Regional responsibility for plant conservation: The 2010 GSPC Target 8 in Sardinia

Abstract

The collections stored at the Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR) were analysed to verify if setting conservation priorities on the exclusive endemic flora of Sardinia (Italy) would make it possible to reach the 2010 GSPC Target 8. By 2010, 39.9% of the exclusive-endemics of Sardinia, 43.1% of the BGCI European threatened species and 65.0% of the taxa listed in Annex II of DIR 92/43/EEC present on the island had been stored in BG-SAR. Of the stored plants, 40% of those listed in the DIR 92/43/EEC, and only 25.69% of the BGCI threatened plants are represented by an adequate number of populations. For a few of the stored threatened plants (ca. 36%), and for 60% of the DIR 92/43/EEC ones, at least one seedlot with more than 5000 seeds is available. These data indicate that focusing on exclusive endemics gave a substantial, although not decisive, contribution towards the achievement of the 2010 GSPC Target 8 in Sardinia, and that more efforts are needed to guarantee the effective long-term conservation of these threatened taxa with the aim of reaching the 2020 GSPC target.

Keywords:

• Endemics
• ex situ conservation
• IUCN
• Mediterranean hotspot
• seed banking

Acknowledgements

The Sardinian Germplasm Bank is supported by the “Provincia di Cagliari – Assessorato Tutela Ambiente” and the Millenium Seed Bank Partnership, Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. This research was funded by the “Regione Autonoma della Sardegna - Assessorato Difesa Ambiente” and the PRIN 2007JNJ7MX_002 project. The support of the BG-SAR staff is gratefully acknowledged.