Search results for "seed banks"
showing 5 items of 5 documents
Severe effects of long-term drought on calcareous grassland seed banks
2018
Climate change models project shifts in precipitation patterns at regional and global scales. Increases in dry areas and the occurrence of drought predicted in future scenarios are likely to threaten grassland ecosystems. Calcareous grassland seed banks have proven to be resistant to short-term drought, but their responses to long-term drought are unknown. Here we show that 14 years of summer drought changed calcareous grassland seed bank composition, reducing its size and richness, and that these responses do not simply reflect patterns in the above-ground vegetation. Moreover, the effect of drought was larger on seed banks than on vegetation, and above-ground responses mediated by soil de…
The future of temporary wetlands in drylands under global change
2021
The Andalusian International University held a workshop entitled Temporary wetlands’ future in drylands under the projected global change scenario in March 2020 in Baeza, Spain, with 26 participants from 10 countries. The workshop objectives were to promote international cooperation and scientific exchange on the conservation and protection of temporary wetlands. The participants highlighted the extreme conditions that temporary and permanent wetlands, ponds, and shallow lakes are currently facing and predicted a dismal future for these systems due to climate change. To foster a holistic view of these ecosystems, the workshop included wetland watersheds. It was concluded that the main threa…
The conservation of the Italian Crop Wild Relatives in the RIBES seed-banks: first data to establish national inventories and conservation priorities.
2016
The authors present the updated results of such census in the Italian Seed Bank Network for native species conservation (RIBES) with an analysis of the contribution to the conservation of the Italian FAO priority CWR. Finally, a national priority list for conservation of CWRs was drawn up and proposed here.
The conservation of the endemic Crop Wild Relatives in the RIBES seed-banks: towards a national priority list for the Italian CWRs
2016
Data of 620 crop wild relatives of species of food and fodder interest listed in the Annex I of the FAO Treaty (FAO, 2001) were collected within the census carried out by ISPRA, the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, in 2014-2015 in order to quantify the extent of CWR representation in the Italian ex situ collections. According to such census, the RIBES network preserve 37% of the Italian CWRs listed in the FAO Treaty: in 14 out of 16 seed-banks are preserved 6,029 accessions of 229 CWR taxa, belonging to 11 families and 57 genera.
The RIBES strategy for ex situ conservation: conventional and modern techniques for seed conservation
2022
The Italian seed bank network (RIBES) aims to improve the quality and safety of the germplasm reserves of native plant species in Italy to ensure the long-term conservation of endangered and/or endemic flora. The strategy includes traditional methods to secure seed conservation. A comprehensive priority list for seed collection is being defined, it was prepared by crossing data of various checklists (red lists, endemics) and will soon be cross-referenced with an updated list of accessions of the whole network. A safety-backup program of duplicates will quickly be implemented to secure the conservation of the most threatened species in at least two seed banks of the network. On the other han…