This edited book deals with plant genetic resources and their status, availability, and ecological niche in natural habitat. Usage and conservation practices followed by various tribal communities and their rationale are also discussed in the book. The book explores application of biological tools to conserve plant species and optimization protocols for conservation and elicitation of secondary metabolites and other value addition products. The book is organized into sub-themes covering:
(i) Ecological status of plant genetic resources
(ii) Traditional ethnobotanical knowledge and conservation practices
(iii) Ex-situ conservation practices and bioprospecting
Globally, plant genetic resources are deeply rooted in culture and economy. Since the early 1990s, the changing socio-economic situation has increasingly put pressure on plant genetic resources, in some cases leading to a severe loss of their diversity. For this reason, most vulnerable areas at risk of genetic erosion have been demarcated and protected by forest laws and regulations. Therefore, this book brings to light the opinions of leading experts in the area of ecology, conservation biodiversity, ethanobotany, and bioprospecting of plant genetic resources.
The book is for use by graduate and advanced undergraduate students and researchers in plant physiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and agriculture. Additionally, it is extremely useful as a general reference on conservation of flora and large-scale cultivation.
Dr. Siva Ramamoorthy is Professor of Biotechnology at Vellore Institute of Technology, India. His PhD thesis was on
plant genetic diversity, which was completed at Bharathidasan University, India. He completed postdoctoral research at Ben Gurion University (Israel) and Gyeongsang National University (South Korea). For around two decades, he has carried out extensive research on plant dyes and pigments. Dr. Siva is an IUCN species commission member for medicinal plants. He was nominated as Fellow of Linnean Society (FLS), Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), and he has published around 150 manuscripts in reputed journals with high impact factor. He has received many awards for his research contribution. He is the associate editor of
BMC Plant Biology and
BMC Biotechnology, and academic editor of
PLoS One and
Peer J. Dr. Siva has been recognized as one among the top 2% scientists of the world as per survey of Stanford University and Mendeley.
Dr. Inocencio E Buot Jr is Professor of Botany and curator in the Plant Biology Division Herbarium (PBDH) and current head of the Plant Systematics Laboratory at the Institute of Biological Sciences (IBS), a Center of Excellence for Biology since 1984, University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). He obtained his PhD in botany (ecology) from the University of Chiba, Japan, in 1998 through a Monbusho Scholarship of the Japan Government and a postdoctoral research training in landscape ecology from 2003–2005 through the auspices of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). His laboratory is now focusing on biodiversity conservation and plant systematic studies. He has published more than 150 articles in journals. He has received many prestigious awards for his research contribution.
Dr. Rajasekaran Chandrasekaran is serving as a full-time professor in the Department of Biotechnology, Vellore Institute of Technology. He graduated in botany at the University of Madras and Annamalai University. His obtained his doctoral degree from H.N. B. Grahwal University, specified with eco plant physiology. His research focuses on ecophysiology, conservation biodiversity, bioprospecting of medicinal and aromatic plants, phycoremediation, and climate change indicators. He has authored 77 manuscripts in high-impact factor journals and edited 3 books and contributed 22 book chapters. He has been nominated as a Fellow of Linnean Society (FLS), London, and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK), Fellow of Indian Society for Plant Physiology (FISPP) Fellow of Academy of Sciences Chennai (FASCh). He is serving as commission member of many theme groups of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is the recipient of many awards.
