Crop wild relatives and wild harvested plants of Morocco: checklist and priorities for conservation

Abstract

The rich floristic diversity of Morocco, which encompasses approximately 5784 taxa, includes a significant proportion of Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) and Wild Harvested Plants (WHP), which holds immense potential for biodiversity conservation and food security. This study presents a comprehensive inventory of CWR and WHP, developed from the latest floristic data and biodiversity assessments. Taxa were prioritized on multiple criteria, including economic value, potential for crop improvement, conservation status, endemism, inclusion in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and contributions to national diets through dietary energy supply. A systematic scoring framework categorizes taxa into four priority levels to guide conservation efforts. The analysis revealed that 4682 specific and infraspecific taxa (81% of the Moroccan flora), belonging to 152 families and 789 genera, were identified as CWR and/or WHP. They include 3547 taxa classified solely as CWR, 115 as WHP, and 1135 as both. Conservation prioritization highlighted 4596 CWR (98% of total CWR taxa) and 1208 WHP, with high-priority categories encompassing 252 CWR and 36 WHP taxa. These taxa are particularly notable for their adaptive traits to extreme climatic conditions such as drought and salinity, making them invaluable for crop improvement under climate change scenarios. Morocco has emerged as a Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot for CWR and WHP, underscoring its critical role in global genetic resource conservation. The findings advocate for an integrated national conservation strategy, balancing in situ and ex situ approaches to mitigate genetic erosion and habitat degradation. This work supports Morocco's commitments to international biodiversity and food security frameworks, emphasizing the urgency of preserving plant genetic resources for sustainable agriculture and resilience to environmental changes.