ChAMPION - Chamaerops humilis reference genome sequencing for Active conservation of an endemic Mediterranean Palm Including analyses Of biotic interactions Network

Today biodiversity and habitat loss are the most serious environmental threats worldwide. Anthropogenic activity and climate changes are rapidly depleting the global natural capital, cracking the stability of habitats through fragmentation and exposing species to unpredictable risk of extinction. In the most modern and innovative active conservation strategy for species and habitats, in-depth knowledge of the genetic profile of the species is indispensable to build the biological, ecophysiological, evolutionary, and coevolutionary studies needed to actively conserve specific diversity at all levels. With the ChAMPION project, an innovative approach to active conservation of plant species is proposed and applied to Chamaerops humilis L., the Mediterranean endemic dwarf palm. The approach is carried out adding new knowledge by sequencing the species reference genome combining avant-garde sequencing techniques, and by studying and correlating the main drivers of erosion and conservation of natural plant populations. The concept proposed in ChAMPION will be fundamental to go beyond the classical population genetics approach and for the full understanding of species adaptations and vulnerabilities. ChAMPION aims to study Chamaerops humilis L., one of the most representative and distinctive species characterizing the biodiversity hotspot represented by the Mediterranean. The dwarf palm is the most relevant biogeographic plant element in the Mediterranean, being the only species of its genus and the most widespread of the only two palms in the native range. It is an example of endemism developed and rooted in a peculiar niche such as the Mediterranean, characterizing the habitats therein, and finding its maximum expression on the Italian territory. Although C. humilis is not currently an endangered species according to the IUCN, considering its biological cycle, environmental and anthropogenic pressures pose a serious risk to it. So it is vitally important working on the knowledge base necessary to preserve the species. Habitat fragmentation, depression of gene flow, inbreeding, the disappearance of pollinators, and the swarming of new pathogens such as the red boll weevil will be the main candidates for the disappearance of this species if an active and preventive conservation strategy is not implemented, which we believe is only achievable with the knowledge that ChAMPION aims to obtain. The innovative approach proposed in ChAMPION involves a different scale of study and observation, moving from landscape analysis to sequencing the genome, investigating and assessing the reproductive biotic interactions established in the natural habitat: pollination and dissemination. ChAMPION's approach can provide the right impetus for active conservation of plant species, setting itself as a best practice to be applied to all species in need of protection, in the Mediterranean and around the world.