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All conservation activities involve the collection and analysis of ecogeographic data.

Example: Planning Collecting Missions

Ecogeographic surveys or studies are particularly useful when planning collecting missions:

To identify target species/populations, collecting areas and habitats

Resources available for germplasm collecting are always limited and as a result the most efficient use must be made of them. Therefore, each collecting mission should have a clearly defined set of target taxa, target areas and target habitats. One way to define these targets is to undertake an ecogeographic study or survey prior to the mission. This is particularly true for wild species as much time can be wasted if the habitat preferences or geographical distribution of the target species are not known prior to the start of the collecting mission.

To predict where a species may be located

The locations inhabited by each plant species or population are defined by particular sets of environmental and geographical conditions. By knowing what these conditions are, one can predict where a species may be located. The ecogeographic passport data associated with herbarium specimens and germplasm accessions can be used to decide what the set of environmental conditions are likely to be. Moreover, a combination of ecological and geographical passport data from historical collections provides evidence that can be used to predict where species may be currently located.


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