CONSERVATION OF CROP WILD RELATIVES’ DIVERSITY IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT By Wathek Zair A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Supervisor Dr Nigel Maxted School of Biosciences College of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Birmingham October 2019 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties.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 This thesis aims to enhance the conservation of CWR diversity in the Fertile Crescent. CWR are species of plants that are genetically close to cultivated crops. They are important sources of plant genetic materials that can be used for crop improvements. The Fertile Crescent is an important centre as it is a centre of crop domestication. Finding CWR in the Fertile Crescent region was carried out through creating a checklist of CWR, prioritisation, collecting passport data, ex-situ and in-situ gap analysis, climate change analysis, and threat analysis. A priority list of 220 CWR taxa was established following 12 prioritisation criteria. The priority list was revised and a new priority list consisted of 441 CWR were established. 23,878 occurrence records were collated. Ten genetic reserves are recommended. 70% of the CWR examined taxa are represented in gene banks. The most important areas for further collecting for ex-situ conservation are located in the west and south of Turkey. CAPFITOGEN result indicates that the top three sites with the highest CWR taxa concentration are found in eastern Turkey. The fourth highest site is found in Latakia in Syria. The result of the climate change analysis revealed that Aegilops bicornis, a wild relative of bread wheat, and Triticum monococcum, a wild relative of wheat, are expected to be highly impacted by climate change. The IUCN red assessment result indicates that out of the 88 taxa assessed, one taxon was assessed as Critically Endangered, 18 taxa as Data Deficient, three taxa as Endangered, 41 as Least Concern and 25 as Near Threatened. All these components will help the Fertile Crescent meet its targets in conserving CWR diversity as well as ensuring CWRs are preserved to prevent and tackle global food insecurity. Future work is to fill the gaps in conservation outlined in this research. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to Dr Nigel Maxted who believed in me and without whom this Ph.D. would not have been completed. I want to say thank you also to Dr Ahmed Amri who provided vital knowledge and guidance throughout this Ph.D. Many thanks also to Dr Jeremy Pritchard who provided valuable information that improved the contents of this work. Thanks to Dr Hannah Victoria Fielder for reviewing the Red List assessment and to Dr Joana Magos Brehm for reviewing the gap analysis section as well as commenting on the Red List assessment. Many thanks to CARA Foundation, PoC foundation, Said Foundation, Russell IPM, and the University of Birmingham for the funding. Finally, I would like to offer my profound appreciation to my parents Ali and Fatemiah Zair who supported me during my study. I would like to say thanks to my wife Indre, my brothers Majd, Mulhem and Abdullah and my sister Lama for their support. 4 List of abbreviations CBD: Convention on Biological Diversity CWR: Crop Wild Relative ELC: Ecogeographic Land Characterization FAOSTAT: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations statistical database GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility GIS: Geographic Information System GP: Gene Pool GRIN: Germplasm Resources Information Network IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature SDM: Species Distribution Models TG: Taxon Group 5 Statement This Ph.D. resulted in several publications and a set of papers that have been sent for publication. Publications 1. Zair, W., Maxted, N. & Amri, A. 2017 Setting conservation priorities for crop wild relatives in the Fertile Crescent, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, Springer https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-017-0576-3. 2. Zair, W. 2017. Triticum monococcum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T172116A19398350. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017- 3.RLTS.T172116A19398350.en. 3. Zair, W. & Magos Brehm, J. 2017. Triticum timopheevii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T71786573A71786580. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017- 3.RLTS.T71786573A71786580.en. 4. Zair, W. & Magos Brehm, J. 2017. Triticum turgidum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T71786841A71786853. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017- 3.RLTS.T71786841A71786853.en. 5. Zair, W. & Magos Brehm, J. 2017. Triticum urartu. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T71787307A71787310. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017- 3.RLTS.T71787307A71787310.en. 6. Zair, W. 2016. Cicer bijugum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T98066922A98066943. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T98066922A98066943.en. 7. Zair, W. 2016. Cicer reticulatum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T98067060A98067070. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T98067060A98067070.en. 8. Zair, W. 2016. Cicer pinnatifidum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T98067043A98067046. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T98067043A98067046.en. 6 9. Rhodes, L., Bradley, I., Zair, W. & Maxted, N. 2016. Hordeum bulbosum. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T172092A19410413. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T172092A19410413.en. 10. Rhodes, L., Bradley, I., Zair, W. & Maxted, N. 2016. Avena sterilis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T172204A19395364. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T172204A19395364.en. 11. Rhodes, L., Bradley, I., Zair, W. & Maxted, N. 2016. Avena fatua. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T172049A19394581. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016- 3.RLTS.T172049A19394581.en. Papers sent for publications are: CHAPTER 3: EX-SITU AND IN-SITU CONSERVATION GAP ANALYSIS OF CROP WILD RELATIVE DIVERSITY IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT OF THE MIDDLE EAST CHAPTER 4: PROJECTED CHANGE IN DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF CROP WILD RELATIVES UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT CHAPTER 5: THREAT ASSESSMENT OF CWRs 7 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW Acknowledgment of collaborative work Author contributions: Wathek Zair collected the data. Wathek Zair analysed the data. Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Nigel Maxted, Ahmed Amri and Peter Winn reviewed the manuscript. Wathek Zair edited the chapter. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 8 CHAPTER 2: SETTING CONSERVATION PRIORITIES FOR CROP WILD RELATIVES IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT Acknowledgment of collaborative work Author contributions: Wathek Zair collected the data. Wathek Zair analysed the data. Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Nigel Maxted, Ahmed Amri and Peter Winn reviewed the manuscript. Wathek Zair edited the chapter. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 9 CHAPTER 3: EX-SITU AND IN-SITU CONSERVATION GAP ANALYSIS OF CROP WILD RELATIVE DIVERSITY IN THE FERTILE CRESCENT OF THE MIDDLE EAST Acknowledgment of collaborative work Author contributions: Wathek Zair collected the data. Wathek Zair analysed the data. Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Nigel Maxted, Ahmed Amri, Joana Magos Brehm, Nora P. Castaneda-Alvarez and Peter Winn reviewed the manuscript. Wathek Zair edited the chapter. Wathek Zair collected the data for the CAPFITOGEN section, Mauricio Parra‐Quijano in collaboration with Joana Magos Brehm produced the shapefiles for the CAPFITOGEN section, Wathek Zair wrote the result and conclusion or this section. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 10 CHAPTER 4: PROJECTED CHANGE IN DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF CROP WILD RELATIVES UNDER CLIMATE CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF THE FERTILE CRESCENT Acknowledgment of collaborative work Author contributions: Wathek Zair collected the data. Wathek Zair analysed the data. Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Nigel Maxted, Joana Magos Brehm, Ahmed Amri, and Aremi R. Contreras-Toledo reviewed the manuscript. Wathek Zair edited the chapter. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 11 CHAPTER 5: THREAT ASSESSMENT OF CWRs Acknowledgment of collaborative work Author contributions: Wathek Zair collected the data. Wathek Zair analysed the data. Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Nigel Maxted, Joana Magos Brehm, Ahmed Amri and Peter Winn reviewed the manuscript. Wathek Zair edited the chapter. Ernest Small reviewed the red list assessment for Medicago species in collaboration with Joana Magos Brehm. Wathek Zair edited the assessment based on their reviews. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 12 CHAPTER 6: AN OVERALL SYNTHESIS TO THE THESIS Author contributions: Wathek Zair wrote the chapter. Wathek Zair Date: 06.10/19 Professor Nigel Maxted Date: 06.10/19 13 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW ............................................................................... 21 1.1. Acknowledgment of collaborative