关键词: 栽培植物野生近缘种, 原生境保护, 遗传资源, 保护对策, 气候变化

Abstract

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are important components of plant genetic resources that are characterized by unique biological traits, including those with great potential and specific value in coping with climate change and ensuring food security. In general, there are more than 24,000 CWR species that can be found in China, many of which are likely to contain valuable characters for crop improvement. There are many ex situ collections of plant genetic resources including some CWR in China, but that does not replace the role and function of in situ conservation, which conserves the diversity of population in nature so that ongoing evolutionary processes of selection and adaptation to their natural habitats are maintained. One hundred and sixty-nine in situ protected areas have been established so far in China, however, there is an urgent need for China to develop a national CWR strategy which identifies prior species for conservation at national and regional levels and the steps needed to secure those species using complementary (in situ and ex situ) conservation approaches. The steps taken so far in China for CWR conservation are discussed and possible conservation strategies are proposed in this paper, which serves as a crucial reference for developing conservation policy for China’s CWR.

Key words: crop wild relative, in situ conservation, genetic resource, conservation strategy, climate change