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Journal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Volume 11 • Number 2 • July 2014
Botanic gardens: Using databases to support plantconservation
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)01
BGjournal is published by Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational (BGCI). It is published twice a year and is sentto all BGCI members. Membership is open to all interestedindividuals, institutions and organisations that support theaims of BGCI (see inside back cover for Membershipapplication form).
Further details available from:
• Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Descanso House, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3BW UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5953, Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5956 E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.org
• BGCI-Russia, c/o Main Botanical Gardens, Botanicheskaya st., 4, Moscow 127276, Russia. Tel: +7 (095) 219 6160 / 5377, Fax: +7 (095) 218 0525, E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.org/russia
• BGCI-Netherlands, c/o Delft University of TechnologyJulianalaan 67, NL-2628 BC Delft, NetherlandsTel: +31 15 278 4714 Fax: +31 15 278 2355E-mail: [email protected]
• BGCI-Canarias, c/o Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Clavijo,Apartado de Correos 14, Tafira Alta 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Spain. Tel: +34 928 21 95 80/82/83, Fax: +34 928 21 95 81, E-mail: [email protected]
• BGCI-China, 723 Xingke Rd., Guangzhou 510650 China.Tel:(86)20-37252692. email: [email protected]/china
• BGCI-Colombia, c/o Jardín Botánico de Bogotá, Jose Celestino Mutis, Av. No. 61-13 – A.A. 59887, Santa Fe de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. Tel: +57 630 0949, Fax: +57 630 5075, E-mail: [email protected],www.humboldt.org.co/jardinesdecolombia/html/la_red.htm
• BGCI(US) Inc, c/o Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois 60022, USA.E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.org/usa
BGCI is a worldwide membership organisation established in1987. Its mission is to mobilise botanic gardens and engagepartners in securing plant diversity for the well-being ofpeople and the planet. BGCI is an independent organisationregistered in the United Kingdom as a charity (Charity Reg No1098834) and a company limited by guarantee, No 4673175.BGCI is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation in theUSA and is a registered non-profit organisation in Russia.
Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarilyreflect the views of the Boards or staff of BGCI or of itsmembers
Suzanne SharrockDirector of GlobalProgrammes
EDITORS
Sara OldfieldSecretary General
Volume 11 • Number 2
Cover Photo: Examining herbarium specimens in Curitibaherbarium, Brazil (Michael Willian / SMCS)
Design: Seascape www.seascapedesign.co.uk
EDITORIAL BOTANIC GARDENS AND DATABASES Sara Oldfield
NETWORKING BOTANIC GARDENS FOR CONSERVATION THE ROLE OF BGCI’S DATABASES Suzanne Sharrock and Abby Hird
THE EVOLUTION OF LIVING COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT TO SUPPORT PLANT CONSERVATION Andrew Wyatt and Rebecca Sucher
INTEGRATED BOTANICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS – THE AUSTRALIAN SEED BANK ONLINE Lucy Sutherland
USING GIS TO LEVERAGE PLANT COLLECTIONS DATA FORCONSERVATION Ericka Witcher
“CHAPERONED” MANAGED RELOCATION Adam B. Smith,Matthew A. Albrecht and Abby Hird
CULTIVATING BITS AND BYTES Eduardo Dalcin
A GLOBAL SURVEY OF LIVING COLLECTIONS Dave Aplin
CULTIVAR CONSERVATION IN THE UK Kalani Seymour andSophie Leguil
CLICK & GO 02
CLICK & GO 03
CLICK & GO 07
CLICK & GO 11
CLICK & GO 15
CLICK & GO 19
CLICK & GO 23
CLICK & GO 26
CLICK & GO 30
What is a botanic garden? This is aquestion that we are often asked at BGCI.The defining feature of a botanic garden isthe maintenance of documentedcollections of plant species. Nowadaysthe collection records are generallycomputerised in database systemsdesigned to support collectionmanagement, research, conservation andeducation. This issue of BGJournalfocuses on the uses of databases withinthe botanic garden community andbeyond. As noted by Ericka Witcher andMichael Calonje on p15 “Rigorous datastewardship combined with spatialinterpretations and analyses can supportthe spectrum of plant conservation efforts,from discovery to restoration, adding tothe legacy of botanical collections handeddown to us and preserving them for thefuture”.
From the very outset, maintaining data onthe plants grown in botanic gardens, hasbeen a core activity of BGCI. Emphasishas been placed on recording speciesthat are rare and threatened, as far aspossible in line with the IUCN Red List
as safeguarding rare and threatenedspecies. The Australian Seed Bank Onlineis an information sharing hub connectedto the Atlas of Living Australia which is inturn a node of the Global BiodiversityInformation Facility (GBIF).
With changing climatic conditions,restoration of the populations ofthreatened species and of speciesassemblages needs to take into accounttheir climatic envelopes – areas of suitableclimate where species can grow, possiblyoutside their traditional range. The use ofbotanic gardens in “chaperoned”managed relocation is described by AdamSmith, Matthew Albrecht and Abby Hird.Well maintained records of themovements of plants between gardensalong a climatic gradient will be essentialin this process.
The skills of botanic gardens inconservation, research, ecologicalrestoration, invasive species control and arange of other attributes are recorded inBGCI’s GardenSearch database. Theonline PlantSearch and GardenSearchdatabases are described by SuzanneSharrock and Abby Hird on p3. BGCI ismost grateful to all the botanic gardensand related institutions who provide datafor these databases. We are constantlytrying to improve the databases for thebenefit of botanic gardens worldwide andwe welcome your suggestions on otherfeatures we might consider. Please shareyour ideas with us!
Sara OldfieldSecretary General, Botanic GardensConservation International
Categories and Criteria. Ex situconservation is clearly a vital role playedby botanic gardens and BGCI’sPlantSearch database records globalprogress comparing collection data withthe IUCN Red List.
Increasingly botanic gardens arebecoming involved in ecologicalrestoration. The Missouri BotanicalGarden hosted an excellent publicsymposium on this topic on 16 July. As described by Andrew Wyatt andRebecca Sucher of the Missouri BotanicalGarden, the newly developed integratedLiving Collections Management System ofthe Garden will ultimately evaluate thesuccess of restoration efforts at the ShawNature Reserve at both the species andgenetic level. Based on this, a system isproposed to support restoration effortsworldwide.
Lucy Sutherland also notes in her in herarticle on the Australian Seed BankOnline, that ex situ collections areextremely important to support diverseplantings in ecological restoration as well
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 0202
EDITORIALBOTANIC GARDENS AND DATABASES
Introduction
BGCI’s maintains two free, onlinedatabases to support plantconservation in botanic gardens:
GardenSearch and PlantSearch.GardenSearch is an on-line directory ofthe world’s botanic gardens and relatedinstitutions while PlantSearch provides anaccount of the plant species held by theseinstitutions. Information included in thesedatabases is provided by the institutionsthemselves and each institution isresponsible for regularly updating its ownrecord, using an on-line log-in facility.
Some statistics
GardenSearch: 3,200 records (institutions)No of countries represented: 176Breakdown of institutions per region –see Figure 1
PlantSearch: 1,255,261 collection records413,167 taxa1,079 institutions providing data
There has been a significant increase in the amount of data included in thesedatabases in recent years – see Figure 2
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 03-0603
NETWORKING BOTANIC GARDENS FOR CONSERVATION – THE ROLE OF BGCI’S DATABASES
Authors: Suzanne Sharrock and Abby Hird
BGCI’s databases provide essential tools to support information exchange withinthe global botanic garden community and to promote the work of botanic gardensmore widely.
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
4006008001,0001,200
100,000200,000300,000400,000500,000
No of taxa
no. of insitutions
Figure 2: No of taxa and No. of insitutions providing data to BGCI PlantSearch database since 2002Figure 1: Regional breakdown of institutionsrepresented in GardenSearch
AfricaAmericasAsia
Australia/Pacific
Europe
GardenSearch
BGCI’s GardenSearch database is agateway to information about the world’sbotanic gardens. Each garden recordprovides basic information about thegarden and where applicable, a link to thegarden’s own website. For smallergardens that do not have their ownwebsite, GardenSearch provides a webpresence they would not otherwise have.All records in GardenSearch are geo-referenced, allowing easy mapping ofsearch results using a mapping ‘applet’available via GardenSearch. As well asbotanic gardens, GardenSearch alsoincludes an increasing number of relatedinstitutions (seed / gene banks, zoos etc.),with a common interest in conservationand maintaining plant collections.
GardenSearch fields are divided intothree sections.
• Section 1 allows the garden toprovide basic information in a free-text format, including uploading animage. This information can beprovided in the garden’s locallanguage and/ or English. Thisprovides an opportunity for the gardento promote itself in whatever way itprefers.
• Section 2 consists of a form to collectinformation on features and facilities,plant collections, and conservation,research and education programmesin a standard format. This sectionforms the ‘backbone’ of the databaseand the data provided is compiledinto a unique, searchable globaldirectory of skills, expertise andfacilities relevant to plantconservation.
• Section 3 allows the garden’s recordto be linked to related resources(journal articles, news items etc.) that appear elsewhere on the BGCIwebsite.
Advanced Searching
In 2012, BGCI launched an AdvancedSearch function for GardenSearch. The Advanced Search function not onlylocates institutions geographically andby keyword, but also allows users toexplore in more detail the conservation,research, education and public outreachfacilities and expertise offered at botanicgardens around the world.
GardenSearch includes a total of 63searchable fields related to the work ofbotanic gardens, each of which can besearched at the global or national level.
Some examples of the use ofGardenSearch are provided below. See Figures 4, 5 and 6.
GardenSearch, as well as providing aunique tool to identify specific expertiseand resources in countries around theworld, also allows major gaps inbotanical capacity to be identified.GardenSearch also supports studiesrelated to plants and climate change,allowing the identification of gardensoffering different climatic conditions inwhich to test and potentially grow plants
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) 04
Figure 3: Global map of institutions recorded in GardenSearch
Figure 4: Botanic gardens with herbaria around the world – total 370.
Figure 5: Botanic gardens with seed banks in the USA: total 56
in the face of changing environmentalconditions. An example of this isprovided by Smith et al., 2014, (see p. 19 of this issue).
PlantSearch
BGCI’s PlantSearch database is the onlyglobal database of plant speciesmaintained in the collections of botanicgardens and similar organizations. In addition to hundreds of living plantcollections around the world, PlantSearchincludes taxon-level data from gene andseed banks as well as cryopreserved andtissue culture collections.
This dynamic collections database wasoriginally developed to measureprogress towards Target 8 of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation bytracking which threatened species are inbotanical collections throughout theworld. Through its online interface,PlantSearch also connects collectionsdirectly to conservationists, educators,horticulturists, researchers, policymakers and many others around theworld who are working to save andunderstand plant diversity.
“ GSPC 2020 Target 8: At least
75% of threatened plant species
in ex situ collections, preferably in
the country of origin, and at least
20% available for recovery and
restoration programmes. ”All data included in PlantSearch areuploaded by collection holders directlyto PlantSearch via an on-line facility.Uploaded taxa lists consist of seventaxonomic fields ranging from genus to
can be easily identified. This canfacilitate the establishment ofconservation priorities for the collectionholder and contribute to collectionevaluation (Aplin, 2008; Aplin 2013).
Using PlantSearch
Ex situ surveys
PlantSearch can be used to carry outsurveys of ex situ collections on a global,regional or national level, as well as fortaxon-level surveys.
At the global level, monitoring progresstowards GSPC Target 8 is constrainedby lack of progress in Red Listing, with,to date, only 6% of plants having beenassessed at the global level. A recentassessment by BGCI identified 29% ofglobally threatened species in ex situcollections, but the lack of informationon which species are under threatmeans that this is probably aconsiderable under-estimate.
As national and regional lists ofthreatened species are more widelyavailable, BGCI has also carried out anumber of national/regional assessmentson ex situ conservation progress.
In the USA, a recent review found that39% of threatened native U.S. speciesare now maintained in living plant andseed bank collections. This is up from37% in 20101. This leaves more than3,000 threatened species to add tocollections by 2020 for the USA to meetthe 75% ex situ target.
cultivar name. Before being included inPlantSearch, records are screenedagainst existing names in the databaseand IPNI (International Plant NamesIndex) to ensure that only valid namesenter the database.
As of July 2014, the PlantSearchdatabase included 1,255,261 collectionrecords, representing 413,167 taxa, at 1,079 institutions. Each record inPlantSearch is linked to a record inGardenSearch, thus providing a geo-referenced location for each plant.Location details are however not madepublic, to ensure the anonymity ofspecies in cultivation. A ‘blind email’request system has been developed toallow users to request further informationon species of interest.
PlantSearch has direct links to a numberof other databases, most notably theIUCN Red List, but also other taxonomicdatabases (IPNI, Tropicos), a list ofCITES species and lists of socio-economically useful plants (medicinal,crop wild relatives). Work is presently on-going to also add links to information oninvasive species.
Benefits for data providers
PlantSearch provides a useful collectionmanagement tool for collection holders.By uploading a plant list, the collectionholder will be notified of misspelled orunrecognised plant names in their list.Once uploaded, the list can becompared with the global database,allowing collection holders to identifyhow many other gardens are maintainingthe same taxa. Plant lists are alsoautomatically screened against the IUCNRed List and CITES lists, so that rareand threatened species in the collection
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) 05
Figure 6: Botanic gardens in Asia with plant conservation programmes
Figure 7: Results of an assessment of ex situcollections in Australian and New Zealand botanicgarden collections
CriticallyEndangered
Endangered At Risk
200
400
600
800
1000
93 59.6%63 296 63.1%
173481 53.7%
415
Taxa not reported in AU/NZ collectionsTaxa reported in AU/NZ collections
In Australia and New Zealand, 56% (854of 1,519) of threatened species aresafeguarded in living plant collections.However, although this is the bestregional progress towards GSPC Target 8found so far, there is still work to be doneto reach the 75% goal by 2020.Furthermore, nearly 40% of reportedthreatened native species are known inonly one collection, which suggests thatcollections contain low levels ofintraspecific genetic diversity2.
Taxon-based surveys
BGCI and its partners also usePlantSearch to carry out ex situ surveysof the conservation status of plant familygroups. So far, these have includedmagnolias, oaks, rhododendrons and,most recently, conifers.
These surveys are typically carried outby BGCI following the publication of aRed List for the family or group inquestion, with the aim of identifying howmany collections are cultivating speciesidentified as threatened during the RedListing process.
A summary of the results obtained todate is provided below:
• Conifers: The survey identified 81%of globally threatened conifer taxa inover 800 ex situ collections. However134 threatened conifer taxa are knownin very few or no collections. Theseare highlighted as priorities forestablishing a more effective safetynet against extinction of threatenedconifers (Shaw and Hird, 2012).
• Rhododendrons: The surveyidentified 12,068 rhododendronrecords from 304 institutions in 42countries. However, only 276 ex siturecords represent just 48 of the 77most threatened rhododendrons. Thismeans that nearly 40% of the CriticallyEndangered or Endangered taxa arecurrently not known in cultivation3.
• Magnolias: The survey included2,274 Magnoliaceae records from 238institutions in 47 countries. However,only 362 of these records represent 37of the 89 most threatenedMagnoliaceae. This means that morethan half of the Critically Endangeredor Endangered taxa not currentlydocumented and protected in livingcollections4.
Royal Horticultural Society in the UK). Of course, as with any database, the value of the GardenSearch andPlantSearch databases is only as good asthe data they contain. BGCI is aware thatthe databases are incomplete and manygardens have yet to participate. However,we do believe that in our databases wehave a unique and powerful tool tosupport plant conservation and the workof botanic gardens.
We therefore call on all gardens to join inand help us build this shared resource asa benefit to the global botanic gardennetwork and the wider plantconservation community.
References
, Aplin, D. M. 2008. How useful arebotanic gardens for conservation? ThePlantsman, Royal Horticultural Society7: (3), 190 – 193.
, Aplin, D. M. 2013. Assets andliabilities: the need to evaluate livingcollections. Sibbaldia, Journal ofBotanic Garden Horticulture, RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh 11: 87-96.
, Shaw, K. and Hird, A. 2014. Globalsurvey of ex situ conifer collections.BGCI, Richmond, UK.
, Smith, A., Albrecht, M and Hird, A.2014. “Chaperoned” managedrelocation. BGjournal 11 (2): 19-22.
For further information and to consult thedatabases, please visitwww.bgci.org/garden_search.php andwww.bgci.org/plant_search.php
Suzanne SharrockBotanic Gardens ConservationInternationalDescanso House199 Kew Road, Richmond Surrey TW9 3BW
Notes
1 http://www.bgci.org/usa/naca/2 http://www.bgci.org/usa/bganz2013/3 http://www.bgci.org/ourwork/rhododendron
_survey/4 http://www.bgci.org/ourwork/magnoliasmain/5 http://www.bgci.org/ourwork/2358/6 http://www.bgci.org/ourwork/ipsn/7 http://elmer.rbge.org.uk/bgbase/livcol/
bgbaselivcol.php
• Oaks: The survey identified 3,796 oakrecords from 198 institutions in 39countries. However, only 91 ex siturecords representing just 13 of the 29most threatened oaks were located.This means that more than half of theCritically Endangered or Endangeredoak taxa are not currently reported byliving plant and seed collectionsworldwide5.
Networking projects
BGCI’s databases can also be used tosupport projects that require a networkingapproach – helping to identify gardenswith similar research interests, or growingspecific plant species. One such exampleis the International Plant Sentinel Project,a new BGCI-coordinated project that aimsto bring botanic gardens and arboretatogether to share information on pest anddisease attacks on plants in theircollections6. The overall aim is to developan early warning system for new andemerging pests and diseases in a globallydistributed network. The knowledge ofwhich gardens are cultivating which plantspecies is an essential tool in thedevelopment of this network.
Future developments
BGCI is keen to further develop itsdatabases as a tool to support theconservation of threatened plant speciesand to promote and strengthen the workof botanic gardens in this area. There isclearly a high demand for information onplants in collections as evidenced by theapproximately 2,000 requests passedthrough the PlantSearch ‘blind email’request system every year. WhilePlantSearch does not publicly identifywhich gardens hold with species, manygardens are already publishing theircollections data online (e.g. thecatalogue of the Living Collections of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh3.
BGCI is therefore considering variousoptions of how to make information onplants in collections more accessible tobona fide users, while still maintaininganonymity where this is required.
Other areas where developments are on-going are in the identification ofsynonyms (using information from ThePlant List – see the article by Dalcin inthis issue, p. 23) and better verification ofcultivar names (in collaboration with the
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)06
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 07-1007
THE EVOLUTION OF LIVING COLLECTIONSMANAGEMENT TO SUPPORT PLANTCONSERVATION
Authors: Andrew Wyatt and Rebecca Sucher
The living collections management system is an advanced tool to aid MissouriBotanical Garden in the conservation and management of almost every aspect ofthe living collections and horticulture activities.
The living collections at MissouriBotanical Garden (MBG),developed over 150-plus years,
are at the heart of our mission andencompass over 17,500 documentedtaxa. From MBG’s inception, plantrecording was a fundamental task andbegan with its founder, Henry Shaw. An accomplished businessman, Shawkept detailed handwritten ledgers of alltransactions of goods imported fromEngland and sold in St. Louis. Apassionate plantsman, Shaw recordedthe initial plantings at MBG with thesame level of detail. In 1859, when MBGfirst opened to the public, thesehandwritten records represented the firstplant recording system at MBG. Theevolution of plant recording transitionedfrom Shaw’s handwritten accessionbooks to card systems, to the firstcomputerized database systemdeveloped in the early 1970s. Since thattime, MBG has custom designed anditeratively developed several separatebut related databases to manage theliving collections. These systems eachserved a narrow purpose and were notcoupled or integrated. Over time, theinadequacies of the databases began toimpact collections care and progresstowards strategic goals. In recent years,increasing threats to plants and habitatsworldwide have made thedocumentation of our various livingcollections management practices more Figure 1: iPad inventory screen
critical. In 2011, it became a top priorityto redesign and integrate our databasesystems to support a large scaleincrease in living collections acquisitions,horticulture processes, and curatorialdetails for plant conservation. The newLiving Collections Management System(LCMS) was released in July 2013.
“ Expertise of staff from
across MBG’s disciplines,
including horticulture, taxonomy,
ecology, and conservation, all
provided input to help develop
and test a truly cutting-edge
tool. ” Plant conservation activitiescurrently supported by LCMS
Management of ex situ collectionsThe Missouri Botanical Garden hasrecently increased its efforts towardsbuilding and managing living collectionsto support Target 8 of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation.Additions of both native plants ofconservation concern and criticallyendangered species at the global levelare key components of MBG’scollections development. Any collectionor other addition of plant material to the
“ One of the most important
tasks of the living collections is
the development of knowledge
of plant cultivation and its
subsequent documentation for
future use.” The development of horticulturalpropagation protocols and cultivationtechniques can play a primary role inspecies recovery and capacity building.The propagation module in the LCMSallows for recording of propagationmethods. A wide range of data iscaptured as the process unfolds,including dormancy breaking treatments,pretreatments, growing media, lightlevels, container used, and growingenvironment. This data can quickly andeasily generate propagation andcultivation protocols for a given species.These protocols form the foundation ofany recovery plan and are particularlyuseful when dealing with ultra-rareplants.
The workflows associated with MBG’splant recording have changedsignificantly to make use of the modernfeatures of the LCMS. Most processesare now digital, saving time and effortover previous paper-based processes.Furthermore, it has allowed for thedecentralization of plant records,ensuring every horticulturist has the
living collection requires high quality fielddata. This data adds enormous value toa specimen and allows for its effectiveuse in conservation, education, andresearch.
To support this effort, field collectingbooks were developed in-house andfields were added and rearranged in theLCMS to match the field books exactly.This promoted high quality field datacollection and increased data entryefficiency. Links to MBG’s renownedTropicos database further help integratetaxonomy, references, and specimendata from associated herbariumcollections.
The tracking of plants and maintainingaccurate and up-to-date accessionrecords are core functions of any plantrecords database system. The LCMSfeatures a web-based user interface, andcan therefore be accessed from anyweb-enabled device, including PCs,tablet computers, and mobile phones.This enables records to be updateddirectly in the database by horticulturistsas they work in the gardens. The LCMSis also directly connected to MBG’smapping data via ArcGIS Server. Usingmobile tools developed specifically formobile devices, records can be updatedin the LCMS and plants can be moved tonew locations on the map either usingheads-up digitizing or the device’s on-board GPS.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)08
Figure 3: Collection data screenshot
Figure 2: Collecting book page
Figure 4: Collecting data on an iPad in the orchid collection
ability and responsibility to aid inmaintaining plant records. Thesechanges have prepared us for the abilityto increase the value of our collectionsfor conservation. Over the past threeyears, incoming wild source material hasincreased 957%, thanks in large part toinnovations within the LCMS.
Exchanging records with otherbotanical institutionsAt the outset of any plant conservationproject, the first questions are generally:Is a given taxon or flora represented inliving collections held by otherinstitutions? What levels of diversity areheld? And how good are the associatedcollection records? In order to facilitatethe sharing of this information to helpothers with conservation projects,several tools were built into the LCMS. In addition to a large number of standardsearch fields, LCMS also has a querybuilder, enabling any data to besearched, filtered, and displayed in areport or exported for sharing withothers. There are also many pre-configured reports for commonlyrequested information, including a reportthat generates a file for uploadinginventory data to the BGCI PlantSearchdatabase.
Exchanging seed via index seminumThe LCMS facilitated the production ofMBG’s second index seminum catalogfor sharing of wild collected plants withother institutions around the world. Seedbank accessions are marked for sharingin the LCMS, and a report generates acatalog which is linked on MBG’swebsite. As requests are received via e-mail, appropriate records are marked asshared. Later, the LCMS producesreports showing who requested whichseed, and QR code labels are printed forthe seed packets prior to mailing.
Access to collections data byresearchers and visitorsThe web functionality of the LCMSallows for instant accessibility to dataanywhere that an internet connection isavailable. MBG has regular requests foruse of its collections to support a widerange of research projects, much ofwhich is related to conservation. A link tosearch the LCMS is provided on MBG’sonline plant material request form, and isoften included in e-mails responses toresearchers requesting information onthe collections. Aforementioned links to
On a higher level, building plants ofconservation concern into collections,together with associated stories aboutthe plants, allows us to highlight thevalue of plant and habitat conservation.The improved infrastructure, additionalfields, and links to mapping and Tropicoshave provided a stable and robustplatform on which to build futureinteractive mobile multimedia, includinggames, crowdsourcing activities, andsocial media. By leveraging the livingcollections data through these apps, wecan transform our visitors’ experienceand increase their appreciation of plants.
Plant conservation activities tobe added to LCMS
Seed cleaning, seed banking, andviability testingIn 2012, MBG set up a seed bank for thepurpose of conserving the flora ofMissouri. This new initiative supportsTarget 8 of the Global Strategy for PlantConservation. Current seed collectionsfocus in the Ozark Plateau region, due tothe high species diversity found there.LCMS supports all accessioning andtracking of seed collections for the seedbank, and a new module to support seedcleaning and viability testing is currentlybeing developed. As with propagation
Tropicos and GIS mapping data makes iteasy for researchers and visitors to seeassociated scientific data and where theactual plant is located in the garden. Inaddition, MBG staff find the livingcollections data useful while they arefield collecting, enabling comparison ofdatabase records of a given taxon in thewild, where cell phone service isavailable.
MBG’s living collections provide almostendless educational opportunities. At themost basic level, the LCMS supports theproduction of plant display labels; over5,000 new labels are produced eachyear. Labels can be requested via theweb interface by any registereddatabase user, and the LCMS facilitatesthe organization, review, and productionof label orders.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)0 9
“ To discover and share
knowledge about plants and
their environment in order to
preserve and enrich life. ”Mission of the Missouri
Botanical Garden
records, the data associated with seedcleaning and viability testing will beavailable via reports within the LCMSweb portal.
Habitat restoration and criticallyendangered species conservationThe skills necessary for cultivating andcurating ex situ plant collections arebecoming increasingly utilized as a corepart of plant conservation. As the LCMSwas developed, consideration for usingthe LCMS to support wider conservationprojects was incorporated into theoverall design of the system. This is agrowing program area at MBG, andfollowing are two examples ofconservation projects the LCMS will bedeveloped to support.
At the habitat level, MBG is conductingprairie, glade, and woodland restorationat the 2,100 acre Shaw Nature Reserve(SNR). Horticulturists, ecologists,geneticists, and taxonomists are working
building its collections to support plantconservation over the last three yearswould not have been possible withoutthe LCMS. Our ability to utilize theexceptional power of this new toolincreases each day as we apply it to newconservation challenges.
Search MBG’s living collection online athttp://www.livingcollections.org/mobot/Home.aspx
Andrew Wyatt, Rebecca SucherMissouri Botanical Garden4344 Shaw BlvdSt. LouisMissouri, 63110 USA
to develop methods and databasesolutions to track plants at the individual,population, and habitat level. Theultimate goal is to utilize the datarecording, mapping, and trackingfunctions of the LCMS to evaluate thesuccess of our restoration efforts fromthe standpoints of both species andgenetic diversity. The SNR project givesus the opportunity to test ourmethodologies and develop a systemthat will support restoration effortsaround the world.
In partnership with the Mauritian WildlifeFoundation and the Mauritian NationalParks and Conservation Service, MBG isdeveloping a program to supportpropagation and restoration of thecritically endangered Mauritian flora. Out of the 315 endemic species onMauritius, 63% are threatened. MBG iscurrently working on a propagation list of 50 taxa that each have less than 10individuals left in the wild. The LCMS willbe used for recording and analysis ofpropagation data, and also therecording, mapping, and tracking ofspecies and populations. However, inorder to make full use of the LCMS inremote locations like Mauritius,disconnected editing features will beadded.
Collections planning and climatechangeSeveral other fields and functionality arein the process of being added to theLCMS related to collections planningand climate change. These includephenology, cause of death, andhardiness testing, and will be coupledwith weather data from our on-siteweather station. This will allow us to planfor the preservation of existingcollections and better target taxa fromappropriate climates into specificmicroclimates at MBG. Adaptive climate-based planning for what can be grown incollections, utilizing horticulture andclimate data, is set to become morecritical in our collections planning as weexperience ever increasing effects ofclimate change.
The new living collections managementsystem is more than a simple plantrecords database. It is an advanced toolto aid MBG in the conservation andmanagement of almost every aspect ofthe living collections and horticultureactivities. MBG’s achievements in
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)10
Figure 6: Query builder
Figure 5: Propagation data screenshot
Figure 7: QR code labels
Introduction
Over recent years, in Australiathere have been significantefforts to make biodiversity
information more accessible anduseable. The Atlas of Living Australia (theAtlas) is a biodiversity informatics facilitythat aggregates data on Australianorganisms and improves access tobiodiversity national datasets and
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (1) • 11-1411
INTEGRATED BOTANICALINFORMATION SYSTEMS – THE AUSTRALIAN SEED BANK ONLINE
Author: Dr Lucy Sutherland
Until 2012, there had been little effective data sharing between Australia’s
conservation seed banks. The Australian Seed Bank Partnership has been
collaborating with the Atlas of Living Australia to create a distributed database
for Australia’s conservation seed collections.
information held in museums, herbariaand biological collections across thecountry (http://www.ala.org.au/).Furthermore, the Atlas is the Australiannode of the Global BiodiversityInformation Facility (GBIF).
The Atlas is demonstrating significantsuccess in coordinated planning anddelivery of digitised content fromAustralia’s biological collections and in
organising these and other data resourcesin support of a broad range of usesincluding plant conservation, taxonomyand collections management, landmanagement and planning, ecosystemresearch and biodiversity discovery.Consequently, it has been a logical stepfor the Australian Seed Bank Partnership(the Partnership) to collaborate with theAtlas to build an accessible online seedinformation resource drawing oncollections data captured by members ofthe Partnership and integrating thisinformation with other relevant datarecords within the Atlas, includingAustralia’s Virtual Herbarium.
Australian Seed Bank Online
Various databases are used by thecollecting institutions to record theircollection events, with some institutionsusing multiple databases for historicreasons. The Australian Seed BankOnline is an information sharing hub, via the Atlas, which operates as anaggregator of data supplied directly bythe Partnership’s member institutions(http://asbp.ala.org.au/). The Atlas allowsAustralia’s conservation seed banks tokeep their existing and locally maintaineddatabases and web sites. This hub givesthe collections a ‘common’ presence onthe web and creates a shared andintegrated view of Australia’sconservation seed bank resources.
ASBOnline – The Australian Seed Bank Online is a hub within the Atlas of Living Australia and gives readyaccess to data on Australia’s collections in conservation seed banks.
Australia is contributing to the RoyalBotanic Gardens Kew and Global TreesCampaign’s project, which aims to collectand conserve seed from the world’s rarest,most threatened and most useful trees.Australia’s contribution to this project is tocollect and conserve 380 species. TheAustralian Seed Bank Online has been anessential tool for planning and coordinatingthis project involving nine seed bankingpartners in Australia. The distributeddatabase has enabled the Partnership tocreate a target list of eucalypt species thatare not currently represented in ex situ seedcollections.
Simple filtering tools enable the collectionsof legislatively threatened species to beidentified and a species checklist to becreated. This list can then be compared tothe total list of recognised eucalypt taxaaccording to the Australian Plant Census(http://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/apc/).Collections of threatened eucalypts madeprior to the year 2000, and banked beforethe adoption of international seed bankingstandards as part of the first phase of theMillennium Seed Bank Partnership, havealso been identified and prioritised forcollecting.
Box 1: Identifying national priorities forex situ collection
A key step in orchestrating thiscollaboration has been negotiatingagreement on shared data definitionsand file formats (ABCD and DarwinCore) and getting agreement that thedata provided is licensed and attributedunder a Creative Commons Attribution3.0 Australia Licence.
What does the Australian Seed Bank Online offer?
Australia’s seed storage and researchfacilities, largely part of botanic gardensin the state capital cities, gather andmanage foundation scientificinformation on Australia’s native flora,including seed species identification,origin and provenance, morphology,germination protocols and dormancyalleviation techniques, storagecharacteristics, phenology and ecology(Cochrane et al., 2009). The workconducted on these ex situ collectionsgenerates scientifically verifiableinformation that can provide enablingtechnologies to support diverseplantings for the restoration ofAustralia's landscapes andsafeguarding rare and threatenedspecies.
A known challenge in restoration work isthe need for greater plant knowledge toincrease ability to use understorey andgroundcover flora. Part of this is seedrelated and Merritt and Dixon (2011:425)argue that the shortfalls in seedknowledge, including the phenology andseed maturation for most wild speciesand the lack of knowledge about triggersto break dormancy, prevents germinationat the time of sowing.
Consequently, the overall objective ofthe Australian Seed Bank Online projecthas been to create a virtual seed bankthat is a useful resource beyond thePartnership to support the scientific,conservation and restoration work ofresearchers, students, practitioners andcommunity groups, as well as thehorticultural and nursery industry.
The Australian Seed Bank Online is usedto support plant and ecosystemconservation in several ways, including:
a) Planning and prioritising ex situconservation work as part of the coreactivities being undertaken byAustralia’s botanic gardens andpartner organisations (Box 1).
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)12
The filter facets within the Australian Seed Bank Online enable collections made by several institutions in aspecific biogeographic region to be selected and mapped. The maps produced assist with planning future collection sites, for example the prioritisation of areas prone to fire. Here the map of collections madethrough the Australian Alps illustrates large areas where collections have not been made, particularly in thesouthern part of this biogeographic region.
b) Examining the seed collection data,combined with collection data fromAustralia’s Virtual Herbarium (alsoavailable through the Atlas), to buildlongitudinal data on phenology andany associated changes over time, as well as determining the naturaldistribution of the species.
c) Guiding collecting techniques andgermination protocols through theprovision of information on seed andfruit morphology for specific species.
d) Providing accurate information togovernment and industry to supportthreat abatement activities and addressemerging and existing biosecurityissues related to native flora (Box 2).
e) Tracking and reporting Australia’sbiodiversity conservation efforts inregards to the implementation of theConvention on Biological Diversity(Box 3).
In addition, the data can be viewed andanalysed within the Atlas’s advancedspatial portal. The spatial portal is ahighly advanced geospatial system thatprovides rich functionality not founddirectly within the Australian Seed BankOnline. The spatial portal enables usersto build a picture of ecological systemsand individual species using suppliedspatial layers such as soils, vegetationcommunities, fauna, topography, climateand aspect – just to name a few. Thesemapping tools can support the detailedproject planning for translocation orrestoration of threatened species,communities or habitats, including theselection of regionally appropriatespecies for biodiverse plantings suitablefor changing climatic conditions (Booth2012a, Booth 2012b).
to be further refinement of the tool toimprove the relationship betweenscience and practice to enableaccessible information that can informsuccessful restoration of biodiverselandscapes and conservation ofAustralia’s rich flora. Some of thesechallenges include:
• Presenting data on seed treatmentsand test results that is understandableand accessible to a range of users.There is currently great variability inhow this data is recorded byconservation seed banks.
Challenges
The process of creating the AustralianSeed Bank Online by bringing togethercollection records from multiple sourceshas presented challenges. There needs
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)
The Australian Seed Bank Online can be used to examine collections from specific vegetationcommunities, such as Rainforest and Vine Thickets in Queensland, to ascertain theirrepresentation within conservation seed banks and assist with collections planning.
13
The Australian Government recentlyprepared the ‘Threat Abatement Planfor Disease in Natural Ecosystemscaused by Phytophthora cinnamomi’.During the preparation of this plan,the Australian Seed Bank Partnershipwas able to respond to a governmentquery on ex situ collections ofspecies susceptible to Phytophthoracinnamomi and present a nationalpicture. The report on the collectionsresulted in the allocation ofgovernment funds to enhance ex situcollections of nationally threatenedspecies at risk from the cinnamonfungus.
The recent arrival of Puccinia psidii(myrtle rust) in Australia in 2010, hasresulted in the database being usedfor:
a) determining what susceptiblespecies are being held in ex situcollections to support plantspecies and community recovery;
b) examining if there are multiplepopulation collections within aspecies range;
c) prioritising species andpopulations for ex situ collectionfor use in screening to identifyresistance to the myrtle rust.
Box 2: Responding to biosecurityissues
The Australian Seed Bank Online hasenabled the Partnership to accessquantitative data for inclusion inAustralia’s 5th National Report to theConvention on Biological Diversity.This reporting included the numberof accessions and species held inAustralia’s conservation seed banks,and specific information on numberof seed collections of legislatedthreatened species. Furthermore, the database also enables nationalreporting to the Global Partnershipfor Plant Conservation on Target 8 of the Global Strategy for PlantConservation.
Box 3: Tracking and reporting “ The Australian Seed Bank
Partnership’s mission is a
national effort to conserve
Australia’s native plant diversity
through collaborative and
sustainable seed collecting,
banking, research and
knowledge sharing. ”
Most often it is recorded as qualitativedata that is presented in a ‘notes field’and this makes the data difficult topresent in a consistent form.
• The issues around sensitive data,especially specific locationinformation that might result indamage/harm to the species. InAustralia, there is complexity aroundthe federated system where eachState and Territory conservationagency treats the sensitivity ofinformation in their jurisdictiondifferently (Tann and Flemons 2009).This can limit the use of databases forsite specific conservation planning.
Future opportunities
In the future, Australia is looking toinclude botanic gardens’ livingcollections data within the Atlas. Thisadditional data will provide informationthat can improve knowledge of speciesclimatic requirements and assist withmanagement of restoration oflandscapes for conservation underclimate change. Booth’s recent paper onusing the Atlas and the GlobalBiodiversity Information Facility toimprove understanding of tree species
, Booth, T., Williams, K., and Belbin, L.2012a. Developing biodiverseplantings suitable for changingclimatic conditions 1: Underpinningscientific methods. EcologicalManagement & Restoration 13(3): 267-273.
, Booth, T., Williams, K., and Belbin, L.2012b. Developing biodiverseplantings suitable for changingclimatic conditions 2: Using the Atlasof Living Australia. EcologicalManagement & Restoration 13(3): 274-281.
, Cochrane, A., Crawford, A.D. andOfford, C.A. 2009. Seed andvegetative material collection (pp.35-62) in Offord, C.A. and Meagher, P.F.(eds) Plant Germplasm in Australia:strategies and guidelines fordeveloping, managing and utilising exsitu collections. Canberra: AustralianNetwork for Plant Conservation Inc.
, Merritt, D.J. and Dixon, K. 2011.Restoration Seed Banks: A Matter ofScale. Science 332 (22 April 2011):424-425.
, Tann, J. And Flemons, P. 2009. Atlas ofLiving Australia - Our secrets are notyour secrets - Sensitive Data Report.Australia: Atlas of Living Australia andAustralian Museum. Available onlinehttp://www.ala.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ALA-sensitive-data-report-and-proposed-policy-v1.1.pdf, accessed 12/06/2014.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Jim Croft who provided ideasfor this article.
Dr Lucy A. SutherlandAustralian Seed BankPartnershipAustralian National BotanicGardensGPO Box 1777, Canberra ACT2601 Australia
Australian Seed Bank online:http://asbp.ala.org.au/http://www.seedpartnership.org.au/https://www.facebook.com/australianseedbankpartnership
climatic adaptability illustrates howdatabases can be used for managingforests for both commercial andconservation objectives under climatechange (Booth 2014). Booth’s methodscould be applied to examine Australianplant species growing beyond theirnatural climatic range by drawing onbotanic gardens living collections dataand the herbarium and seed collectionsdata that provide excellent informationon the natural distribution of nativespecies.
References
, Booth, T.H. 2014. Using biodiversitydatabases to verify and improvedescriptions of tree species climaticrequirements. Forest Ecology andManagement 315: 95-102.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)14
Jenny Guerin, Dan Duval, Denzel Murfet and Thai Te (left to right) have recently been making collections in theGreat Victoria Desert in South Australia . Detailed information regarding location and field conditions of thecollection site(s) are recorded to provide data for conservation purposes (Botanic Gardens of Adelaide).
“ Building ex situ seed
collections provides a resource
for future use and an insurance
policy for Australia’s native
plants and forests against
threats such as myrtle rust and
cinnamon fungus. ”
Introduction
Botanical gardens vary widely intheir scope and fields of interestbut are typically concerned with
growing living plant collections toadvance research, conservation, andeducation. Botanical gardens contributeto plant conservation in many ways,including the production anddissemination of research leading to an increased understanding of plantdiversity (Global Strategy for PlantConservation, Objective 1), theconservation of plant diversity bymanaged ex situ cultivation (GSPCObjective 2), and the promotion ofeducation and awareness about plantdiversity (GSPC Objective 4) (WyseJackson, 2004). Developing plantcollections of high scientific andconservation value requires that a greatdeal of data are collected and recorded,and that these remain available foranalyses. These data, typically stored ina database, include field collected data(e.g. specimen data, locality information,morphometric measurements) as well
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 15-1815
USING GIS TO LEVERAGE PLANTCOLLECTIONS DATA FORCONSERVATION
Authors: Ericka Witcher and Michael Calonje
Figure 1: Potential distribution of Zamia lindleyi (Michael Calonje)
as data collected at the garden (e.g.planting locations, phenology andhorticultural care records). Plantcollections data can be visualized,analyzed and interpreted with aGeographic Information System (GIS) tofurther advance plant conservation byhelping develop living plant collections,manage them and optimize their usage.
Applications for botanical dataand garden processes in GIS
Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC;Coral Gables, FL) is a botanical gardenspecializing in palms and cycads.
The living collection is population-based,extensively documented, and derivedmainly from habitat-collected seedwhich is germinated and cared for at thenursery and then planted out into thegrounds of its 120-acre landscape-designed garden. An extensive amountof data related to MBC’s living collectionis collected and stored in BG-BASEcollections management software. Thesedata include wild collection data for eachaccession, as well as data collected inthe garden such as notes on horticulturalcare, phenology, and plant gender (fordioecious cycads and palms). Thesedata are routinely imported into ArcGIS
“ The high standard of tree
collection maintenance at the
Montgomery Botanical Centre
has been recognized by ArbNet,
the Aboretum Accreditation
program, which has recently
awarded MBC level IV
accreditation. ”
Geographic Information Systems provide powerful and flexible tools that gardens
can use to enhance their collections.
Zamia, including Z. huilensis, Z.tolimensis, and Z. pyrophylla. Thisdistribution data is also used with GISsoftware to determine the geographicalrange (Area of Occupancy and Extent ofOccurrence) of different species in orderto assess their conservation status.MBC’s biologists have prepared severalconservation evaluations for the IUCN’sCycad Specialist Group using modernGIS techniques.
Collections management
Maps provide a way to quickly andeasily locate plants within gardens, but they can do more for collectionsmanagement than just cataloguecollections. Botanical gardens operateas caretakers of rare, threatened, andendangered plants. These plants comefrom different habitats all over the worldand consequently may have widelydifferent horticultural requirements.Maps of the garden, combined withexpedition and horticultural data, staff
such as occurrence data, roads, andtopography, or by combining theselayers in spatial analyses. At MBC,occurrence data combined withtopographical data and environmentallayers has been used in MAXENT nichemodeling software to predict speciesdistributions in order to identify potentialnew habitats where a particular speciesmay be found. This method wassuccessful in field locating newpopulations of Zamia encephalartoides inColombia and has been used to map thepotential distribution of Zamia lindleyi inthe highlands of Panama (Fig.1).
By mapping collections data fromgarden collections and herbariumspecimens, MBC’s biologists are able toidentify unusual distribution patterns intaxa that may merit additional fieldstudy. In this way, MBC researchers mayidentify unusually disjunct populations totarget for additional fieldwork. Thisadditional fieldwork has resulted in thediscovery of several new species of
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)16
Figure 2: MBC Staff used their collective knowledge of the grounds to delineatethese desirable sandy and shady areas to plan for future plantings of sensitivespecies (Ericka Witcher, Christina Dupuy, and Laurie Danielson)
Figure 3: All hurricane deaths recorded in the database over the last 20 yearswere projected onto a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the property (ErickaWitcher)
(ESRI, Redlands, CA) to enhance thedevelopment and management of theliving collection, and to disseminateinformation to promote conservationawareness and education.
Collections development
Field expeditions undertaken by MBCbiologists typically combine fieldresearch with collecting of germplasmusing a sampling protocol that results inan adequate genetic representation ofeach species at the garden. The protocolincludes collecting seeds from multiplewild populations throughout a taxon’sgeographic range, and separatelycollecting seeds from multiple motherplants within each population. GIS isused to plan for these expeditions bymapping previously known collections todetermine itineraries which can increasethe efficiency of the collection effortwhile maximizing the resulting diversityof the collections. Planning can be doneby simply visualizing existing data layers
knowledge and previous planting results,assist with finding the ideal location in agarden for plants. Curators of living plantcollections at MBC worked with GIS staffto delineate areas of desirable sandy soilnear varying degrees of shade to assistwith next year’s landscape plan (Fig.2). A GIS also facilitates examination ofchanges to the landscape both withinand around the garden and their impacton plant collections. Relationshipsbetween climate change and otherenvironmental data can be examined forimpact on phenology and otherbotanical attributes, once a large enoughdataset is developed. MBC databaseinformation relating to hurricane damageon the property was projected onto alidar-based canopy map to check forspatial correlation (Fig.3) – the palmSyagrus botryophora will no longer beplanted near open areas; coming from a non-hurricane area of Brazil it hasdifficulty withstanding these storms(Griffith, et al., 2013). Spatial data can
create maps of which plants in thegarden are most likely to have matureseed or pollen for harvest at any giventime. GIS is also used at MBC to developa breeding program for Cycasmicronesica, a cycad from the MarianaIslands which is considered critically-endangered due to pressure by theCycad Aulacaspis Scale (CAS;Aulacaspis yasumatsui) and other alienpests (Marler and Lawrence, 2012). Maps are used to identify plants derivedfrom the same wild populations andcollected from separate mother plants inorder to perform in-population pollinationcrosses (Fig.5) and prevent inbreeding.The gender of individual plants is alsomapped to further facilitate crossing.
Collections use
The re-introduction of endangered plantsto appropriate habitat locations is alsofacilitated by a GIS. Many of the samespatial analyses that are performed on
also be relevant to horticulturalproblems, particularly on largerproperties: disease and invasive pest or plant infestations can be mapped to reveal their range and method ofspreading, especially in combinationwith time-aware data and/or utilitiesmaps, thereby contributing to decisionsfor treatment and prevention (Fig.4).
Germplasm banks (seed, pollen, etc.)and distribution programs areincreasingly seen as vital aspects of any plant conservation program. Theypromote conservation by providingplants to horticulture and lessening thedemand for wild collected plants, byserving as a genetic repository that canbe used to reintroduce species intodwindling or extinct populations, and by promoting redundancy by widelydistributing germplasm. Detailed plantrecords including phenology, plantgender, and horticultural care are storedin MBC’s database and used in GIS to
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)17
Figure 4: Map tracking infection sites of the fungus Ganoderma zonatum(Ericka Witcher)
Figure 5: MBC staff and seedbank volunteers use a map to ensure provenanceconsistency when hand-pollinating Cycas micronesica with different accessionnumbers (Ericka Witcher, Michael Calonje)
areas to narrow the search for potentialexisting plants can be applied to findareas suitable for restoration, this timewith the incorporation of politicalboundaries as well as social andeconomic considerations, in addition to ecological factors. Many placesundergoing restoration work have comehard won, and the success of speciesplanted back into the area can be just asimperative to the protected status of theland as it is to the continued existence of the species (Rademacher, 2012). A database incorporated into a GIS can project historical and herbarium data onto potential locations, includecollection data such as soil, light, gradeand aspect, and integrate aerial andremote sensing imagery and data of thesurroundings, further bolsteringproposals for environmental protectionalong with guiding specific re-introduction locations (CaliforniaDepartment of Transportation, et al.,2009). Later, the planting locations canbe monitored and tracked. Theattempted re-introduction of theFranciscan Manzanita (Arctostaphylosfranciscana) in San Francisco, Californiaparks serves as an excellent example ofthis process: a species of manzanita wasthought extinct in the wild until a plantwas found in a San Franciscoconstruction site, other extantspecimens were located in botanicgarden collections, and GIS was used tofind preliminary potential reintroductionsites, based in part on gardenhorticultural data, and to develop part ofthe monitoring plan (Quirós, 2011 andCalifornia Department of Transportation,et al., 2009).
Botanical conservation education, inparticular, may come most readily tobotanical institutions. Data-integratedmaps are a compelling medium thatpresent data as a narrative that occursover time, or in comparison to otherrelatable themes. Due to their visualnature, maps are conducive toconveying complicated information in anunderstandable way across languageand cultural barriers. This is a useful aidfor MBC biologists when communicatingwith colleagues around the world. Theyare able to utilize information providedby local people, whether laymen orscientists, in conjunction with their ownfindings to better grasp a taxon’s range,
References
, California Department ofTransportation, California Departmentof Fish and Game, The Presidio Trust,National Park Service, and U.S. Fishand Wildlife Service. 2009.Memorandum of AgreementRegarding Planning, Development,and Implementation of theConservation Plan for FranciscanManzanita (Arctostaphylosfranciscana). Accessed 6 June 2014:http://cnsnews.com/sites/default/files/documents/MOA%20-%20Fran%20Man%20-%202009.pdf.
, Griffith M. P., Witcher, E., Noblick,L.and Husby C. 2013. Palm stemshape correlates with hurricanetolerance, in a manner consistent withnatural selection. Palms 57: 115-122.
, Marler, T.E. and J.H. Lawrence. 2012.Demography of Cycas micronesica onGuam following introduction of thearmoured scale Aulacaspisyasumatsui. Journal of TropicalEcology 28(03): 233-242.
, Quirós, G. (19 January 2011). 15Months Later, Rediscovered SanFrancisco Plant Thrives [Blog post].Accessed 6 June 2014:http://science.kqed.org/quest/2011/01/19/15-months-later-rediscovered-san-francisco-plant-thrives/.
, Rademacher, D. (13 September 2012).Critical habitat in SF to protectFranciscan manzanita [Blog post].Accessed 6 June 2014:http://baynature.org/2012/09/13/critical-habitat-in-sf-to-protect-franciscan-manzanita/.
, Wyse Jackson, P. 2004. Developinginternational targets for botanicgardens in conservation: aconsultation document. BGjournal1(1): 4-6.
. Ericka WitcherCollections SupervisorMontgomery Botanical Center11901 Old Cutler RoadMiami, FL 33156-4242 USA
ecological niche, social value, etc. byaccounting for its spatial and temporaldata. In turn the biologists can compilelocal data into a bigger picture viacomprehensive maps to help locally withissues of conservation awareness. Onthe home front, MBC has used maps forconservation education purposes atnearly every stage: with school childrenlooking for examples of Florida nativeplants, funding of expeditions andcollaborations, researchers examiningdata, and published findings. Many GISsoftware developers offer platformservices as well (e.g. ESRI’s ArcGIS),meaning maps and data can be createdand made available via the Internet,smartphones and other mobile devices,expanding the reach of a single garden’sresources to a truly global scale. A quick look at MBC’s Champion Treesvia webmap application can be foundhere on ArcGIS Online:http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=69f6225d0b14452698ced6078c339878
Conclusion
GIS is a powerful and flexible tool thatgardens can use to enhance collectionsdevelopment and management andexpand their outreach and usage.Rigorous data stewardship combinedwith spatial interpretations and analysescan support the spectrum of plantconservation efforts, from discovery torestoration, adding to the legacy ofbotanical collections handed down to usand preserving them for the future, andfostering understanding of globalbiodiversity.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the entire staff at MontgomeryBotanical Center for their tirelessstewardship of the collections and theirmany contributions to botanicalresearch, conservation, and education.The MBC GIS program is made possibleby an ESRI Conservation Program grant,allowing for ongoing software andsupport services; and by a Stanley SmithHorticultural Trust grant, providingfunding for all GIS hardware andequipment.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)18
conservation measures, such as seedbanking and in situ management,assisted migration could help ensure thesurvival of many species.
Unfortunately, assisted migration alsoposes many risks, and this has made itthe center of a vociferous debate overethics and ecological pragmatism.Namely, moving species outside theirhistorical ranges risks: a) introducingspecies that could become invasive; b) transferring pests and diseases that may harm other species; andc) hybridization with closely related,
rare species and dilution of their gene
Introduction
Anthropogenic climate changepromises to outpace the ability of many plant species to migrate
(Corlett & Westcott 2013). As a result,ecological communities may losespecies, with some even expected tosuffer extinction (Thomas et al., 2004).One proposed solution to this dilemma is“assisted migration,” in which specieswould be intentionally transferred outsidetheir historical ranges into locations theycould have reached were climate changeoccurring at a slower pace (Schwartz &Martin, In press). Along with other
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 19-2219
Distribution of the world’s botanical gardens. BGCI. 2013. GardenSearch online database. Available at www.bgci.org/garden_search.php.
Authors: Adam B. Smith, Matthew A. Albrecht and Abby Hirdi
pool (Schwartz & Martin In press).Moreover, past transfers of plantsbetween gardens have unfortunatelyencouraged these problems (Hanspach et al., 2008).
To date proponents of assisted migrationhave attempted to allay these fears bydevelopment of risk assessment andmanagement frameworks (Muller &Hellman, 2008). Nonetheless, riskassessment and management can neverfully eliminate all risks, and even well-intentioned transfers can result inecological calamities (Webber et al.,2011).
“CHAPERONED” MANAGED RELOCATION
A plan for botanical gardens to facilitate movement
of plants in response to climate change
“Chaperoning”
Here we propose a program of“chaperoned” assisted migration, in which botanical gardens serve aswaypoints for transferred species. A program of chaperoned migrationwould entail:
• moving species outside their historicdistributions;
• growing species in regularly-managedex situ settings like those provided bybotanical gardens;
• moving species within their potentialdispersal envelopes andevolutionary/ecological context;
• curating species to be managed asseparate wild-collected specimens;
• screening species on a regular basisfor invasiveness, pests, diseases, andhybridization;
• ensuring species’ survival as climatechanges.
Drawing on the unique resources andexpertise that botanical gardens offer(Primack & Miller-Rushing, 2009),chaperoned assisted migration can helpaddress serious concerns about“unchaperoned” assisted migration.First, host gardens could offer ongoingscreening for invasiveness, pests, anddiseases. Indeed, many gardens alreadyserve as integral parts of nationalscreening programs (e.g. The AustralianNetwork for Plant Conservations’Guidelines for Translocation ofThreatened Plants in Australia1 or theCouncil of Europe and BGCI’s EuropeanCode of Conduct for Botanic Gardens onInvasive Alien Species2). Regular care byhorticultural staff would enable earlydetection of problem species that mayotherwise go undetected if they weretransplanted to natural settings; andsterile horticultural practices can helpreduce transfer of diseases and pestsbetween plants. Finally, speciesconservation programs in botanicalgardens could extend their work on rarespecies biology to study how plantsrespond to climatic variation beyondtheir historical ranges.
Second, chaperoning could helpalleviate concerns over hybridization andreproduction by managing species asindividual wild-collected accessions toensure their provenances as timepassed. Risks from hybridization couldbe managed if only clonal propagation
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)20
Plant species reintroduced to their historic range may need to chaperoned across a network botanicalgardens to keep pace with climate change
Risk
Transferred species maybecome invasive
Transferred species mayspread novel pests ordisease
Transferred species may hybridize with otherthreatened species
Logistical requirements
Identifying appropriate locations for transplantation
Laws may restrict transloca-tions acrossnational/subnationalborders
Solution offered by chaperoned managedrelocation
On-going monitoring for invasiveness; ease oferadication if plants become problematic
On-going monitoring for pests and disease; well-developed horticultural techniques for diseaseprevention; relative ease of eradicationcompared to populations in natural settings
Wild-collected accession management disallowsprogeny of crosses with non-wild collectedaccessions or wild-collected accessions of otherpopulations; gardens can remove species withwhich target species might cross
Transplanting and care of populations in gardensmuch easier and regular than in natural settings
Much easier to transfer plants from garden togarden than locating natural areas with requisitepermitting and adequate protection
Translocations much more acceptable within aninstitutional context
Box 1: “Chaperoned” managed relocation versus “unchaperoned” managed relocation
Most of the controversy over managed relocation has assumed that species willbe “unchaperoned,” meaning they would be transferred from one natural place toanother. While chaperoned managed relocation will not alleviate all risks, it hasseveral notable advantages over unchaperoned translocation.
were used for accession replication,closely-related species were removedfrom the living collection and/or progenyof unknown origin were not included inthe collection. Likewise, transferredspecies may be left without their nativepollinators, so horticultural staff couldstand in for missing pollinators withcontrolled or manual pollination.
Capacities and needs
Chaperoning species may be easiest inregions with a high density of gardenssince they offer multiple opportunities formoving species as climate changeprogresses. Worldwide there are over3,000 gardens, most of which are locatedin eastern North America, Europe, Japan,and eastern Australia (Figure 1). In otherregions, strengthening existing capacitiesand founding of new gardens is likely ofhigh priority.
Despite the promise gardens offer forscreening of invasiveness, pests, anddiseases, worldwide only 5% of theworld’s gardens report having aninvasive species policy or screen forinvasiveness (BGCI GardenSeachDatabase 2013)3. Likewise, only 16% of gardens report having a research
that also includes seed/tissue/pollenbanking, in situ management,reintroductions, and legal protections.Indeed, chaperoning may be the beststrategy for a minority of species, such asthose that are not known to reproduce inthe wild, can be vegetatively propagated(i.e., perennials), or have recalcitrantseeds that cannot be easily stored inseed banks (Walters et al., 2013).
Meeting the challenge
Engaging in an effective, cautiousprogram of chaperoned managedrelocation will be challenging andresource-intensive. Thus it will benecessary to establish inter-gardencooperative agreements, working groups,and databases. However a number of
program relevant to conservation orecology (BGCI GardenSeach Database2013)4. In addition, the botanical gardencommunity will need to refine protocolsfor prioritizing species of conservationconcern, and managing the geneticintegrity of their living collections. Thiswill require greater integration betweentheir conservation, horticulture andecology programs. These are importantareas for improvement that arenecessary for chaperoning the migrationof species in response to climate change(Hanspach et al., 2008).
An integrated strategy
We believe chaperoned assistedmigration will be most effective if it is partof an integrated conservation strategy
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)21
Delphinium variegatum
Box 2: What species are good candidates for chaperoned managedrelocation?
Some species will be inherently insensitive to climate change, especially if theylive in habitats that will be relatively unaffected by climate (e.g., freshwatersprings). Other species will be able to migrate adequately to stay within theirpreferred climate. In general, good candidates for chaperoned managedrelocation are species that are:
• sensitive to climate change; • unable to migrate; • rare and either declining or not reproducing in the wild; • are not responding to other conservation measures; • and are difficult to store in seed banks because their seeds are on the
recalcitrant end of the orthodox-recalcitrant spectrum.
Identification of candidate species is a difficult but necessary task beforeinvesting resources in a program of chaperoned managed relocation.
There are several frameworks for assessing species’ vulnerability to climatechange. In the US, one of the most commonly used frameworks is NatureServe’sClimate Change Vulnerability Index (http://www.natureserve.org/prodServices/climatechange/ccvi.jsp ), which estimates vulnerability using species’ dispersalability, exposure to past climatic variability, dependence on other species (likepollinators), restriction of specific habitats, and genetic variation (if known).
Other vulnerability assessments use species distribution modeling to estimateexposure to climate change. These can be incorporated with methods like thoseused by NatureServe to estimate overall vulnerability to climate change.
Risks to the system from which plants are taken must also be assessed. In somecases threatened animals may depend on target plant species. Likewise, theremay be cultural objections to moving plants from/into a location. These methodsdo not necessarily incorporate current threats to species (e.g. by invasivespecies). In some instances climate change could actually alleviate threats tosome species (e.g., by disfavoring an invasive herbivore), but in many cases theymay also worsen current threats.
national and regional botanic gardennetworks already exist that could providethe institutional framework for the transferof species within countries or regions.
Gardens must also balance conservationwith all other mission objectives.Furthermore, there is likely to be a needfor the further development of capacityin many gardens, especially inconservation and invasive speciesmanagement. However, we also seepromise in the network and expertisethat gardens offer to support programsof assisted migration.
Discussion paper
A discussion paper providing furtherdetails of the proposed chaperonedmanaged relocation plan, as well as anexample of how this might work inpractice – the case of Trifoliumstoloniferum (Running buffalo clover) - is available on the BGCL website. Please visit: http://www.bgci.org/climate/chaperoned-migration/
Citations
, Corlett R.T. and Westcott, D.A. 2013.Will plant movements keep up withclimate change? Trends in Ecologyand Evolution 28:482-488.
, Hanspach, J., Kühn, I., Pyšek, P., Boos,E., and Klotz, S. 2008. Correlates ofnaturalization and occupancy ofintroduced ornamentals in Germany.Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolutionand Systematics 10:241-250.
T., Phillips, O. L., and Williams, S. E.2004. Extinction risk from climatechange. Nature 427:145-148.
, Walters, C., Berjak, P., Pammenter, N.,Kennedy, K. and Raven, P. 2013.Preservation of recalcitrant seeds.Science 339: 915-916.
, Webber, B.L., Scott, J.K., and Didham,R.K. 2011. Translocation or bust! Anew acclimatization strategy for the21st century? Trends in Ecology andEvolution 26:495-496.
Adam B. Smith and Matthew A. AlbrechtCentre for Conservation andSustainable DevelopmentMissouri Botanical GardenPOB 299, St LouisMO 63199, USA
Notes
1 http://www.anbg.gov.au/anpc/publications/
translocation.html2 http://www.issg.org/pdf/publications/
Heywood&Sharrock-2013.pdf3 Any garden reporting a positive response to the
“Invasive Species Monitoring” or “Invasive
Species Policy” fields in the GardenSearch
database were assumed to screen for
invasiveness and/or have an invasives policy.
4 Any garden reporting a positive response to
“Conservation Program”, “Ex Situ Program”,
“Reintroduction Program”, “Conservation
Biology”, “Conservation Genetics”, “Ecology”,
“Ecosystem Conservation”, “Invasives Species
Biology”, “Pollination Biology”, “Restoration
Ecology”, “Land Restoration”, or “Plant
Pathology” fields were assumed to have scientific
experience in conservation biology or ecology.
, Muller, J.M. and Hellmann, J.J. 2008.An assessment of invasion risk fromassisted migration. ConservationBiology 22:562-567.
, Primack, R.B. and Miller-Rushing, A. J.2009. The role of botanical gardens inclimate change research. NewPhytologist 182: 303-313.
, Schwartz, M.W. and Martin, T.G. Inpress. Translocation of imperiledspecies under changing climates.Annals of the New York Academy ofSciences.
, Thomas, C. D., Cameron, A., Green, R.E., Bakkenes, M., Beaumont, L. J.,Collingham, Y. C., Erasmus, B. F. N., deSiqueira, M. F., Grainger, A., Hannah,L., Hughes, L., Huntley, B., vanJaarsveld, A. S., Midgley, G. F., Miles,L., Ortega-Huerta, M. A., Peterson, A.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)22
Echinacea tennesseensis was successfully reintroduced into the wild and is grown as wild-collectedspecimens in botanical gardens beyond its native historic range
Pennisetum villosum and Oxalis pes-caprae have long distance propagation modes, enabling themto escape readily from planting sites (O. Filippi).
Introduction
For many years botanical gardenshave been recognized as theguardians of knowledge about
plants. Compiling specimens from allover the world in their collections, bothpreserved in their herbaria, or alive intheir gardens, they attracted and housedresearchers and experts. This work ofbotanical gardens generated much oftoday’s knowledge of plants, and thiswas further transmitted to the widersociety through their education andoutreach programmes. However, this is about to change.
The way in which the information isgenerated and consumed by society haschanged dramatically in the last decade.With the advent of information andcommunication technologies (IT),especially with the “Internet boom”, we are facing a new kind of science -“Network Science” (Nielsen, 2011), and also a new kind of society.
Botanists and computers
Botanists have been exploring the use ofcomputers for quite some time. Forexample, in 1962 the paper “Data-processing for the Atlas of the BritishFlora” was presented at a symposiumentitled “The applications of data-processing methods to research in thebiological sciences”, sponsored by theAmerican Society of Plant Taxonomists,the Botanical Society of America andEcological Society of America; inCorvallis, Oregon, USA (Perring, 1963).Since then, huge progress has beenmade, especially during the 1980s and‘90s. In December 1982, the SystematicsAssociation held an internationalsymposium on Databases in Systematicswhere Allkin and Bisby (1984) noted:
educational association affiliated to theInternational Union of BiologicalSciences aimed to promote the widerand more effective dissemination ofinformation about the world’s heritage of biological organisms for the benefit of society at large.
The capacity and competence of theearly pioneers in biological databasespermeated through the institutions wherethey worked and resulted in thedevelopment of new departments of“Scientific Information” and "BiodiversityInformatics". Today this interfacebetween information science andbiodiversity has become of greatstrategic importance to many botanicgardens and their staff have become
“ ...The feeling that we were
experiencing a period of rapid
technological development,
particularly in the effectiveness
of small computers and the
availability of database
software...”Following that, the first meeting of theTaxonomic Databases Working Group(TDWG), was held at the Conservatoireet Jardin Botaniques, in Geneva,Switzerland, in September 1985 toestablish international collaborationamong biological database projects.TDWG, a not for profit scientific and
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 27-2923
CULTIVATING BITS AND BYTES
Author: Eduardo Dalcin
Scientists working on the Brazilian Flora Checklist Online.
experts in the field of ‘biodiversityinformatics’ - a new term coined around1992 by a Canadian Consortium(Berendsohn, 2013).
Bringing data sets together
More recently, botanic gardens haveused new biodiversity informaticstechnologies to consolidate, assembleand publish their vast knowledge of theworld’s plant diversity. Of particular noteare the efforts of the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew and the MissouriBotanical Garden, to publish in 2010“The Plant List” – the first ever list ofbotanical names of all known plantspecies. The Plant List was created bycombining multiple checklist data setsheld by these institutions and othercollaborators.
“The Plant List was created in responseto Target 1 of the Global Strategy forPlant Conservation (GSPC), which calledfor a widely accessible working list ofknown plant species to be created by2010. It is available on–line atwww.theplantlist.org”
Version 1.1, of the Plant List, which wasreleased in September 2013, includesnew data sets, updated versions of theoriginal data sets and improvedalgorithms to resolve logical conflicts
was adopted, with sixteen updatedglobal targets for plant conservation,including Target 1 of developing, by2020, an online Flora of all known plants.
In response to this, a document “A World Flora Online by 2020: a discussion document on plans for theachievement of Target 1 of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation by 2020”was prepared by the Missouri BotanicalGarden, the New York Botanical Garden,the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh,and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.This led to the launch of the World FloraOnline in India, at an event held duringCOP 11 in October, 2012.
The first World Flora Online (WFO)Meeting was held at Missouri BotanicalGarden, USA, in July 2012. On thatoccasion, the participating institutionswere invited to sign a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU), in order tocompose an “informal internationalconsortium to facilitate the achievementof a World Flora Online by 2020”.
between those data sets. Version 1.1.includes: 642 plant families, 17,020 plantgenera and 1,064,035 scientific plantnames of species rank. Of these 350,699are accepted species names and242,712 names are yet to be resolved.
Compiling a list of the accepted Latinname for most species, with links to allsynonyms by which that species hasbeen known, is a huge step towards ansystem that may offer a unique andstable reference to the taxonomicconcept which those names intend torepresent, allowing information andknowledge related to those taxaconcepts to be linked and broughttogether.
Beyond a list of plants
The tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention onBiological Diversity (COP 10) was held in Japan in 2010. At this meeting, a consolidated update to the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)24
Orchid specimens in the laboratories of theXishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Gardens (Barney Wilczak)
Examining plant labels at Auckland Botanic Garden, New Zealand
The MoU also provides an expression of interest for organizations to becomeinvolved in an international World FloraOnline (WFO) project .
At that meeting also, two working groupswere created in order to define thetechnology and taxonomic aspects of the WFO implementation.
The massive presence of botanic gardeninstitutions (Berlin, Edinburgh, Geneva,Kew, Missouri, New York and Rio deJaneiro), in the Technical Working Groupreflects the high level of BiodiversityInformatics capacity and competenceamongst these institutions.
Looking to the future
Initiatives such as The Plant List and The World Flora Online will have a hugeimpact on conservation projects, wheresuch authoritative databases will offer a ‘one-stop-shop’ to access the bestavailable information on the world’splants.
One example is the on-going work onthreat assessments of Brazilian plants,which is coordinated by the NationalCenter of Flora Conservation -CNCFlora, in Rio de Janeiro BotanicalGarden, Brazil. This relies heavily on theBrazilian Flora Checklist Online in orderto compile all the information availableabout the assessed species. In turn, theBrazilian Flora Online will make animportant contribution to the World FloraOnline.
infrastructure of biodiversity information,where the most optimistic envisage anera where an efficient monitoring ofbiodiversity will promote and ensure theeffective conservation, and sustainableand fair use of biodiversity for all.
References
, Allkin, R., and Bisby, F. 1984.Databases in Systematics. TheSystematics Association SpecialVolume No. 26.
, Berendsohn, W. 2013. Apr 14.“Biodiversity Informatics”, The Term.Retrieved from Botanischer Gartenund Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem: http://archive.today/i4DJd
, Nielsen, M. 2011. ReinventingDiscovery: The New Era of NetworkedScience. Princeton University Press.
, Perring, F. 1963. Data-Processing forthe Atlas of the British Flora. Taxon,12(5).
Eduardo DalcinInstituto de Pesquisas JardimBotânico do Rio de JaneiroDiretoria de PesquisasNúcleo de Computação Científica eGeoprocessamentoRua Pacheco Leao 915, JardimBotânicoRio de Janeiro22460-030 Brazil
In this new world, where computers talkto each other, bits and bytes flowthrough an overwhelming network ofhigh tech hardware which embracesevery almost every corner of the planet.Data readily reaches millions ofhouseholds, through a myriad ofhandheld devices and mobile phones.Botanic gardens have been part of thisrevolution – and have learned – and arestill learning new tricks to reach theiraudience.
From being amongst the pioneers of the biodiversity informatics revolution,botanic gardens are today becoming the one of the pillars of a global
25
World Flora Online Meeting, July 2012
World Flora Online Technical Working Group Edinburgh, November 2013
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)
Plant collections held by botanicgardens perform valuable roles.They can be used to improve
human well-being (e.g. Waylen, 2006), or contribute towards the conservationof threatened species (e.g. Sharrock &Jones, 2009) and ecosystems (e.g. Yu etal., 2008). They also provide invaluable
Argentina, Australia (12), Austria (2),Azerbaijan, Belgium (2), Brazil, Bulgaria,Canada (6), Chile, China (8), Colombia,Denmark, Ethiopia (2), Finland, France(4), Georgia, Germany (5), Greece,Hungary, Iceland, India (3), Italy (3),Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico (8),Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands (4), NewZealand (6), Nigeria, Poland (5), Portugal(4), Romania, Russia (9), Singapore,Slovakia, South Africa (3), South Korea(3), Spain (3), Switzerland (2), Turkey,United Kingdom (20), Ukraine, UnitedStates of America (41).
The distribution of responses broadlyreflected the known global distribution ofbotanic gardens previously displayedgraphically in cartograms (BGCI, 2007)
material to support plant research (Craneet al. 2011). To facilitate the preparationof a forthcoming update of the DarwinTechnical Manual for Botanic Gardens, aquestionnaire was developed to discovermore about these globally rich andvaried living collections. The informationbelow highlights the preliminary resultsfrom this questionnaire.
A global response
The survey was promoted by a numberof organisations and networks includingBGCI, the Mexican Association ofBotanic Gardens, the American PublicGardens Association and PlantNetworkin the UK. It was greeted enthusiasticallyby members of these networks withgreat willingness to take part asindicated by the number of enquires andresponses received between 30th Apriland 5th June, 2014. In total, 176institutions responded. Five gave datarepresenting multiple gardens (e.g. theNational Trust in the UK and the SouthAfrican National Biodiversity Institute)that increased the number ofparticipatory gardens to 349. To avoidbiasing results it was decided that theresults would reflect individualinstitutions rather than individualgardens, although in the majority ofinstances an institution comprises asingle garden.
In total 44 countries responded (Fig. 1),these included: (The numbers inbrackets denote the number ofinstitutions taking part from each country- if greater than one).
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 03-0826
A GLOBAL SURVEY OFLIVING COLLECTIONS
Author: Dave Aplin
Evaluating plant collections can significantly contribute to the efficient use of
limited funds – but relatively few botanic gardens carry out such evaluations.
NorthAmerica
27%
South America 7%
Asia10%
Africa 10%
Australasia9%
Europe42%
Figure 1: Location of gardens responding to the surveyby continent using the United Nation’s classification ofcountries by major area and region of the world.
with the United States of America andthe United Kingdom providing mostresponses (Fig. 2). This value may alsohave been biased because thequestionnaire was conducted in Englishwhich is an official language in only nineof the responding countries.
What do botanic gardens see astheir main roles?
The questionnaire asked institutions toindicate their main role(s). Four possibleoptions were provided: education;research; conservation; and a free textfield ‘other’. Each garden had an optionto rank these in order of importance,provide joint ranking where appropriateor dismiss an option if it was feltunimportant. In the design of the surveyit was decided that horticultural displaywould be a key element that all gardensshare, for this reason it was notspecifically highlighted in this question.
Overall, respondent gardens highlightededucation as their most important rolewith conservation highlighted as a closesecond (Fig. 3). It is therefore evident thatrespondent gardens view both educationand plant conservation important topicsto focus their attentions. Predictably,research came third as this pursuit oftenlends itself to larger, established gardenswith strong academic links.
Among the roles listed under the freetext ‘other’ category were: botanical
41 institutions were unable to provide afigure for the total number of accessionsgrown, the main reason given wasproblems with consulting the plantrecords database for this information.
Verification and provenance
Growing a diverse range of plantmaterial is important for many gardensbut also of significance is whether anaccession has been formally verified andits origin recorded. These factors areespecially important for institutionsinvolved in conservation and research.
reference, cemetery operation,collecting, cultural, display, ecotourism,historical estate preservation, outreach,passive recreation, production forpropagation, restoration of mind andspirit, tourism, urban oasis and well-being.
Quantifying plant diversity
This part of the questionnaireconcentrated on the number ofaccessions cultivated in gardens and onthe number of accessions grown atdifferent taxonomic hierarchies.
In total 1,786,917 accessions wererecorded in cultivation from 135 (74%) of the 176 responding institutions.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 03-0827
Figure 2: Global distribution of botanic gardens. The cartogram re-sizes territory according to the number ofbotanic gardens within a given area. A large number of botanic gardens in Europe shows a ballooning of thiscontinent, contrasted by the situation in Africa. Map data was obtained from the BGCI GardenSearch databaseand IUCN’s list of plant species per country (1997). (url ref: www.worldmapper.org/images/largepng/271a.png:Also used in Cuttings Vol 4 (3) 2007)
Figure 3: The importance of education, conservationand research as a main function. In order to reflectthe bias between the recorded priorities for eachrole the results have been weighted. The mostimportant role(s) for each institute were allocatedfour points, with those ranked second given threepoints; and those placed third two points. Thesevalues were then totalled and expressed as apercentage. In this survey it is possible for a singleinstitute to list more than one role as mostimportant. A total of 97% of respondentshighlighted their main role(s).
Research27% Education
38%
Conservation35%
CRITERIA Highest Lowest Average % respondentsvalue value answering
No. accessions 225,989 6 13,537 74
No. families 347 12 170 92
No. genera 3,800 42 938 92
No. species 16,613 78 3,251 90
No. taxa 32,539 8 5,267 81
Table 1. Accession and taxonomic hierarchies for plants cultivated in botanical institutions. Values highlightthe highest, lowest and average values recorded. In each criterion the percentage of institutions answeringthe specific question is provided.
Living collections policies andevaluationThe final two questions of the surveyrelated to the Living Collections Policy(LCP) and collection evaluation. The LCPquestion was specifically worded: ‘Doesyour institution have a comprehensivelywritten Living Collections’ Policy thatinvolved multiple stakeholders in itspreparation and is easily accessible tostaff’. This question was answered by99% of respondents with 39% confirmingthat they did have a collections policy(Table 3). The final question looked atevaluating the collection with thequestion: ‘Does your garden undertakeauditing or evaluation of the livingcollections?’ and asked for details for thetype of evaluation. In most cases thedetails provided were targeted at routinecuratorial practices, such as makinginventories and checking the health of thecollection. Only a few (20%) respondedwith examples that demonstrated asystematic approach to assess the valueof collections (Table 3).
These criteria gave the lowest responserates of the questionnaire with only 55 –62% of respondents answering thequestions (see Table 2). Reasons for thelack of information included problemsretrieving information from plant recorddatabases, and information on writtenrecords which were not easily calculable.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 03-0828
1-100
101-200
201-300
40
30
20
10
0
50
60
70
80
201-300
Grouped number of plant families
Num
ber o
f bot
anic
al in
stitu
tions
Left: Figure 4: The distribution of plant families(grouped in 100s) cultivated at 161 respondinginstitutions. Most (118) institutions have between101-300 plant families in collection, where only afew (9) had over 300 families represented. Thegardens of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh hadthe highest number of plant families (347) withBotanic Garden Meise, Belgium the greatest numberfor a single garden (345).
1-500 501-1000
1001-2000
40
30
20
10
0
50
60
70
80
2001-3000
3001-4000
Grouped number of plant genera
Num
ber o
f bot
anic
al in
stitu
tions
Below left: Figure 5: The distribution of plant genera(grouped in 1000s) cultivated at 161 institutions.142 institutions had less than 2001 genera incollection. The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical BotanicGarden and Research Institute, India had the largestnumber of genera in cultivation with 3,800.
CRITERIA Highest Lowest Average % for respondent % respondentsvalue value institutes answering
Accessions verified 37,269 0 4,129 32 58
Accessions wild (W) 41,303 0 2,334 14 62
Accessions wild (Z) 34,090 0 1,038 6 55
Table 2. Highest, lowest, average values for all respondent gardens for verified accessions and wild and in-direct wild origin accessions. The total number ofaccessions in each criteria were totalled and expressed as a percentage of the total number of accessions provided (percentage for respondent institutions). In eachcriterion the percentage of institutions answering the specific criterion question is provided. (W) = direct wild origin; (Z) = indirect wild origin.
Discussion
Conducting a survey over a brief periodprovides a snapshot of the global extentof living collections in a particulartimeframe and generates baseline dataagainst which to compare changes incollection demographics in the future. It was the intention that the survey would actively contribute towards thedevelopment of the forthcomingtechnical manual and potentiallyhighlight real issues for plantconservation. The use of ex situ plantmaterial for conservation (and research)relies on two fundamental principles: the names on the labels being correct(verified) and the accession havingsufficient associated data to be useful.
Target 8 of the Global Strategy for PlantConservation calls for 75% of threatenedplant species to be in ex situ collectionsby 2020. BGCI’s PlantSearch databaseis considered a valuable tool to monitorprogress towards Target 8 by recordingthe number of threatened plants in exsitu collections. However, this surveyillustrates the need to use the databasewith caution. If, as these current resultssuggest, an average of only 14% ofaccessions in collections are from knownwild origin and only 32% of accessionsare verified, many plants in collectionsmay not be of great conservation value.Because of this the true plight of sometaxa may be unwittingly masked, withthe database suggesting an over-estimate of the number of threatenedtaxa in collections that are legitimatelyfit-for-purpose with respect toconservation.
One of the mechanisms for helping tostrategically develop and maintain a plantcollection independent of staff is a LivingCollections Policy. From the gardenssurveyed only 39% had a written policy
Despite these limitations, the surveyresults did reveal some interestinginformation and it is hoped that this canbe used as a basis for furtherinvestigation and case studies aiding thetargeted approach to ex situconservation.
References
, Aplin, D.M. 2008. How useful arebotanic gardens for conservation?The Plantsman, Royal HorticulturalSociety 7: (3), 190 – 193.
, Aplin, D.M. 2013. Assets and liabilities:the need to evaluate living collections.Sibbaldia, Journal of Botanic GardenHorticulture, Royal Botanic GardenEdinburgh 11: 87-96.
, BGCI. 2007. Mapping biodiversity andbotanic gardens: Cartograms revealthe disparity. Cuttings, BotanicGardens Conservation InternationalQuarterly Newsletter. Vol. 4 (3) July,2007.
, Crane, P., Hopper, S., Raven, P.,Stevenson, D. 2001. Plant scienceresearch in botanic gardens. Trends inPlant Science, Vol. 14, (11) 575-577.
, Sharrock, S. and Jones, M. 2009.Conserving Europe’s threatened plants:Progress towards Target 8 of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation.Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational, Richmond, UK.
, Waylen, K. 2006. Botanic Gardens:using biodiversity to improve humanwell-being. Botanic GardensConservation International, Richmond,UK.
, Yu. N., Gorbunov, D.S., Dzybov, Z.E.,Kuzmin, I.A. and Smirnov, I. 2008.Methodological Recommendations for Botanic Gardens on theReintroduction of Rare andThreatened Plants. Grif & Co. BotanicGardens Conservation International.
Dave AplinBotanicalValues6 Greenford View, Higher FromeVauchurchDorchester, DorsetDT2 0AS UK
that involved multiple stakeholders in its preparation and was easily accessibleto staff. One of those that did not wasBotanischer Garten und BotanischesMuseum Berlin-Dahlem. This gardenhowever, has developed ‘collectionconcept’ documents that highlight the use and objectives of plant holdings inaccordance with focal areas in research,conservation and education (pers. comm.,Albert-Dieter Stevens, 09/05/2014).
Evaluating plant collections (notincluding routine curatorial activities)occurs in only 1 in every 5 institutions.This is surprising because theinstitutions that have undergone thisprocess (e.g. Botanic Garden Meise,Montgomery Botanical Center) havefound the results revealing andinvaluable (see Aplin, 2008, 2013) andsignificantly contribute to the efficientuse of limited funds.
Limitations of the survey
• The survey was conducted in Englishonly and this may have excludedsome respondents.
• The analysis looked at the entireholdings of each respondent gardenand there was no allowance forinvestigating increased bias towardswild-gathered accessions or targetedverification in recent years.
• There was no account for data qualityin the survey, some accessions listedas wild-gathered may have scant orno associated data.
• Wild-collected plants and verificationare two different processes which arereported separately. It is not possibleto report the percentage of verifiedand wild-gathered material withoutfurther investigation.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 03-0829
CRITERIA % answering % respondents‘yes’ answering
LCP 39 99
Evaluations 20 73
Table 3. Highlights the percentage of institutions answering ‘yes’ to a Living Collection’s Policy (LCP) andconducting some type of evaluation of the collection that is not considered routine curatorial practice. ‘%respondents answering’ refers to the percentage of institutions from the total answering these specific questions.
Introduction
Plant Heritage, a UK & Ireland basedmembership charity whichpromotes conservation through
cultivation, has been preserving cultivars,amongst other taxonomic levels, inNational Plant Collections® since the1980s. Since 2009, through ourThreatened Plants Project we have beenparticularly concentrating on cultivars.We are listing, genus by genus, all named
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) • 23-2630
CULTIVAR CONSERVATIONIN THE UK
Authors: Kalani Seymour and Sophie Leguil
Assessing the plant collections at Cambridge University Botanic Garden
cultivars ever grown in gardens in the UK& Ireland; identifying those which are sorare as to be threatened; amassing dataindicating their Plant Heritage Value, anew, broad measure of conservationworthiness (Seymour, 2012); andpromoting practical conservation of themost worthy.
The worth of cultivars derives from boththeir biological diversity and the culturalheritage which they represent and
embody. Although wild plantconservation has been practised fordecades, it was not until 2010 that AichiTarget 13 of the Strategic Plan forBiodiversity 2011-2020 recognised theglobal conservation importance ofcultivated plants: safeguarding geneticdiversity “including other socio-economically as well as culturallyvaluable species”.
Cultivated plant rarity and therefore levelof threat, we have stated (Morris et al2010), derives from commercialavailability and whether it still exists ingardens. Cultivars, of course, are notpresent in the wild to go back to. We usethe RHS Plant Finder to measureavailability (which goes back as far as1987 when it was published by theHardy Plant Society), as many gardenplant records as we can access, and theRHS Horticultural Database andInternational Cultivar RegistrationAuthorities to check nomenclature andusage.
In brief, two-thirds of cultivars found inthe UK and Ireland are threatened; nearlyhalf of these are Critical in cultivation(CRic) – i.e. not found growing; over halfare Endangered in cultivation (ENic) –that is only recorded at 1 or 2 gardensites, and not readily available fromnurseries. We would like to seethreatened plants surviving at aminimum of 3 sites, and therefore merelybe categorised as Vulnerable incultivation (VUic). This may be achievedwithin a single organisation with multiplesites – see examples later.
1Find out more at http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/index.php.
Databases provide an essential tool in identifying
threatened cultivars in garden collections
Gathering external plant records
BGCI helped us trial a dataset extractedfrom the PlantSearch database1 in early2012. At that time cultivar names wereoften not recognised in the importfunction, leading to lack ofcompleteness in uploaded plant records.We applaud the recent announcement ofPlantSearch using more names from theRHS Horticultural Database in order,inter alia, to facilitate the management ofcultivar names (David & Wilson 2013).
The Multisite search hosted by the RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh2 has beenextremely useful for querying RBGE, RHSand Hillier Gardens live plant records inone portal, as has ePIC from Kew3. Wealso used the self-hosted data atNational Botanic Garden Glasnevin andKilmacurragh4 and from Cardiff Parks5.Because these are freely available online,we have been able to use volunteersworking remotely to carry out collectionschecking for the presence of threatenedcultivars and the discovery of previouslyunrecorded potentially rare cultivars.
We used BGCI’s GardenSearchdatabase6 to enable a volunteer, GaryJones at Plumpton College, to requestcultivar-only plant records from manypublic gardens in the UK & Ireland. Healso contacted PlantNetwork membersand was successful in acquiring full orpartial cultivar records from over ahundred organisations. Records havebeen received in a variety of formats,such as paper lists, Microsoft Excelspreadsheets or database extracts.These are kept confidential in the officeand used for the purposes of the project.
Including those for our own NationalPlant Collections®, Plant Exchange andPlant Guardians7, we currently hold plant
Eleven percent (1,808) of threatenedcultivars have been found in botanicgardens, despite a traditional focus onwild taxa: 562 at Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew and Wakehurst Place, 471 at RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh’s fourgardens, 272 at National Botanic GardenGlasnevin and Kilmacurragh, 159 at theNational Botanic Garden of Wales, 118at Cambridge University Botanic Garden,as well as 78 at Sheffield BotanicGarden, 75 at the University of OxfordBotanic Garden and 73 at St AndrewsBotanic Garden (Fig.1).
Gardens planned for aesthetic appealand historic plantings also contain manythreatened cultivars, a total of 39%(6,611): mainly RHS gardens 2,699,Hilliers 1,105, National Trust 478,National Trust for Scotland 340,Yorkshire Arboretum 283, Eden Project228, Exbury Gardens 217, Savill & ValleyGardens 198, Bressingham 136 andHigh Beeches Garden 100.
records from 819 garden sites orconservation schemes, many updatedwithin the last year. In the future, wehope to acquire even more from botanicand university gardens, local councils orplantsman’s gardens, so please feel freeto send us your records of cultivars heldin gardens open to the public in the UKor Ireland.
A list of threatened cultivars
The first ever A-Z list of cultivarsthreatened in cultivation in the UK &Ireland has just been published on thePlant Heritage website8.
There are more than a thousand generawith cultivars commercially available inthe UK & Ireland. To date 363 generahave been listed by the project, of which273 have been assessed for theexistence of threatened cultivars, andthese names are being checked. Thepublished list contains 126 genera fromAbelia to Zingiber.
We are investigating the future use ofScratchpads9, the Natural HistoryMuseum’s open biodiversity platform, topublish and share the list of threatenedcultivars and other information that wehave collected, such as pictures orhistoric data. However, integration hasproven difficult to date as cultivatedplant names come in a wide variety offormats.
Evaluating conservation status
We evaluate conservation status fromrecorded presence in gardens:threatened cultivars recorded as growingin gardens are Endangered, or, seldom,Vulnerable.
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)31
Pulmonaria ‘Red Freckles’ (RHS/Carol Sheppard)
Figure 1: The percentage of threatened plantsgrowing in different types of collections
Accession screen for Pulmonaria ‘Red Freckles’
National PlantCollections®Other gardens
andconservation
schemes
Botanicgardens
National Plant Collections safeguard50% all the threatened cultivars thathave been found growing, 8,464.
National Plant CollectionsNational Collection Holders use a varietyof information curation formats led byMicrosoft Excel, Word and Access andtheir Mac and open versions, and manypaper based methods (e.g. card indexes,bound notebooks, herbarium sheets,leaflets, printed catalogues). Othermethods include Demeter (a proprietarydatabase still used by English Heritageand National Trust for Scotland),Persephone (recently developed byother Collection Holders), BG-Base,IrisBG, Arboretum DB, BG-Recorder,Brahms, Cactusbasepro, Dataease,Growmaster, Omnis 7, and their ownwebsites.
Early results of the projectcommunicated to both potential andexisting National Collection Holders haveenabled them to take propagationmeasures for the plants that are uniquelyheld, and acquire threatened cultivarsthat they did not yet grow, thusincreasing the conservation value of theircollections.
making it easier for gardeners, curatorsand Plant Records officers to keep track of this valuable genetic resource.This has resulted in renewed interest and enthusiasm amongst seniormanagement for actively supportingconservation of these threatenedcultivars within the four RHS gardens.
National Trust
The National Trust is a non-governmental conservation charitywhose purpose is to look after places ofhistoric interest or natural beauty acrossEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland forthe benefit of the nation. The Trust ownsover 200 historic houses with gardens,many of which contain National PlantCollections, some established as earlyas 1981. In 2012, a 5 acre purpose-builtfacility, the Plant Conservation Centre,was opened to propagate and distributehistorically or botanically important, rareor threatened plants from originalspecimens in Trust gardens and parks.Contract propagation is also available.
So far, 436 different cultivars assessedas rare enough to be threatened havebeen recorded as growing at 87 NationalRHS
The RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) is a UK-based charitable organisation thatowns four demonstration gardens, holdsseasonal plant shows and events, andprovides a wealth of horticultural expertiseto professionals and amateurs alike.
Rupert Wilson, one of the HorticulturalInformation team at RHS Garden Wisley,has helped the work of the project byproviding data exports from the RHSPlant Finder dataset, part of the RHSHorticultural Database. The RHS, whichmakes the living collections informationfrom its four gardens generally availablethrough the RBGE Multisite search aswell as BGCI PlantSearch, providedadditional information on request forthose genera with >200 taxa notsupported by online querying, regardingwhich gardens threatened plants arelocated in. The RHS’ flagship garden atWisley turns out to be the single richestsite for threatened cultivars: 2,333 taxa, ofwhich more than 1,000 are uniquely held.
The RHS Horticultural Database has nowbeen updated to highlight these cultivarswithin the living collections tables,
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2)32
Chrysanthemum ‘Cottage Lemon’ CR originally obtained from NCH Judy Barker
Fuchsia Overbeck Ruby
Trust properties, 82 of which are heldwithin existing National PlantCollections®. 180 cultivars have beenfound nowhere else to date.
The National Trust plant curation teamhas started flagging on their databasecultivars that have been assessed asThreatened by the project, in order toprioritise which plants to propagate firstto make sure they are not lost tocultivation. At their Head GardenersConference in August 2013, a tabulationof significant plants across 100properties included 970 Plant HeritageThreatened cultivars alongside severalthousand of National Trust specificvalue. Survey work and upload ofexisting survey data is ongoing.
Botanic Gardens
If you send us a cultivar list, we willreturn a report of threatened plantsincluding those unique to your garden(which enables you to check whetherthey are still alive and take conservationmeasures if applicable), and addpreviously unrecorded names to thenational threatened list.
Many cultivars which at first appear rareand therefore threatened are in factcommon plants, but entered intodatabases with somewhat varyingnames. This variability of names (forexample, typographical transpositions of
reconvenes on 1st October at RHSGarden, Harlow Carr10. We will be thereas will representatives from the RHS andthe National Trust’s Plant ConservationCentre.
References
, Morris, M., Upson, T., Buffin, M. &David, J. 2010. Prioritisation for theconservation of cultivated plants – anew approach. Sibbaldia 8: 111-112.
, Seymour, K. 2012. Conservingcultivars. The Plantsman n.s.11(3):154-159. Available as adownload from the Plant Heritagewebsite http://www.nccpg.com/Conservation-resources/TPP/Conserving-cultivars-Plantsman-September-2012.aspx.
, David, J.C. and Wilson, R.G. 2013.RHS Horticultural Informaticscollaborate with Botanic GardensConservation International on PlantSearch. RHS Science NewsletterOctober 2013 issue 18 page 7.
Kalani Seymour and Sophie LeguilThreatened Plants ProjectCoordinatorsPlant Heritage, 12 Home Farm, Loseley Park, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1HS [email protected]
Notes
1 http://www.bgci.org/plant_search.php2 http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/multisite/
multisite3.php3 http://epic.kew.org4 http://www.botanicgardens.ie/nbg/cat.htm5 http://apps2.cardiff.gov.uk/plantguide/6 http://www.bgci.org/garden_search.php7 www.nccpg.com8 http://www.nccpg.com/tpp/Technical-data.aspx9 http://www.scratchpads.eu/10 http://plantnetwork.org/?p=13172
letters or phonetic transcribing of cultivarepithets, as well as valid nomenclaturalcorrections) makes it difficult fordatabase-only curation and identificationof threatened plants.
Other gardens
Smaller gardens and conservationschemes play an active role in thepreservation of threatened cultivars, as they often grow plants of historicaland local importance.
Goals
Our aim is to return Threatened plantsfrom Critical to Endangered, andEndangered to Vulnerable, and ifpossible to no longer Threatened; or to document if they are not worthy of further conservation: for examplewrongly named, lookalikes, orsuperseded breeders’ experiments.
Since plants which are Endangered incultivation are most frequently found atonly one garden site, every new partnerand location is extremely helpful, and welook forward to working more closelywith BGCI and many others in the future.
More about plant records
Find out more at the PlantNetworkmeeting Rethinking Plant Records,where the Plant Records Group
BGCI • 2014 • BGjournal • Vol 11 (2) 33
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The scientific program will be in line with the new version of The European Botanic GardensAction Plan which will be officially launched during the Conference Agenda.
To register your interest, please contact [email protected]. The Conference website will be available shortly.
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