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The wild relatives of crops play a critical role in enhancing agricultural resilience and sustainability by contributing valuable traits for crop improvement. Shifts in climatic conditions and human activities threaten plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), jeopardizing contributions to future food production and security. Studies and inventories of the extant agrobiodiversity, in terms of numbers and distribution patterns of species and their genetic diversity, are primordial for developing effective and comprehensive conservation strategies. We conducted an ecogeographic study on Ipomoea species and assessed their diversity, distribution, and ecological preferences across different topographic, altitudinal, geographical, and climatic gradients, at a total of 450 sites across Mauritius. Species distribution maps overlaid with climatic data highlighted specific ecological distribution. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed species distribution was influenced by geographical factors. Regional richness analyses indicated varying densities, with some species exhibiting localized distributions and specific ecological preferences while the other species showed diverse distribution patterns. Field surveys identified 14 species and 2 subspecies out of 21 species and 2 subspecies of Ipomoea reported in Mauritius. A gap in ex situ germplasm collections was observed and several species were identified as threatened. Further investigations and a more long-term monitoring effort to better guide conservation decisions are proposed.

The diversity of plants, animals and microorganisms that directly or indirectly support food and agriculture is critical to achieving healthy diets and agroecosystems. Here we present the Agrobiodiversity Index (based on 22 indicators), which provides a monitoring framework and informs food systems policy. Agrobiodiversity Index calculations for 80 countries reveal a moderate mean agrobiodiversity status score (56.0 out of 100), a moderate mean agrobiodiversity action score (47.8 out of 100) and a low mean agrobiodiversity commitment score (21.4 out of 100), indicating that much stronger commitments and concrete actions are needed to enhance agrobiodiversity across the food system. Mean agrobiodiversity status scores in consumption and conservation are 14-82% higher in developed countries than in developing countries, while scores in production are consistently low across least developed, developing and developed countries. We also found an absence of globally consistent data for several important components of agrobiodiversity, including varietal, functional and underutilized species diversity., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)