In situ conservation of wild chiles and their biotic associates

Wild congeners of domesticated crops increasingly serve as sources of genes for improving crop cultivars. Although wild congeners have been included i n seed collections for ex situ storage, there has been little work to prote ct populations of these wild species in their natural habitats for in situ conservation We assessed the distribution of chile plants (Capsicum annuum L. var, aviculare [Dierbach] D'Arcy and Eshbaugh) relative to the dominant woody vegetation of one subpopulation in a single drainage in southern Ariz ona U.S.A. Wild chiles were not found in direct son, and the distribution o f chiles under different nurse plants could be a function of random chance, microenvironmental differences under different nurse-plant species, or non random dispersal by chile consumers To examine chile distribution we measur ed the association of wild chiles with nurse-plant species and compared the se associations with the available cover provided by each nurse plant We al so measured the buffering capacity of each nurse-plant species, conducted m ammalian and avian food-preference experiments to determine the taxa disper sing: chiles, and conducted time-budget studies of potential chile dispersa l agents. Wild chiles were not randomly distributed: over 75% were under th e canopies of fleshly-fruited shrubs that collectively made up less than 25 % of the cover We found limited evidence that differences in buffering capa city affected chile distribution. Food-preference experiments suggested tha t birds are the only effective dispersal agents, and the time budgets of th ree common bird species were strongly correlated with chile plant distribut ion These results lend support for directed dispersal by avian consumers. T he distribution of chiles appears to tie a function of interactions between consumers, nurse plants, and The secondary chemicals in the chiles themsel ves. Only through studies of in situ populations can we understand the inte ractions that sustain both wild-crop relatives and the genetic variability essential to future crop management.