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Plantation forestry owes its success to biodiversity and must play a role in conserving it by Soekotjo, Oemi Hani’in Suseno and Bart A. Thielges

IN 1998, took an important step in the conservation of tropical tree species by funding project ‘Ex situ conservation of Shorea leprosula and Lophopetalum multinervium’. Conducted by the Faculty of Forestry at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta in cooperation with the Government of Indonesia, the state-owned forest companies (PT Inhutani I–V) and Oregon State University in the United States, this project aims to: ) avert declines in the genetic variability of indigenous timber tree species Shorea leprosula (red meranti) and Lophopetalum multinervium (perupuk) and ) plan and implement ex situ conservation plantations of these two endangered species for use in future genetic improvement programs. Both species are of major economic importance; S. leprosula, in particular, is the most important commercial tropical species traded in the international market.A third activity of the project was to plan, organise and sponsor a major international conference on in situ and ex situ conservation of commercial tropical trees. is conference was duly held last June in Yogyakarta on the campus of Gadjah Mada University; it was attended by over  people from ten nations and featured more than  invited and voluntary papers and also a number of poster presentations.

is article summarises the results of the conference and emphasises the relationships between genetic resource conservation, plantation forestry and sustainable forest management.

Why genetic conservation?

Ultimately, the sustainability of a given ecosystem depends upon the maintenance of diverse and healthy gene pools of the organisms that constitute it. Since dominant forest tree species are oen the ‘keystone species’ for maintaining biodiversity in tropical forests, the conservation and maintenance of their genetic diversity assumes paramount importance for conservationists and forest managers alike.

Also important is the need to preserve wild-type gene pools for domestication in plantations; having a diverse gene pool from which to select will help in the search for varieties that are resistant to pathogens, pests and environmental pollutants and have high growth rates and good wood qualities. For example, the huge diversity within and between eucalypt species has greatly assisted the establishment of highly productive plantations in Brazil.

Lessons can be learnt from the agricultural experience: the genetic identities of almost all modern domesticated crop species are now quite different from those of their wild progenitors. Indeed, in many cases, those ancestral species no longer exist, severely limiting the improvements that can be made. The importance of maintaining a broad and viable genetic base, therefore, is an accepted principle among forest scientists and managers alike. But, of course, the real challenge is to successfully put that principle into practice so that there is an appropriate balance between conservation and sustainable production.

Ex situ vs in situ conservation

Ex situ conservation is the conservation outside its natural habitat of a species’ genetic diversity; it can certainly play an important role in guarding against biodiversity loss. Botanical gardens, arboreta, seed orchards and banks, clonal banks, common gardens, provenance tests, progeny tests and, more recently,  libraries are all examples of ex situ genetic conservation. Even some commercial forest plantations—certainly those established with seedlings derived from a relatively broad genetic base—represent a type of ex situ conservation, one that is especially important for species with rare or endangered natural populations. However, all but the most insular of breeders will acknowledge that such ex situ practices, while important, are only ‘back-ups’ or vehicles for research convenience: in situ conservation—conservation of a species and its genetic diversity within natural reserves—is needed to successfully conserve wild gene pools of tree species on a long-term basis. Importantly, only natural conservation areas of adequate size and appropriate distribution and management provide the needed elements of intra- and inter-specific competition and natural selection that drive evolutionary processes (which in turn begets diversity). Moreover, in situ conservation areas serve as both a reference point and source of materials in the design and implementation of reintroductions and ecological restoration projects. Speakers at the Yogyakarta conference observed that in situ and ex situ conservation strategies for a species should be complementary. One or both may be necessary to conserve a particular species or population.