DEDICATION iii Dr Abdou Salam Ouedraogo (1957–2000) This book is dedicated to the fond memory of our late colleague Dr Abdou Salam Ouédraogo (1957–2000), who died in the Kenya Airways crash on the night of Sunday 30 January 2000. A citizen of Burkina Faso, Abdou was well known throughout Africa and the scientific community as a distinguished scientist and leader in his field. In 1995 he was awarded a PhD in conservation biology by the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands. He was the founding director of the Forest Tree Seed Centre in Ouagadougou and co-ordinator of the regional forest genetic resources programme at the Food and Agriculture Organization/Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (FAO/CILSS). During his tragically curtailed career, he was an active member of several panels and committees for international organisations. He served as a member of the FAO Panel of Experts on forest genetic resources, representing Africa. He was part of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) Panel of Experts advizing on forest genetic resources while also a member of the programme committees of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the forestry department of the Centre de co- opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD–Forêt). He fulfilled leadership roles in key conservation bodies as the deputy leader of the Research Group on Biodiversity (for Africa) of the International Union of Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO) and as chair of the Species Survival Commission African Tree Specialist Group, part of the International Union on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). He was a member of external review panels for key international forestry organizations such as the Forest Seed Centre of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) in 1996, and IUFRO and CIRAD–Forêt (both in 1999). Abdou joined the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) in 1993 as Senior Scientist, Forest Genetic Resources, leading IPGRI’s global project on forest genetic resources. These years of ‘hands-on’ experience gave him a thorough understanding of the complex realities and needs of the developing world in the area of plant genetic resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It was in iv STORAGE BIOLOGY OF TROPICAL TREE SEEDS this capacity that he and others conceived the project ‘Conservation, management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources with reference to Brazil and Argentina’, presented in this book. He also gained an excellent knowledge of the modus operandi of international organizations, including the centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the FAO, IUFRO, CIRAD-Forêt and DANIDA, in addition to experience in leadership and management. In October 1999 he was promoted to the position of Regional Director for sub-Saharan Africa based at IPGRI’s office in Nairobi, Kenya. During the short time that he was in this position, he demonstrated unique vision, leadership, an engaging personality and good humour. We will remember him particularly for his great ability to work with people and instil team spirit, and for his vitality and his positive attitude towards life, even when faced with enormous challenges. He was a unique individual, loved by everyone who knew him. His life was a continuous endeavour to make the world a better place. May God rest his soul. INTRODUCTION 1 General introduction 1 3 Mohammad E. Dulloo , Dorthe Jøker2, Kirsten A. Thomsen and Weber A. N. Amaral1 ¹International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00057 Maccarese, Rome, Italy 2Forest & Landscape Denmark, Hørsholm Kongevg 11, DK-2790 Hørsholm, Denmark 3The State Forest Tree Improvement Station, Krogerupvej 21, 3050 Humlebaek, Denmark Biodiversity offers both challenges and opportunities to humankind. Challenges in dealing with this complexity and in developing management regimes for species and ecosystems where there are information gaps. Opportunities in deploying these biological resources to sustain local communities and farmers. Forests and trees play a particularly important role for peoples’ livelihoods, in providing goods and services and contributing to local and regional development and environmental protection. In the tropics, tree species’ diversity is huge. The rate of loss of this diversity is, however, extremely high due to deforestation, ecosystem fragmentation and overexploitation. Despite such diversity only a handful of species are employed in forest restoration, agroforestry systems and planting programmes. In addition, commercially oriented planting schemes are often dominated by fast growing, frequently exotic species to the detriment of well-adapted local or indigenous tree species, thereby causing loss of diversity and, thus, adding a further constraint to the deployment of indigenous species. Insufficient baseline information about the potential of indigenous species and the availability of seeds and seedlings, is a major constraints for the deployment of locally adapted tree species. Access to seeds and seedlings are in general associated with seed handling and storage problems, which limit the use of many potentially high value indigenous species in tree planting and conservation programmes. Little is known about the seed physiology of most tropical forest tree species. Furthermore, a large proportion of tropical forest tree species produces recalcitrant seeds, which are difficult to collect, process and store. Many of these seeds are sensitive to both desiccation and low temperatures and, consequently, do not tolerate being dried to a low moisture content 2 STORAGE BIOLOGY OF TROPICAL TREE SEEDS and cannot be stored at low temperatures for long periods of time. This is a major problem for humid tropical forest tree species, where more than 70% of them have seeds with recalcitrant or intermediate seed storage behaviour. Understanding seed drying and storage behaviour can help ensure a better handling and storage of tropical tree seeds, and hence the availability of these resources for livelihoods. The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and Danida Forest Seed Centre (DFSC) (now Forest & Landscape Denmark) have carried out a joint project on the handling and storage of recalcitrant and intermediate tropical forest tree seeds, which was implemented in two phases (1996–1998 and 2000–2002). The project aimed to: a) strengthen the capability of forest tree seed laboratories/institutes in developing countries through research and technology transfer; b) develop effective techniques for seed handling, including collecting, storage, germination and testing; and c) improve the basic scientific knowledge on recalcitrant and intermediate storage behaviour of tropical tree seeds. During the first phase of the project, an informal network of researchers on recalcitrant seeds was established, together with a standard screening protocol and a series of appropriate handling methods. Research capacity was enhanced through training workshops, and participants were trained in data gathering and seed survival when dried and stored at different temperatures. In the follow-up phase (2000–2002), initial efforts were consolidated by enhancing the use and conservation of indigenous tropical forest tree species through the development of optimal seed handling and storage procedures, regional training workshops and strengthening the network. The project was concluded at a final workshop held at Chania, Crete in Sept 2002, and suggestions were made by the project partners for future actions and activities beyond the project scope. Contributing partners and species The project involved 15 countries in Africa, America and Asia, and several other replicating institutions in Europe and Australia (see list of Contributors—Appendix 5). The project gathered contributions from 13 Forest Tree Seed Institutions across the three continents, four universities and three research institutes in Europe and Africa. The species to be studied were chosen according to the following criteria: x high socioeconomic importance; x propagation of species mainly via seeds; x nondormant seeds ; INTRODUCTION 3 x availability of distinct provenance or seed sources; x yearly production of seeds in large quantities. Collecting partners and countries of origin used these criteria to (a) draw up a list of priority species in need of immediate action and, (b) seek common patterns of seed behaviour among different tree species. The end product has been the generation of a wealth of data and information on 52 tropical tree species that are the subject of this book. The screening protocol At an initial workshop in 1995 in Humlebaek, Denmark, the project partners developed a screening protocol to determine seed tolerance of desiccation. This protocol was then amended and adopted by all partners as a standard methodology, at a workshop in 1996 in Durban, South Africa. The protocol, shown in Appendix 1, contains precise instructions on how to determine minimum safe moisture content and optimal storage conditions to assure its replicability among partners and multiple trials. All procedures are described, from sampling and collection to the exchange of seed materials... To improve the quality of the work and at the same time promote collaboration between institutes, partners were encouraged, using the same standard protocol, to screen seed lots in replication with another partner institution. The