Conservation status assessment of banana crop wild relatives using species distribution modelling

Aim: Crop wild relatives (CWR) are an essential source of genetic material
for the improvement of certain traits in related crop species. Despite
their importance, increasing public, scientific and political support,
large gaps exist in the amount of genetic material collected and conserved
of many CWR. Here, we construct a dataset on the distribution of wild
banana species (Musa spp.) and assess their risk and conservation status.
We deal with the questions (1) what areas are potentially suitable for
wild banana species (2) how much of the wild banana diversity is currently
at risk or insufficiently conserved ex- and in-situ. Location: Native
distribution area of wild banana species, ranging from the northeastern
states of India to northeastern Australia. Methods: We assessed the
potential environmental range of wild species using a species distribution
modelling approach with MaxEnt. Extinction risk was evaluated following
IUCN criterion B and the ex- and in-situ conservation status was assessed
using an indicator for biodiversity and sustainable development targets.
Results: We found that 11 out of 59 assessed species can be considered as
vulnerable and nine as endangered. Highest species richness was found
along the border of south China and northern Vietnam, in the northeastern
states of India and on the Malayan peninsula. Our distribution modelling
approach indicates that the northern Indo-Burmese region has the highest
environmental suitability for most wild banana species and that lowland
rainforests in general are highly suitable for bananas. Assessment of in-
and ex-situ conservation status indicates that 56 out of 59 assessed
species are currently insufficiently conserved ex-situ and that 49 are of
high priority for further conservation. Additional in-situ conservation is
of high priority for six species and of medium priority for 40 species.
Main Conclusions: To date, little of the banana CWR are sufficiently
conserved both in- and ex-situ.