4.4 Implications for conservation
Wild plants with extremely small populations are usually highly inbred.
The characteristics of low transmission diversity and high frequency of
genetic drift need to be confirmed. Genetic rescue increases genetic
diversity, improves fitness, and enhances adaptation to maintain the
species’ long-term survival (Sun et al., 2021).
Instead
of increasing the number of surviving individuals by collecting inbred
seeds or asexual cuttings of C. hainanense , researchers should
focus on designing artificial hybridization strategies to reduce inbred
offspring. One of the measures to protect the C. hainanensepopulation is to set up multiple protection sites to protect natural
populations and their surrounding habitats. The second is to strengthen
the gene flow between populations, such as constructing artificial
ex-situ protection populations that should be obtained from as many
different populations as possible. During ex-situ conservation, the
exchange of seeds and seedlings between populations should be increased
to create conditions for gene exchange and recombination artificially.