DEVELOPMENT OF CROP WILD RELATIVE CONSERVATION STRATEGIES FOR NORWAY by Jade Phillips A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Biosciences College of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Birmingham April 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract Climate change and anthropogenic activities threaten our global food security. One area of research that may help combat a future food crisis is the utilization of the genetic diversity available in wild plants. Crop wild relatives (CWR) are one such resource. They are the wild taxa most closely related to crops and from which diverse traits could be transferred to the crop. This project uses Norway as an example, to contribute towards methodologies to identify those CWR populations that are most important for conservation and use. This involves the creation of a priority list of CWR for Norway, in situ and ex situ diversity analysis of CWR populations, gap analysis and ecogeographic land characterization methodologies, predictive climate change analysis for CWR distributions and genetic diversity studies of taxa using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs). Comprehensive in situ and ex situ national recommendations for the conservation of CWR in Norway are detailed. These include the incorporation of management plans for CWR populations within the Færder national park in Norway, the first instance of such conservation activities in Scandinavia. The scientific methods used and developed will help Norway meet its international obligations for conservation and use of genetic diversity of CWR and will contribute to the regional and global efforts to systematically conserve and utilize the diversity found in CWR. For Grandad, enjoy your long walk amongst the flowers. Acknowledgements I am indebted to both Åsmund Asdal and Dr. Nigel Maxted who believed in me from the outset and without whom this PhD would not have been possible, thank you. Dr Joana Magos Brehm has always provided invaluable knowledge and advice throughout this project. Shelagh Kell and Professor Ford Lloyd for sharing their in-depth expertise with me. Morten Rasmussen for the ongoing support of myself and this project and for the persistent push for the continued conservation and use of CWR within Norway. Thank you to the many Norwegian and Scandinavian colleagues who I had the pleasure to work with across Norway over the last three and a half years, including: Karen Jordal, Dag Endresen, Oddvar Peterson, Tore Berg, Bob van Oort, Vegar Bakkestuen, Heli Fitzgerald, Anna Palmè, I look forward to many more years of collaboration. I am grateful to Kirsten Skøt and Matthew Hegarty from IBERS for providing this project with their expertise and Caroline Pollock and Jamie Carr from the IUCN for their helpful advice. I would like to thank Mauricio Parra-Quijano for his continued guidance and willingness to answer my many questions about CAPFITOGEN. Thank you to Hannah Fielder and Holly Vincent for passing on their PhD wisdom as well as Maria João Almeida and Aremi Contreras Toledo for keeping me smiling in the office. I am especially grateful to the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food for funding this project. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for always believing in me, more than I ever could myself. Thank you. Table of contents CHAPTER 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 What is a crop wild relative? ............................................................................................ 3 1.2 Aim of in situ and ex situ CWR conservation .................................................................. 7 1.3 International legislation for PGR conservation .............................................................. 13 1.4 Threats to CWR .............................................................................................................. 15 1.5 Floristic background to Norway ..................................................................................... 19 1.5.1 Threats to CWR in Norway ..................................................................................... 21 1.5.2 Current in situ and ex situ conservation actions in Norway .................................... 23 1.6 Background to methods .................................................................................................. 26 1.6.1 Checklist and inventory ........................................................................................... 26 1.6.2 Ecogeographic study ................................................................................................ 27 1.6.3 Predicted distribution ............................................................................................... 29 1.6.4 Climate change analysis .......................................................................................... 31 1.6.5 CAPFITOGEN tools................................................................................................ 33 1.6.6 Genetic diversity analyses ....................................................................................... 34 1.7 Aim and objectives ......................................................................................................... 36 1.8 Overview of thesis .......................................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 2. Methodology................................................................................................... 41 2.1 National CWR checklist ................................................................................................. 41 2.2 Prioritization and Inventory ........................................................................................... 42 2.3 Ecogeographic study ...................................................................................................... 43 2.4 Diversity analyses .......................................................................................................... 44 2.4.2 Species richness and occurrence data bias .............................................................. 47 2.4.3 Predicted distribution and gap analysis ................................................................... 47 2.4.3.1 In situ gap analysis ............................................................................................... 49 2.4.3.2 Ex situ gap analysis............................................................................................... 49 2.4.4 Complementarity analysis ....................................................................................... 50 2.4.5 Climate change assessment ..................................................................................... 51 2.4.5.1 Climate change diversity analyses ........................................................................ 52 2.5 Genetic diversity studies ................................................................................................ 53 2.5.1 Molecular marker genotyping ................................................................................. 57 2.5.2 Analysis of the AFLP electropherograms ............................................................... 58 2.5.3 Statistical analysis.................................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 3. In situ and ex situ diversity analysis of priority crop wild relatives in Norway .................................................................................................................................... 61 3.1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 62 3.2 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 63 3.3 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.1 National CWR checklist and inventory ................................................................... 66 3.3.2 In situ diversity analyses.......................................................................................... 67 3.3.3 Potential distribution modelling .............................................................................. 68 3.3.4 Ecogeographic Land Characterization maps ........................................................... 69 3.3.5 Ex situ diversity analyses ......................................................................................... 70 3.4 Results ............................................................................................................................ 71 3.4.1 CWR checklist, inventory and ecogeographic study ............................................... 71 3.4.2 In situ diversity analysis .........................................................................................