Terms that I use in my writings which may be useful

I was over wondering around the Native Seeds/SEARCH web-site earlier and came accross a list of terms and definitions that I thought might be useful to know while reading my blogs, articles, and research papers, I thought it would be nice to post those here for folks that aren't aquainted with the lingo of farmers and plant breeders.



Accession: Plant sample, strain or population held in a genebank or breeding program for conservation or use.

Biodiversity: The total variability within and among species of all living organisms and their habitats.

Ex Situ Conservation Conservation of a plant outside of its original or natural habitat.

Genebank: Facility where germplasm is stored in the form of seeds, pollen, etc., or in the case of a field genebank, as plants growing in the field.
Gene Pool: All the genes and their different alleles present in an interbreeding population.

Genetic Diversity: The genetic variation present in a population or species.
Genetic Erosion: Loss of genetic diversity between and within populations of the same species over time or reduction of the genetic base of a species due to human intervention, environmental changes, etc.

Genetic Resources: Genetic material of plants, animals, and other organisms which is of value as a resource for present and future generations.
Genotype: 1) The genetic constitution of an organism. 2) A group of organisms with similar genetic constitutions.
Germplasm: A set of genotypes that may be conserved or used, e.g. seeds, clones, pollen.

In situ Conservation: Conservation of plants or animals in areas where they developed their distinctive properties, i.e. in the wild or in farmers' fields.
Indigenous/ local knowledge: Knowledge that develops in a particular area and accumulates over time through being handed down from generation to generation.
Landraces: Farmer-developed varieties of crop plants that are adopted to local environmental conditions.

Plant genetic resources: The genetic material of plants, which determines their characteristics and hence their ability to adapt and survive.
Regeneration: The growing out of a sample from an accession to replenish the original accession's viability.

Wild relative: A non-cultivated species which is more or less closely related to a crop species (usually in the same genus). It is not normally used for agriculture but can occur in agro-ecosystems (e.g. as a weed or a component of pasture or grazing lands).