissimus source: SEINet
• Inventory currently lists over 4,600 taxa

4. Taxonomic Priorities
Prioritization of taxa based upon potential use value
genepools of major crops with active breeding
programs
primary focus on food crops
Gathered data on major crops globally (FAOSTAT,
published literature, ITPGRFA)
Prioritized the list
Results: 242 World’s Top Crops (268 genera)
101 crops (119 genera) in Priority 1
141 crops (149 genera) in Priority 2
Includes all the most important agricultural crops
around the world by a number of measures, and covers
all crops listed in FAOSTAT for US production and food
Juglans hindsii source: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu
supply, with virtually all major US crops on Priority 1.

5. Taxonomic Priorities for the US
Applied World’s Top Crops list to the
national inventory and GRIN
taxonomy to derive a priority list of
CWR occurring in the USA
Reviewed inventory and proposed
additional priorities that did not
emerge from global data
Proposed iconic US wild harvested
species crops, e.g. sugar maple, wild
rice, echinacea, pine nut, pecan, jojoba,
agave
List reviewed by US researchers,
curators, breeders (THANK YOU!)
Vitis rotundifolia source: Will Cook, 2008

6. Taxonomic Priorities for the US
>2,000 taxa of 175 priority genera occur in the USA
800 taxa of 69 Priority 1 genera
316 taxa of 33 genera 1A (closely related native taxa)
477 taxa of 47 genera 1B (distantly related, non-
native)
Priority 2 genera- future work!
Important crops with rich genepools include Allium
(onion), Cucurbita (squash), Fragaria (strawberry),
Helianthus (sunflower), Ipomoea (sweet potato),
Phaseolus (bean), Prunus (cherry, almond, peach,
etc.), Ribes (currant), Rubus (raspberry), Vaccinium
(blueberry, cranberry), and Vitis (grape), among Rubus hawaiensis source: luirig.altervista.org
others.

7. Genepool Concepts
http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxcwr.pl
http://www.cwrdiversity.org/home/checklist/

8. Gap Analysis Methodology
Gather Gather
Georeferencing
taxonomic data occurrence data
Make collecting Determine gaps Model
recommendations in collections distributions

9. Global CWR Project Genera
Agropyron Colocasia Ipomoea Pistacia
Allium Corylus Isatis Pisum (incl. Vavilovia)
Ananas Crambe Juglans Prunus
Arachis Cucumis Lablab Pyrus
Raphanus (incl.
Armoracia Cucurbita Lactuca
Raphanobrassica)
Artocarpus Cynara Lathyrus Ribes
Asparagus Daucus Lens Rorippa
Avena Digitaria Lepidium Saccarhum
Barbarea Dioscorea Lupinus Secale
Bertholletia Diplotaxis Malus Sesamum
Beta Echinochloa Mangifera Setaria
Brassica Elaeis Manihot Sinapis
Cajanus Elettaria Medicago Solanum (incl. Lycopersicon)
Camellia Eleusine Musa (incl. Ensete) Sorghum
Capsicum Elymus Olea Spinacia
Carica Eruca Oryza Theobroma
Triticum (incl. Triticosecale,
Carthamnus Ficus Panicum
Aegilops, others)
Chenopodium Fragaria (incl. as Potentilla) Pennisetum Vicia
Cicer Glycine Persea Vigna
Citrullus Gossypium Phaseolus Vitellaria
Citrus (incl. Fortunella and
Helianthus Phoenix Vitis
Poncirus)
Cocos Hordeum Pimenta Xanthosoma
Coffea Ilex Piper Zea (incl. Tripsacum)

10. Gap Analysis: Global Project
Occurrence Data Sources
• Online data
• Researchers
• Herbarium and genebank databases
• Herbarium visits- more than 25,000 photos taken at NY, PH, US, MO, CAS,
UC, WAG, CUVC, R, RB, MA, COI, RBGE, LISU, LISC, LISI, BM, RBGE, P,
L, K, VIR.
Global database contains ca. 4 million geo-referenced records
add new occurrence data for 18 USA CWR priority genera
filter for US occurrences

11. Gap Analysis: Methodology
Ramírez-Villegas J, Khoury C, Jarvis A, Debouck DG, and Guarino L (2010).
A Gap Analysis Methodology for Collecting Crop Genepools: a Case Study with Phaseolus Bean.
PLoS ONE 5(10): e13497

12. Gap Analysis: Dimensions
Taxonomic
Geographic Environmental

13. US Phaseolus taxa

14. US Phaseolus taxon richness

15. US Phaseolus
herbarium and germplasm record richness
herbarium
records
germplasm
records

16. US Phaseolus
taxonomic gaps

17. US Phaseolus
distribution model taxon richness

18. US Phaseolus
geographic gaps

19. US Phaseolus results
Taxon HS GS TOTAL SRS GRS ERS FPS priority category
Phaseolus_sinuatus 0 1 1 10.00 10.00 10.00 0.00 HPS
Phaseolus_leptostachyus 1 0 1 0.00 NA NA 0.00 HPS
Phaseolus_pedicellatus 11 0 11 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 HPS
Phaseolus_smilacifolius 1 0 1 0.00 NA NA 0.00 HPS
Phaseolus_texensis 6 0 6 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 HPS
Phaseolus_polystachyus 344 2 346 0.06 0.06 2.61 0.91 HPS
Phaseolus_maculatus 60 9 69 1.30 0.34 4.00 1.88 HPS
Phaseolus_parvulus 61 9 70 1.29 0.55 4.00 1.94 HPS
Phaseolus_maculatus_maculatus 62 3 65 0.46 0.38 5.05 1.96 HPS
Phaseolus_grayanus 71 23 94 2.45 1.24 3.55 2.41 HPS
Phaseolus_angustissimus 267 8 275 0.29 0.46 6.50 2.42 HPS
Phaseolus_filiformis 162 20 182 1.10 1.68 7.67 3.48 MPS
Phaseolus_acutifolius 96 25 121 2.07 1.89 6.92 3.62 MPS
Phaseolus_maculatus_ritensis 53 20 73 2.74 3.66 6.50 4.30 MPS
Phaseolus_acutifolius_tenuifolius 64 55 119 4.62 3.35 7.50 5.16 LPS
Phaseolus_acutifolius_acutifolius 27 17 44 3.86 2.38 10.00 5.41 LPS
Phaseolus_parvifolius 2 2 4 5.00 10.00 6.67 7.22 LPS

20. US Phaseolus germplasm gaps
germplasm gap richness for high priority species

21. Next Steps
Gather more occurrence data- US herbaria,
expert sources
Gather data on threats to CWR populations
Perform full gap analysis methodology on
Priority 1 genepools
Develop methodology for in situ
conservation analysis and perform analysis
Advocate for collecting and for establishment
of genetic reserves

22. Expected Products
Web-based map tool for visualizing
species distributions and ex situ and in
situ gaps
Publish checklist of CWR of the USA
Publish gap analysis results
Publish analysis of management of genetic
reserves under climate change
Contribution to new accessions conserved,
management plans for conservation of
CWR in genetic reserves Helianthus exilis source: Greg Baute

23. Contribute!
Occurrence data needed for
US distributions of priority
1 taxa
Expert review of gap
analysis results (for both
US and Global CWR
projects)
Ribes niveum source: www.plantsystematics.org

24. Thank You!
http://cwroftheus.wordpress.com/
www.cwrdiversity.org
Colin Khoury
c.khoury@cgiar.org
Stephanie Greene
Stephanie.Greene@ars.usda.gov
John Wiersema
John.Wiersema@ars.usda.gov
Lactuca serriola source C Khoury

25. Thank You!

26. US Phaseolus record richness

27. US Phaseolus
modeling uncertainty metrics
modeling uncertainties as maximum standard deviations of taxa

28. US Phaseolus
gap uncertainty metrics
collecting uncertainties as
maximum standard
deviations of taxa
collecting uncertainties as
maximum geographic
distance to known
populations

29. Gap Analysis: Global Project
Occurrence Data Sources
Academy of Natural Sciences Herbarium (PH), USA
African Biodiversity Conservation and Innovations Centre (ABCIC) (Dr. Dan Kiambi), Kenya
Armenian State Agrarian University (Dr. Alvina Avagyan), Armenia National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE) (Dr. Maha Syouf), Jordan
Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH), Australia (accessed 10/2011) Natural History Museum Herbarium (BM), UK
Australian Tropical Grains Germplasm Centre (ATGGC) (Dr. Sally Norton), Australia Natural History Museum, Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI) Solanum: A worldwide
Botanical Society of the British Isles Herbaria@home, UK treatment, Solanaceae Source, UK
California Academy of Sciences (CAS), USA New York Botanical Garden Herbarium (NY), USA
Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA), Brazil (accessed 6/2011) Nordic Genetic Resources Center (NordGen), Sweden
Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), Mexico (accessed Plants of Taiwan, Taiwan
5/2011) Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (MA), Spain
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (Dr. Robert Lawn), Australia Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (E), UK
Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria, USA Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K), UK
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research System-wide Information Network for Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) (Josephine Piggin), UK
Genetic Resources (SINGER) (accessed 6/2011) Smithsonian Institution, National Herbarium (US), USA
Denver Botanic Gardens Herbarium (DBG), USA United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (Dr. David Spooner),
DIVEA, DEP, FEEMA Herbário Alberto Castellanos (GUA), Brazil USA
European Search Catalogue (EURISCO), Europe (accessed 6/2011) United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal
Field Museum (F), USA Germplasm Repository (Dr. Kim Hummer), USA
Florida State University Herbarium (FSU), USA United States Department of Agriculture, National Plant Germplasm System, Germplasm
GENESYS Global Portal (accessed 6/2011) Resources Information Network (GRIN), USA (accessed 6/2011)
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) (accessed 4/2011) United States Department of Agriculture, National Plant Germplasm System, Western Regional
Harvard University Herbarium (HUH), USA Plant Introduction Station, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Seeds of
Herbário do Jardim Botânico do IICT (LISC), Portugal Success Program, USA
Herbarium and African Library of the Free University of Brussels (BRLU), Belgium United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service; Bioversity International;
Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement (ICCI), Harold and Adele Lieberman Germplasm Bank, Israel International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT); and the University
Instituto Superior de Agronomia (LISI), Portugal Universidad del Valle Herbarium (CUVC), Colombia
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) (Alicia Velasquez), Colombia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Museu Nacional, Brazil
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia Universidade Lisboa Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (LISU), Portugal
International Potato Center (CIP), Peru Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Dr. Susana Neves), Portugal
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines University of Birmingham (Dr. Nigel Maxted), UK.
Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro (JABOT), Brazil University of California, Riverside (Dr. Jeff Ehlers), United States Department of Agriculture,
LAC-Biosafety, Colombia Agricultural Research Service (Dr. Roy Pittman), USA
Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) (Dr. Benjamin Kilian), Germany University of California, Riverside Herbarium (UCR), USA
Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MHA), Moscow, Russia University of Çukurova (Dr. Hakan Özkan), Turkey
Manchester University Herbarium (MANCH), UK University of Helsinki (Dr. Markku Hakkinen), Finland
Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UK University of Washington (Dr. Joshua Tewksbury), USA
Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium (MO), USA V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute (LE), St. Petersburg, Russia
Moscow State University (MW), Moscow, Russia Wageningen University (Dr. Laurentius Josephus Gerardus van der Maesen), The Netherlands
Museu Nacional de História Natural (Dr. Joana Brehm), Portugal Wageningen University Herbarium (WAG), The Netherlands
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciencia (MNHN), Portugal West Virginia University Herbarium (WVA), USA
Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Herbarium (P), France World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya
N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Sciences (VIR), St. Petersburg, Russia World Vegetable Center (AVRDC), Taiwan
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland Collection Database (L, U, WAG), The Netherlands
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Herbarium Utrecht (U), The Netherlands
Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch (L), The Netherlands

30. Global CWR Project Priorities
Crop Taxa
Alfalfa (Medicago) 13
Apple 12
Bambara Groundnut 27
Banana 31
Barley 2
Bean (Phaseolus) 37
Carrot 27
Chickpea 4
Cowpea 12
Eggplant 32
Faba Bean 1
Finger Millet 4
Grasspea 12
Lentil 4
Oat 12
Pea 9
Pearl Millet 4
Pigeon Pea 8
Potato 83
Rice 19
Rye 4
Sorghum 5
Sunflower 11
Sweet Potato 14
Vetch 9
Wheat 55
Total 451