Abstract:

Endemic and rare plants are at the foremost of a country’s plant genetic resource richness. The rich genetic resources of the country have a strategic importance due to their economic, social and cultural values. It is of great importance for Turkey to protect plant genetic resources and to transform them into economic value by ensuring their sustainable use for current and future generations. This study was carried out between 2014-2018 for the collection and ex situ conservation of endemic, rare and endangered plant species in İzmir Province. As a result of the field studies, it was determined that 188 of the collected specimens were the target species taxa of the study. Overall, 115 out of 188 specimens are endemic, 48 are type samples which are only found in Turkey, 13 are rare and 12 are neither endemic nor rare but categorized as endangered according to IUCN criteria. The conservation status of the taxa found as a result of the field studies were also determined according to IUCN criteria. Among these taxa 1 is in the Extinct in the Wild (EW) category, 6 are in the Critically (CR), 19 are in the Endangered (EN), 36 are in the Vulnerable (VU), 9 are in the Conservation Dependent (CD), 50 are in the Least Concern (LC), 14 are in the Near Threatened (NT) and 3 are in the Data Deficient (DD) categories. While herbarium specimens were taken from 188 of the target species, seed material was taken from 75 of them. The collected herbarium samples were kept at the AARI Herbarium (IZ) and the seed material were kept National Seed Gene Bank at AARI. The results of this study are important allowing for our endemic and rare plants to be well known, protected, and reproduced and to contribute to the economy.

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