Harnessing the power of botanical gardens: Evaluating the costs and resources needed for exceptional plant conservation

Harnessing the power of botanical gardens: Evaluating the costs and resources needed for exceptional plant conservation

Premise The effective ex situ conservation of exceptional plants, whether in living collections or cryo‐collections, requires more resources than the conservation of other species. Because of their expertise with rare plants, botanical gardens are well positioned to lead this effort, but a well‐deve...

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Published in:Applications in plant sciences Vol. 10; no. 5; pp. e11495 - n/a
Main Authors: Philpott, Megan, Pence, Valerie C., Bassüner, Burgund, Clayton, Ashley S., Coffey, Emily E. D., Downing, Jason L., Edwards, Christine E., Folgado, Raquel, Ligon, Jason J., Powell, Christy, Ree, Joseph Francis, Seglias, Alexandra E., Sugii, Nellie, Zale, Peter J., Zeldin, Jacob
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-09-2022
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Wiley
Subjects:
Application
Art galleries & museums
Biodiversity
Biology
botanic garden
Botanical gardens
collaboration
Conservation
Costs
COVID-19
Cryopreservation
Embryos
ex situ
exceptional plant
Flowers & plants
Funding
Gardens & gardening
Grants
Infrastructure
micropropagation
Plant sciences
Propagation
Protocol
Seeds
Species
Wildlife conservation
Atlanta Georgia
California
United States > US
Missouri
micropropagation
exceptional plant
collaboration
cryopreservation
ex situ
botanic garden
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Summary:Premise The effective ex situ conservation of exceptional plants, whether in living collections or cryo‐collections, requires more resources than the conservation of other species. Because of their expertise with rare plants, botanical gardens are well positioned to lead this effort, but a well‐developed strategy requires a clear understanding of the resources needed. Methods Grant funding was obtained from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support a three‐year project on cryobanking, and to provide smaller grants to 10 other botanical gardens for one‐year projects on either (1) seed behavior studies or (2) the development of protocols for in vitro propagation or cryopreservation. Results Nine of the partner gardens worked on 19 species (one was unable to continue due to the COVID‐19 pandemic), while the larger project focused on 14 species. A point system was developed for tasks accomplished, and the average costs per point of the larger and smaller projects were similar. Labor accounted for half the costs. Projects focused on species in the Asteraceae and Orchidaceae had lower costs per point than other species. Discussion Both large and small projects can contribute to a strategy for exceptional plant conservation for similar costs. Prioritizing species with lower costs could help advance the field while allowing time for work on more difficult species to develop.
Bibliography:This article is part of the special issue “Meeting the Challenge of Exceptional Plant Conservation: Technologies and Approaches.”
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ISSN:2168-0450
2168-0450
DOI:10.1002/aps3.11495