Current status of global conservation and characterisation of wild and cultivated Brassicaceae genetic resources.

Background: The economic importance of the globally distributed Brassicaceae family resides in the large diversity of crops within the family and the substantial variety of agronomic and functional traits they possess. We reviewed the current classifications of crop wild relatives (CWRs) in the Brassicaceae family with the aim of identifying new potential cross-compatible species from a total of 1,242 species using phylogenetic approaches.

Results: In general, cross-compatibility data between wild species and crops, as well as phenotype and genotype characterisation data, were available for major crops but very limited for minor crops, restricting the identification of new potential CWRs.

Fire-mediated germination syndromes in Leucadendron (Proteaceae) and their functional correlates.

A mechanistic understanding of fire-driven seedling recruitment is essential for effective conservation management of fire-prone vegetation, such as South African fynbos, especially with rare and threatened taxa. The genus Leucadendron (Proteaceae) is an ideal candidate for comparative germination studies, comprising 85 species with a mixture of contrasting life-history traits (killed by fire vs able to resprout; serotinous vs geosporous) and seed morphologies (nutlets vs winged achenes). Individual and combined effects of heat and smoke on seed germination of 40 species were quantified in the laboratory, and Bayesian inference applied to distinguish biologically meaningful treatment effects from non-zero, but biologically trivial, effects.