César Gómez-Campo

2 Origin and domestication

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the evolutionary origin of the members of Brassica coenospecies. Alloploid species— B. carinata , B. juncea and B. napus —originated multiple natural interspecific hybridizations. Natural hybridizations are always unidirectional as revealed by the studies on Fraction-I protein and cp DNA restriction patterns, which established that B. nigra and B. rapa are the cytoplasmic donors of B. carinata and B. juncea respectively, while in B. napus, there is a slightly altered B. oleracea cytoplasm. The close similarity in cp DNA of diploids and alloploids suggests that alloploids are of recent origin. A survey of rDNA of the allotetraploid species led to propose that B. juncea was the first to evolve and B. napus and B. carinata originated later. This agrees with the delayed entrance of B. oleracea in the agricultural world. Amount of DNA in tetraploids has not changed significantly since their origin, though there has been a reduction in nuclear size, probably because of the higher DNA density resulting from greater condensation of chromosome material. Nuclear DNA composition of alloploid species is closely related to the maternal cytoplasmic donors than to the male parents.

Conservation in Spain, 1980-2000

Abstract After many centuries of exploitation, but still conserving very high levels of biodiversity, Spain finally seems to be fully awake to environmental issues and much on its way to take the necessary steps for recovery. In the last 20 years of the century, many important changes have indeed taken place in the field of nature conservation. These changes are reflected in a steady increase in the number and total surface area of protected ecosystems with increasing attention to their management. There have also been important advances with respect to the protection of flora and fauna through many ex situ or in situ initiatives, and steps taken to protect individual species or communities. The involvement of universities and research institutes has accompanied an increasing level of public conscience which had clearly started to grow by the 1970s. Important changes in legislation (previously non-existent or very obsolete), and the development of proper administrative agencies, have supported this process. It was also during these decades that conservation groups began to take a leading role after their initiation around the end of the 1960s and the sudden multiplication in number of these in the 1970s.

Preservation of West Mediterranean members of the cruciferous tribe brassiceae

Abstract A seed preservation procedure is described whereby small samples are stored in individual glass capsules under anhydrous, anaerobic, and cold conditions. The method is being utilized for setting up a seed-bank of Cruciferae with emphasis on the tribe Brassiceae. This tribe has its maximum variability in the West Mediterranean countries—especially in Morocco, Algeria, and Spain. It includes a number of relatives of important horticultural crops, as well as a high proportion of endangered taxa which occupy small and scattered, relict areas in the region. Moreover, most Brassiceae are good examples of those members of the plant kingdom which are adapted to disturbed or semi-disturbed habitats, and of which protection within ecosystems raises a number of practical difficulties. For these species and lower taxa, gene-banks may play an important complementary role in conservation, as they may simultaneously improve the availability of plant material for research purposes.

Conservation of Iberian endemic plants: The botanical reserve of La Encantada (Villarrobledo, Albacete, Spain)

Abstract Small endemic-rich botanical reserves, such as La Encantada in Villarrobledo (Albacete province, Spain), represent a promising approach to the conservation of the Iberian endemic flora. The uniqueness of the flora in this particular case is analysed, and a new weed association (Ziziphoro acinoidis-Iberidetum crenatae), containing several Iberian endemic species, is described and characterized. Some suggestions on the type of management to be adopted for this reserve and a list of the vascular species occurring there are also presented.

An exploration of wild Brassica oleracea L. germplasm in Northern Spain

An intense exploration of the Spanish Cantabrian coast for the presence or absence of wild Brassica oleracea L., yielded 24 new localities to be added to the 21 previously known. Of the resulting 45 localities, 22 correspond to Asturias, 11 to Cantabria and 12 to the Basque Country. Data on the habitat requirements of this plant have been annotated, the conservation status of each population has been estimated and seed samples have been collected for long-term preservation. As a whole, wild B. oleracea is not threatened in Northern Spain, but some populations and/or sub-populations are at risk either because of their small size or some detectable human impact.