The aims of this study were to determine the geographical range and habitats of the Verbascum species in the Arabian Peninsula and to assess their conservation status at national, regional, and global levels by using the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List categories and criteria. Verbascum is represented by 16 species with four varieties in the area of the study, and most of these species are endemic to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study is based on an ecogeographic survey, which was conducted using herbaria collections, literature sources, and fieldwork. The findings showed that the genus is distributed in three main regions in the Arabian Peninsula, which include northern Saudi Arabia, the Asir and Yemen highlands, and the Hajar mountains in Oman and the UAE. In addition, most species of Verbascum in the region are at high risk of extinction. Nine taxa are threatened, four of which are assessed as Critically Endangered, four as Endangered, and one as Vulnerable. Furthermore, four species are assessed as Near Threatened, while another five species are assessed as of Least Concern. Threats to the Verbascum species in the region are overgrazing, suburban and agricultural expansion, climate change, invasive species, recreational activities, tourism, war, and civil unrest, leading to human intrusion and disturbances. Some important strategies for conserving and managing Verbascum species on the Arabian Peninsula are recommended here.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) contain an important reservoir of genetic material for use in plant breeding and can provide increased resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, contributing to improved food security. Systematic in situ conservation of CWR is limited by the lack of population-level genetic diversity studies and the development of management and monitoring strategies from their results. We present the first systematic genetic analysis of multiple CWR for in situ conservation planning by investigating the suitability of The Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK (‘The Lizard’) as a location for the first of a complementary network of UK CWR genetic reserves. It also provides a baseline of genetic data for future monitoring and management recommendations resulting from the genetic analysis. AFLPs were used to perform a genetic diversity study on eight CWR on The Lizard, Cornwall and across the southwest of the UK. CWR on The Lizard held as much genetic diversity as populations from other southwest UK sites. Further, this diversity was largely distinct from southwest populations, indicating The Lizard as a suitable location for in situ conservation of UK CWR diversity, while also revealing that The Lizard is not, on its own, sufficient to conserve the genetic diversity of all CWR in the southwest. This highlights the need for a network of complementary UK genetic reserves with targeted, long-term management informed by genetic diversity data, and represents a model that can be applied globally.

Verbascum species have economic value as ornamental plants and in traditional medicinal uses. Sixteen species of Verbascum are recognized on the Arabian Peninsula, two of which comprise two varieties each, giving eighteen taxa in total. They are collectively widespread but often narrowly restricted individually, occurring in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. In this study, in situ and ex situ conservation gap analyses of 18 Verbascum taxa found on the Arabian Peninsula were undertaken based on taxon richness and ecogeographic diversity using complementarity analysis. The results indicate that 30

There are increasing calls for greater availability of plant genetic resources (PGR) for use in plant breeding to help counter the adverse impacts of a changing climate and threats from pests and diseases, particularly in a context of reduced agricultural inputs, and the needs of the increasing human population. Managing and promoting ex situ and in situ conservation of PGR requires an effective data and informatics foundation. However, in situ data management is particularly undeveloped, especially when compared to ex situ documentation. The work presented here is a consolidated descriptor list to support in situ conservation of PGR. The consolidated PGR descriptor list is based on numerous partial lists collated from historic PGR activities, biodiversity conservation and protected area networking activities. New descriptors for in situ conservation activities were developed where gaps were identified. The draft consolidated PGR descriptor list was reviewed and revised through a process of consultation with experts in PGR documentation and in situ conservation. In total, 171 descriptors were identified, of which seven are defined as mandatory, 47 are defined as core descriptors and 29 are newly developed descriptors for in situ conservation of PGR. The descriptors cover all aspects of in situ conservation, from gathering passport data (for which there are already well-established descriptors), to monitoring and managing crop wild relative and landrace populations. Recommendations are made for the most effective use and future development of descriptors and how they could be used to further develop and support in situ PGR conservation implementation.

The genetic diversity found in plants is a vital asset for present and future human populations. Useful genetic diversity for food production is primarily located in crop wild relatives (wild plant taxa that can donate adaptive traits to crops) and crop landraces (traditional crop varieties maintained by farmers). Both groups have crucial roles in crop diversification and varietal improvement. In this Review, we examine the geographic partitioning of taxonomic and genomic diversity, current threats, and the range of potential in situ and ex situ conservation techniques available to sustain diversity. Other values and perspectives on the conservation of plant genetic resources (typically associated with the biocultural and socio-ecological value of landraces) should be considered when planning and implementing conservation strategies, but they are beyond the scope of this Review. In situ and ex situ conservation applications require improved integration to ensure complementary conservation and that in-situ-conserved resources are as easily available to end users as they are from ex situ gene banks. Action on plant genetic resource conservation, policy and infrastructure at the global, regional and national levels is essential to preserve and use crop wild relative and landrace diversity. Plant genetic resources — encompassing the taxonomic and genetic diversity of crop wild relatives, wild food plants and landraces — are vital to securing global food supplies. This Review synthesizes the importance and diversity of these resources, outlines current in situ and ex situ management frameworks, and outlines strategic priorities for conservation.

Medicinal plant species are crucial biological resources, and yet their conservation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains insufficiently studied. This study conducts a comprehensive gap analysis of 74 priority medicinal plant species in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess their spatial distribution, identify conservation gaps and propose strategic recommendations. Occurrence records were collected from field surveys and global biodiversity databases, followed by ecogeographical land characterization and conservation gap analyses using the CAPFITOGEN3 tools. The results reveal significant disparities in in situ and ex situ conservation efforts, with two biodiversity hotspots, Asir and Jazan, containing the highest species diversity. While 66 species occur within protected areas, seven species are currently only recorded outside protected areas, indicating opportunities for expanding conservation efforts. Complementarity analysis identified 13 optimal protected areas for priority medicinal plants’ conservation, alongside 20 potential sites outside protected areas that could serve as other effective area-based conservation measures. Ex situ conservation remains critically limited for many species, with only 10 represented in genebanks and all accessions currently stored internationally, although some medicinal plant species may have broader global distributions. To bring about improved outcomes of conservation, the expansion of in situ conservation coverage, integration of other effective area-based conservation measures, strengthening of national genebanks and leverage of biotechnology and geospatial tools is recommended by this study. The findings of this study can be used to develop a more systematic and sustainable approach to the conservation of medicinal plants in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are defined as wild plant taxa that are closely related to agricultural crops. In the face of global pressures of climates change and biodiversity loss, CWR requires urgent conservation attention. As a first step toward a national strategy for the conservation of CWRs, we present an inventory of taxa occurring in Brazil, with suggested prioritization of species based on potential value in crop improvement. The CWR checklist comprised 3652 taxa among 112 genera, and after applying the prioritization criteria, 289 CWRs were prioritized. The prioritized CWRs are related to crops of regional, national, and global importance such as cassava ( Manihot esculenta Crantz), sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum L.), coffee ( Coffea arabica L. and Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner), cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.), rice ( Oryza sativa L.), orange ( Citrus spp.), beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.), tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum L.), potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.), and cocoa ( Theobroma cacao L.). More than half of the prioritized CWRs (50.86%) are endemic, and 28.03% are nationally endangered. A subsequent prioritization was also carried out using the criteria of socioeconomic value of the related crop and endemism, with 95 taxa being prioritized. The production of the first CWR inventory for Brazil is an important tool for planning conservation actions as part of a national strategy to maintain food security.

Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) are wild plant taxa closely related to domesticated crops that play a vital role in enhancing crop resilience. This study assessed the conservation status of 97 priority CWR in Northeast Africa through a comprehensive approach, incorporating ecogeographic data and complementarity analysis. The analysis of 4551 occurrence records from 57 CWR highlighted significant gaps in in situ conservation. Notably, the highest number of occurrence records within Protected Areas (PAs) were found in Ethiopia, particularly in Borena National Park, Kafa UNESCO-MAB Biosphere Reserve, and Bonga National Forest Priority Area. However, only 40 taxa ( 42

Plant genetic resources (PGR) serve as the cornerstone for global varietal enhancement and food security. However, these resources face significant threats, including diversity erosion and extinction, are often inadequately conserved, and frequently remain inaccessible for practical use. Traditionally, PGR have been primarily conserved through population seed samples stored ex situ in genebanks. In contrast, complementary in situ techniques – whether involving crop wild relatives in genetic reserves or crop landraces on-farm – have largely remained experimental. The demand from breeders for a broader diversity is driving a more integrated approach that combines ex situ and in situ methods. This paper posits that such an integrated strategy would be mutually advantageous for PGR, biodiversity and farmer-based conservation communities. As a foundation for future PGR science, we propose the three 'Principles of PGR Conservation and Use Congruence' and outline the practical processes involved in in situ and on-farm conservation. We also review the challenges associated with integrating ex situ and in situ conservation, specifically addressing how collaborative resource management can be established, how potential resource users can access in situ and on-farm conserved PGR, how to promote user access to in situ conserved populations, and the progress made thus far in integrating in situ and ex situ efforts. While it is acknowledged that full integration may be unrealistic without adequate resources for Genetic Resource Centres and the rectification of skill gaps, the potential to significantly enhance the long-term, sustainable conservation of PGR diversity holds profound existential benefits for humanity in the 21st century.

The species of the genus Verbascum L. in the Arabian Peninsula are revised. Seventeen species are recognized, a key to the species is provided, and all names are typified. Detailed morphological descriptions, distribution maps, habitat information, and field images are presented for each species. Verbascum sarawaticum A. Alzahrani is newly described, and Verbascum eremobium Murb. is newly confirmed for the flora of the Arabian Peninsula. Seven new synonyms are established in this study. Accordingly, Verbascum sheilae Hemaid is treated as a variety under V. deserticola (Murb.) Huber-Morath (as var. sheilae); Verbascum tabukum Hemaid is placed in synonymy with V. eremobium Murb.; Verbascum luntii Baker is placed in synonymy with V. longibracteatum Defl.; Verbascum hema-figranum Hemaid is placed in synonymy with V. medinecum Hemaid; Verbascum abyadicum Hemaid is placed in synonymy with V. shiqricum Hemaid; and both Verbascum chaudharyanum Hemaid and Verbascum asiricum Hemaid are treated as varieties under V. yemense Defl. (as var. yemense and var. asiricum, respectively). Furthermore, the previously segregated genus Rhabdotosperma Hartl is here reduced to synonymy under Verbascum L., and the species formerly known as Rhabdotosperma saudiarabicum A. Alzahrani is formally recombined as Verbascum saudiarabicum (A. Alzahrani) A. Alzahrani.

This report, Biodiversity and agriculture in the Mediterranean region: A species conservation perspective, is designed to inform policymakers, conservation practitioners, and stakeholders across the Mediterranean region. Its purpose is to highlight the current challenges posed to biodiversity by intensive agricultural pressures, while identifying solutions and opportunities to reconcile biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture. It acknowledges that while certain unsustainable agricultural activities pose a key threat to species conservation in the Mediterranean, agricultural landscapes also provide habitat to numerous species - so considering agriculture as a threat requires a more nuanced approach, given its inherent linkages to nature.

Crop wild relatives (CWR) encompass wild plant species or subspecies closely related to domesticated crops. This study presents the first comprehensive checklist and prioritized inventory of CWR for Sudan and South Sudan. Building on the regional CWR list for Northeast Africa, we identified 499 CWR taxa belonging to 44 families, with 90% of these being native species. The most prominently represented families were Poaceae (148), Fabaceace (72) and Convolvulaceae (43), while Panicum (32), Eragrostis (27), Ficus (24) and Pennisetum (20) were the most frequent genera. A prioritized inventory of 85 CWR taxa was developed based on three criteria: economic value, utilization potential and threat status. The prioritized CWR are predominately native (78%) and encompass 12 families dominated by Poaceae (38), followed by Solanaceae (9), Fabaceae (6) and Cucurbitaceae (6). Priority genera included 27, with Digitaria (17), Solanum (9) and Cucumis (5) emerging as key genera for conservation attention. This comprehensive national CWR inventory provides a crucial foundation for developing targeted conservation strategies in Sudan and South Sudan.

Crop landraces (LR), the traditional varieties of crops that have been maintained for millennia by repeated cycles of planting, harvesting, and selection, are genetically diverse compared to more modern varieties and provide one of the key components for crop improvement due to the ease of trait transfer within the crop species. However, LR diversity is increasingly threatened with genetic erosion and extinction by replacement with improved cultivars, lack of incentives for farmers to maintain traditional agricultural systems, and rising threats from climate change. Their active conservation is necessary to maintain this critical resource. However, as there are hundreds of thousands of LR and millions of LR populations for crops globally, active conservation is complex and resource-intensive. To assist in implementation, it is useful to be able to prioritise LR for conservation action and an obvious means of prioritisation is based on relative threat assessment. There have been several attempts to propose LR threat assessment methods, but none thus far has been widely accepted or applied. The aim of this paper is to present a novel, practical, standardised, and objective methodology for LR threat assessment derived from the widely applied IUCN Red Listing for wild species, involving the collation of time series information for LR population range, LR population trend, market, and farmer characteristics and LR context information. The collated information is compared to a set of threat criteria and an appropriate threat category is assigned to the LR when a threshold level is reached. The proposed methodology can be applied at national, regional, or global levels and any crop group.

Ensuring global food security in the face of climate change is critical to human survival. With a predicted human population of 9.6 billion in 2050 and the demand for food supplies expected to increase by 60% globally, but with a parallel potential reduction in crop production for wheat by 6.0%, rice by 3.2%, maize by 7.4%, and soybean by 3.1% by the end of the century, maintaining future food security will be a challenge. One potential solution is new climate-smart varieties created using the breadth of diversity inherent in crop wild relatives (CWRs). Yet CWRs are threatened, with 16–35% regarded as threatened and a significantly higher percentage suffering genetic erosion. Additionally, they are under-conserved, 95% requiring additional ex situ collections and less than 1% being actively conserved in situ; they also often grow naturally in disturbed habitats limiting standard conservation measures. The urgent requirement for active CWR conservation is widely recognized in the global policy context (Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, UN Sustainable Development Goals, the FAO Second Global Plan of Action for PGRFA, and the FAO Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture) and breeders highlight that the lack of CWR diversity is unnecessarily limiting crop improvement. CWRs are not spread evenly across the globe; they are focused in hotspots and the hottest region for CWR diversity is in West Asia and North Africa (WANA). The region has about 40% of global priority taxa and the top 17 countries with maximum numbers of CWR taxa per unit area are all in WANA. Therefore, improved CWR active conservation in WANA is not only a regional but a critical global priority. To assist in the achievement of this goal, we will review the following topics for CWRs in the WANA region: (1) conservation status, (2) community-based conservation, (3) threat status, (4) diversity use, (5) CURE—CWR hub: (ICARDA Centre of Excellence), and (6) recommendations for research priorities. The implementation of the recommendations is likely to significantly improve CWRs in situ and ex situ conservation and will potentially at least double the availability of the full breadth of CWR diversity found in WANA to breeders, and so enhance regional and global food and nutritional security.

The global genepool conservation and use strategy for yam were developed in this study. Diversity analysis, and in situ and ex situ conservation gap analyses were carried out for the 27 globally priority yam crop wild relatives (CWR) at taxon and ecogeographic levels to determine their representativeness in conservation actions. Hotspots were found in Nzerekore region of Guinea, Nimba and Grand Gedeh regions of Liberia, Montagnes, Sassandra- Marahouse, and Bas – Sassandra regions of Cote d’Ivoire, Volta, Greater Accra and Eastern regions of Ghana, Centrale and Plateau regions of Togo, Donga, Oueme, Athlantique, Littoral and Plateau provinces of Benin, South West zone of Nigeria, Es region of Cameroon, Sangha- Mbaere region of Central Africa Republic. Likouala and Sangha regions of Congo, and Shan province of Myanmar and Thailand. A total of 13 reserve sites were found in 13 countries, with four locations in the network of PA. Out of the 81% of the priority CWR, 7.10% of the taxa were represented in ex situ collections, with 14.8% of the taxa with at least 50 accessions in genebanks, while 66.6% of the priority CWR are underrepresented in genebanks, with less than 50 accessions conserved ex situ , and 18.5% of the species are not represented in ex situ collections. The findings and recommendations of this study will guide the production and implementation of effective long term conservation action and sustainable utilization of globally priority yam CWR. The active conservation of the global yam priority species will underpin food security and mitigate climate change.

The taxonomy of the tribe Fabeae (Vicieae) has long been problematic, but an analysis by Schaefer et al. in 2012 gave an exceptionally clear view of the tribe and noted the possibility that some nomenclatural adjustments may be required at some future date. These authors suggested several options, expressing some preferences. However, there has been a recent change to formally accepted names, implementing one of these possibilities, but without any additional relevant information. This change seems unjustified and unhelpful. We therefore present an argument for the retention, or re-instatement, of the genera Pisum, Vavilovia, and Lens until such time as new data support this requirement and there is no nomenclatural solution that is both accurate and convenient.

Verbascum and Rhabdotosperma are members of the family Scrophulariaceae. The first genus comprises approximately 360 species from almost all parts of the world, while the second contains a total of 8 species from tropical Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Since 1977, the relationships between Verbascum and Rhabdotosperma continue to be contested. The present study aims to present the phylogenetic relationships and status among Verbascum species in the Arabian Peninsula. For phylogenetic analyses, maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference were performed. In total, 236 DNA sequences from 59 specimens of Arabian Verbascum were analysed. The phylogenetic analysis of one nuclear (ITS) and three chloroplastic (rbcL, matK, trnL) markers confirmed the monophyly of Verbascum, including the genus Rhabdotosperma. In addition to presenting novel phylogenetic relationships among the different Verbascum species in the Arabian Peninsula, our study reduced the species count of Arabian Verbascum to 16. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis strongly supports the reinstatement of the genus Rhabdotosperma into Verbascum based on the Bayesian and maximum parsimony analyses.

Even though genetic resources represent a fundamental reservoir of options to achieve sustainable development goals in a changing world, they are overlooked in the policy agenda and severely threatened. The conservation of genetic resources relies on complementary in situ and ex situ approaches appropriately designed for each type of organism. Environmental and socioeconomic changes raise new challenges and opportunities for sustainable use and conservation of genetic resources. Aiming at a more integrated and adaptive approach, European scientists and genetic resources managers with long experience in the agricultural crop, animal and forestry domains joined their expertise to address three critical challenges: (1) how to adapt genetic resources conservation strategies to climate change, (2) how to promote in situ conservation strategies and (3) how can genetic resources conservation contribute to and benefit from agroecological systems. We present here 31 evidence-based statements and 88 key recommendations elaborated around these questions for policymakers, conservation actors and the scientific community. We anticipate that stakeholders in other genetic resources domains and biodiversity conservation actors across the globe will have interest in these crosscutting and multi-actor recommendations, which support several biodiversity conservation policies and practices.

Landraces are traditional crop varieties that often have special adaptations to the farming environment in which they have evolved and are therefore a valuable source of useful traits for plant breeders. In most agriculturally advanced countries, landraces of the main crops have generally been superseded by modern varieties. An exception to this in the United Kingdom is the cultivation on the Scottish archipelagos of Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides of three cereal landraces: bere, a 6-row barley (Hordeum vulgare), small oat (Avena strigosa) and Hebridean rye (Secale cereale). Our study focused on trends in their cultivation and use over the past 20 years. In the Outer Hebrides, a mixture of all three has continued to be grown on more than 200ha for feed because of its tolerance of nutrient-deficient sandy soils. Future cultivation is threatened, however, by damage from geese and deer, especially to fields used for seed production. In Orkney and Shetland, only bere and small oat are grown, and always as sole crops. The area of bere has increased in Orkney, from about 10ha in 2004 to almost 75ha in 2020 and has been driven by two supply chains producing bere for milling and malting. However, small oat in Orkney, and both small oat and, especially bere, in Shetland have been grown by very few farmers since 2018 and are at serious risk of being lost from cultivation. We discuss these results in the context of measures to support greater on-farm cultivation of these landraces.

The analysis of climate change impact is essential to include in conservation planning of crop wild relatives (CWR) to provide the guideline for adequate long-term protection under unpredictable future environmental conditions. These resources play an important role in sustaining the future of food security, but the evidence shows that they are threatened by climate change. The current analyses show that five taxa were predicted to have contraction of more than 30 % of their current ranges: Artocarpus sepicanus (based on RCP 4.5 in both no dispersal and unlimited dispersal scenario and RCP 8.5 in no dispersal scenario by 2050), Ficus oleifolia (RCP 4.5 5 in both no dispersal and unlimited dispersal scenario by 2080), Cocos nucifera and Dioscorea alata (RCP 8.5 in both no dispersal and unlimited dispersal scenario by 2050), and Ficus chartacea (RCP 8.5 in both no dispersal and unlimited dispersal scenario by 2050 and 2080). It shows that the climate change impact is species-specific. Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and dispersal scenarios influence the prediction models, and the actual future distribution range of species falls in between those scenarios. Climate refugia, holdout populations, and non-analogue community assemblages were identified based on the Protected Areas (PAs) network. PAs capacity is considered an important element in implementing a conservation strategy for the priority CWR. In areas where PAs are isolated and have less possibility to build corridors to connect each other, such as in Java, unlimited dispersal scenarios are unlikely to be achieved and assisted dispersal is suggested. The holdout populations should be the priority target for the ex situ collection. Therefore, by considering the climate refugia, PAs capacity and holdout populations, the goal of keeping high genetic variations for the long-term conservation of CWR in Indonesia can be achieved.