Towards the establishment of genetic reserves for key crop wild relatives in Lebanon: Analysis of strategies across diverse ecogeographical landscapes

This study aims to identify best areas for the establishment of a genetic reserves network in Lebanon to achieve the in situ conservation of 35 targeted CWR taxa belonging to Aegilops L., Triticum L., Avena L., Hordeum L., Cicer L., Lens Mill. and Pisum L. CWR occurrence were analysed taking advantage of the CAPFITOGEN3 toolbox. A generalist Ecogeographical Land Characterization map (ELC-map) was generated the combination of CWR taxon populations with each defined ELC category (namely “CWR-Eco unit”) was then identified and considered as main conservation target. Two different complementarity analyses were performed to identify the minimum number of sites required to conserve the maximum number of CWR-Eco units inside and outside protected areas. The gap existing in ex situ conservation of the target CWR diversity was estimated by comparing the unique CWR-Eco units conserved in genebanks with those occurring in the wild. A total of 24 ELC categories were defined for Lebanon harboring 253 different CWR-Eco units from a total of 1460 CWR populations. According to complementary analysis results, 22.2% of the considered protected areas harbor populations of 18 target CWR taxa (51.4% of the total). A network of 79 cells (5×5 km each) is required for the conservation of the whole predicted diversity of taxa not included in the 6 identified protected areas. A total of 215 CWR-Eco units (85.0% of the total) are covered by ex situ conserved material.