How well ex situ living collections capture the genetic variation of their wild-source populations,is an efficient indicator for assessing the success of ex situ conservation. Here, we explore theorigins and genetic representation of multiple species’ ex situ living collections that have beenestablished for 20–35 years. We only sampled the potential wild-source populations, which coverparts of the focal species’ natural distribution ranges. Using microsatellite loci, we compared thegenetic diversity between ex situ and wild populations, and verified the wild-source populationsof ex situ living collections for five endangered tree species (i.e., Davidia involucrata, Dipteroniasinensis, Tetracentron sinense, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, and Tapiscia sinensis). We found that the
genetic diversity of ex situ populations is comparable to their wild-source populations for all fiveplant species. We detected weak genetic structure among ex situ and wild-source populations foreach species. Our results suggested that ex situ living plant collections may have comparablegenetic diversity compared with their corresponding wild-source populations. We recommendthat additional ex situ collections from different maternal lines across ex situ institutions or thedistribution range of the target species would contribute to high level of genetic representation ofex situ populations, and (2) complete collection records and optimal sampling strategies arerequired for effective ex situ plant conservation
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