Exploration and Field Collection

Abstract

In recent years the limited resources available for conservation and the consequent need to improve the efficiency of field programmes has led germplasm collectors to adopt a more objective, scientific approach to plant genetic resource sampling. This need is highlighted in Article 8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992). The precise goal of the collecting expedition (e.g. which target taxon is selected, are seed or tubers to be collected, how is the collected material to be used) may affect the actual method of collection. There is also a difference in emphasis between the strategy followed during a general botanical as opposed to a genetic resources collecting expedition. The latter will adopt a much more thorough approach to sampling germplasm which reflects the full range of genetic variation found in the target taxon. Thus, ideally the samples collected should contain as good a sample as possible of the full range of alleles found in the gene pool. Marshall and Brown (1975) suggested that the need is to collect the ′maximum diversity for the minimum number of samples′; primarily the conservation goal is to collect population samples (as opposed to single plant samples), which are necessary for population genetic studies (see Hawkes, 1980).