Special Issue "Appraisal of Approaches for the Management of Biodiversity and Life Support Systems"

Guest Editor
Dr. Angela Dikou
College of Science and Mathematics, University of the Virigin Islands, #2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas, VI 00802-9990, USA
Website: http://www.uvi.edu/sites/uvi/Pages/DSM-MMES-Faculty-Profiles.aspx#AngelaDikou
E-Mail: adikou@uvi.edu
Phone: +1 340 693 1457
Fax: +1 340 693 1245
Interests: coral reef and coastal wetlands ecology and management; marine resource management (fisheries, protected areas)

Dear Colleagues,

The diversity of environmental and natural resource management projects to reduce human footprint calls for geographic, contextual, and substantive comparisons. The journal Diversity invites multidisciplinary research, review and case-study articles under the Special Issue of "Appraisal of approaches for the management of biodiversity and life support systems". The work should be evaluating outcomes of paradigms, approaches, initiatives and tools for the management of biodiversity, whole ecosystems, ecosystem components and services in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and/or equity. Contributions that integrate ecology, economics and/or social sciences are particularly encouraged. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, restoration, spatial planning, protected areas, co-management and adaptive management, mitigation of climate change impacts, valuation, and policy tools. Deadline for the submission of contributions is 1st September 2012.

Dr. Angela Dikou
Guest Editor

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 500 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Linking In Situ And Ex Situ Data of Forage Grass Accessions in a Database Inventory – Creating a Basis for Crop Wild Relative Management
Authors: Boller Beat ¹, B. Schierscher-Viret.² and C. Koehler
Affiliation: ¹ Fodder Crop Breeding, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zürich, Switzerland; E-Mail:  beat.boller@art.admin.ch
² Arable Crop Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil ACW, CH-1260 Nyon 1, Switzerland; E-Mail: beate.schierscher@acw.admin.ch
³ Commission suisse pour la conservation des plantes cultivées, CPC-SKEK,  Domaine de Changins, CP 1012, CH-1260 Nyon 1, Switzerland ; E-Mail: christoph.koehler@cpc-skek.ch
Abstract : Spontaneous grasses and clovers growing in permanent grassland can be considered crop wild relatives since, although belonging to the same species as cultivated forages, they have developed with only moderate human interference and without deliberate breeding efforts. Several ex situ investigations carried out with accessions of forage grass species collected at well characterized permanent grassland sites pointed to a high genetic variation both within and among collecting sites, and suggested that preserving diverse habitats increases the chances to retrieve extreme trait values. A concept for in situ conservation of forages was developed. It aims at preserving the diversity of natural habitats by protecting a range of plant alliances. The basic assumption of the concept is that a typical plant alliance develops under the influence of a complexity of site factors which will not only affect species composition but also genetic composition of local populations of a particular forage species. Therefore, grassland plant alliance and biogeographic region were basic criteria for the choice of sites to be inventorized. The biogeographic region „Northern Foothills of the Alps“ was investigated in a pilot project. Further data from other regions were added from previous ex situ studies. A database was developed to allocate vegetation and site characterization data, as well as enabling a link to accessions collected at these sites and characterized ex situ. Vegetation, site and plant characterization data of a pilot project were made available online. This database will serve as a basis to manage in situ conserved forage plants.