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Ex situ conservation of plant diversity
in the Mediterranean islands:
the role of the Sardinian
Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR)
Marco Porceddu, Andrea Santo, Rosangela Picciau,
Valentina Murru & Gianluigi Bacchetta
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente,
Università degli Studi di Cagliari. Viale Sant’Ignazio da Laconi, 11-13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy.
E-mail: bg-sar@unica.it; ccb@unica.it
Sardinia is the second-largest island (after Sicily) in the Mediterranean Sea and it is situated in
the western part of the Basin. Its isolation and high geological and geomorphological diversity
have contributed to create a wide range of habitats, with high levels of endemism, especially on
its mountain massifs, where conditions of ecological insularity occur (Médail & Quézel, 1997;
Bacchetta et al., 2012).
taxa to
taxa has raised
approximately up to 3000 (Bacchetta et al., unpublished data). Bacchetta et al. (2005) have listed
347 endemic taxa, with 45.8% of exclusive Sardinian endemics. Several taxa of the Sardinian
and other catalogues of protection (Pontecorvo, 2009).
The Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR) is part of the Centre for the Conservation of
main objective is the conservation, study and management of germplasm of Sardinian endemic,
threatened and policy species inserted in the Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC, CITES and Bern
convention (Mattana et al., 2012; Fenu et al., 2015). BG-SAR participates in international
seed conservation consortia, such as the European Native Seed Conservation Network
(ENSCONET; http://ensconet.maich.gr), the Network of Mediterranean plant conservation
centres (GENMEDA; www.genmeda.org) and, at national level, it is a founding member of the
Italian Network of Germplasm Banks for the Ex Situ Conservation of Native Flora (RIBES; www.
reteribes.it).
BG-SAR takes part in consortia created ad hoc for international projects, such as ‘Ensuring
the survival of endangered island plants in the Mediterranean’ (funded by the MAVA Foundation;
Porceddu M., Santo A., Picciau R., Murru V. & Bacchetta G., 2015. Ex situ conservation of plant diversity in the Mediterranean islands: the role of
the Sardinian Germplasm Bank (BG-SAR). In: Mariotti M. & Magrini S. (Eds.), Conservation of threatened species: activities and collaborations
within the network. RIBES Series 1: 27-30.
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www.medislandplant.eu) and ECOPLANTMED ‘Ecological use of native plants for environmental
restoration and sustainable development in the Mediterranean region’ (funded by the European
Community ENPI CBC Med Programme; http://ecoplantmed.eu). Moreover, a memorandum of
collaboration (MoC) is active from 2006 with the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew (UK) in order to
duplicate seed lots of endangered and endemic Sardinian taxa.
Every year, the BG-SAR publishes the Index Seminum (www.ccb-sardegna.it), the catalogue
To date, BG-SAR preserved approximately 2,500 seed lots (see in Fig. 2 the base collection
at the BG-SAR) of which ca. 210 belonging to exclusive endemics of Sardinia and ca. 60 listed
in the Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC. Since 2006, BG-SAR sent 225 taxa for the MoC and 200
taxa for the ‘Ensuring the survival of endangered island plants in the Mediterranean’ projects as
duplicates to Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew in order to ensure the survival of endangered plants
in the Mediterranean islands.
The duplication of the seed collections involves also other research centres and germplasm
banks, such as the University of Catania, Pisa, Roma and Palermo, all of them members of the
RIBES network, the Centro para la Investigación y Experimentación Forestal (CIEF) of Valencia,
Islands) in Spain, and the Mediterranean Plant Conservation Unit of MAICh (Mediterranean
Agronomic Institute of Chania) in Greece.
To evaluate the viability of the stored seed lots and to deepen studies on germination ecology
of endangered species, germination tests are steadily conducted from 2006 to date, with
particular focus on Sardinian exclusive endemics and policy plant species.
FIGURE 1. The CCB Team
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The cooperation among germplasm banks of different regions and countries, as well as the
duplication of the seed collections of various research institutes, is a valid method for a greater
and more effective ex situ conservation and it will allow in the next future to increase the number
of taxa effectively protected.
References
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FIGURE 2. Base collection at -25°C
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