探花直播 of Cambridge - Samuel Brockington

Botanic Gardens must team up to save wild plants from extinction

jg533 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:01:55 +0000

A major study of botanic gardens around the world has revealed their struggles with one fundamental aim: to safeguard the world鈥檚 most threatened plants from extinction.

Researchers analysed a century鈥檚 worth of records - from 1921 to 2021 - from fifty botanic gardens and arboreta currently growing half a million plants, to see how the world鈥檚 living plant collections have changed over time.聽

探花直播results suggest that the world鈥檚 living collections have collectively reached peak capacity, and that restrictions on wild plant collecting around the world are hampering efforts to gather plant diversity on the scale needed to study and protect it.

There is little evidence that institutions are managing to conserve threatened plants within collections, on a global scale, despite accelerating rates of elevated extinction risk.

探花直播findings imply that tackling the loss of biodiversity has not been prioritised across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens as a collective - a fact the researchers say must be urgently addressed.

Curator of Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden Professor Samuel Brockington, who led the work, said: 鈥淎 concerted, collaborative effort across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants, and to make them available for research and future reintroduction into the wild.鈥�

In their report, published聽in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the researchers say the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has effectively halved the level at which plants are being collected from the wild, and also created obstacles to the international exchange of plants.

Brockington, who is also Professor of Evolution in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Plant Sciences, said: 鈥� 探花直播impact of the Convention on Biological Diversity is a remarkable demonstration of the power and value of international agreements. But it seems to be preventing individual botanic gardens from working with many globally threatened plant species that we could help save from extinction.鈥�

Collective thinking

As much as 40% of the world鈥檚 plant diversity is at elevated risk of extinction. Acceptance that individual collections have limited capacity to single-handedly prevent species extinction demands a rethink as to how they collaborate to store and safeguard diversity in living collections.

探花直播researchers say it will be vital for the living collections to be considered as a 鈥榤eta-collection鈥� in future: only by working closely together will the world鈥檚 botanic gardens be able to hold the range of plants needed to make a meaningful contribution to conservation efforts. This will include sharing data and expertise and supporting the development of new collections in the global south, where much of the world鈥檚 biodiversity is located.聽

探花直播researchers point out that some individual institutions, like the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, have successfully targeted and measurably conserved threatened conifer species. Similarly, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has established numerous global conservation consortia. However, these initiatives are the exception.

Wild decline

Plants must be regularly replaced or propagated within living collections: the average lifetime of a specimen is just 15 years. But the team鈥檚 analysis found that the number of wild-origin plants - those collected in the wild - in the collections peaked in 1993 and has been in decline ever since.聽

鈥淚t is certainly not getting any easier to sustain the diversity of our collections. This is especially true for wild-collected plants, and they鈥檙e the most valuable for us in terms for supporting research, and in finding solutions to the twin challenges of climate change and global biodiversity loss,鈥� said Brockington.

Weather worries

As climate change alters growing conditions in different regions of the world, it will become more challenging for individual botanic gardens to continue to grow such a diverse range of species.

Brockington said: 鈥淐limate change affects our work directly by altering local weather conditions - we鈥檝e already seen record-breaking temperatures in Cambridge in recent years. That鈥檚 going to affect how well our plants survive, so we need to think rationally and collectively about the best locations to hold different species across the global network of living collections.鈥澛�

On 25 July 2019, Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden reached 38.7⁰C - the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK at that time.

Diversity is key

Genetic diversity is important when it comes to protecting plants at risk of extinction, because it allows for breeding populations of species that can adapt to future challenges.

探花直播more individual plants of a particular species in a collection, the greater the genetic diversity is likely to be.聽

探花直播team says data from the International Conifer Conservation Programme, run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, shows that living collections can make a valuable contribution to conservation efforts - given the right resource and focus. By distributing threatened species across a network of safe sites, the trees are grown where they grow best, and as a whole they represent a strong sample of the genetic diversity of this important group.
Ethical collecting

Last year, Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden advertised for a new 鈥楨xpedition Botanist鈥� to lead global plant-collection expeditions and contribute to vital conservation efforts.聽

Brockington says these expeditions remain vital to work to safeguard and study the world鈥檚 plant species. He suggests that collaborative collecting work is possible, in a fair and ethical way, that builds equitable international partnerships.聽

探花直播CBD is a global agreement, signed by 150 government leaders in 1992, dedicated to promoting sustainable development. It makes each country responsible for protecting its own biodiversity, and supports fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of that biodiversity.

There are 3,500 botanic gardens and arboreta worldwide. They exist so that scientists can study, conserve and provide access to the world鈥檚 plants, as well as showcasing them to the public.

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a charity whose purpose is to mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

Reference: Cano, A. et al: 鈥�Insights from a century of data reveal global trends in ex situ living plant collections.鈥� Nature Ecology and Evolution, January 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02633-z
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探花直播world鈥檚 botanic gardens must pull together to protect global plant biodiversity in the face of the extinction crisis, amid restrictions on wild-collecting, say researchers.

A concerted, collaborative effort across the world鈥檚 botanic gardens is now needed to conserve a genetically diverse range of plants.

Samuel Brockington

Howard Rice

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Unveiling Darwin's treasures: specimens from historic voyage make television debut

jek67 — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:36:57 +0000

200-year-old plant specimens from the Voyage of the Beagle, held in the 探花直播's herbarium archives, make their television debut.

Planting ideas: Botanic Garden opens access with living collections portal

ta385 — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 07:30:00 +0000

A new聽web portal to Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden's聽entire living collection, 14,000 plants,聽aims to聽open access and fast-track urgent global research.

World's botanic gardens contain a third of all known plant species, and help protect the most threatened

fpjl2 — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 15:00:29 +0000

探花直播world's botanic gardens contain at least 30% of all known plant species, including 41% of all those classed as 'threatened', according to the most comprehensive analysis to date of diversity in 'ex-situ' collections: those plants conserved outside natural habitats.

探花直播study, published today in the journal聽Nature Plants, found that the global network of botanic gardens conserves living plants representing almost two-thirds of plant 'genera' (the classification above species) and over 90% of plant families.

However, researchers from the 探花直播 of Cambridge discovered a significant imbalance between temperate and tropical regions. 探花直播vast majority of all plants species grown ex-situ are held in the northern hemisphere.

Consequently, some 60% of temperate plant species were represented in botanic gardens but only 25% of tropical species, despite the fact that the majority of plant species are tropical.

For the study, researchers analysed datasets compiled by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). They cross-referenced the working list of known plant species 鈥撀燾urrently sitting at 350,699 鈥撀爓ith the species records of a third of botanic gardens on the planet, some 1,116 institutions. They say this provides a "minimum estimate" for the plant diversity held in botanic gardens.

However, while gardens hold approaching half all threatened species, just 10% of overall storage capacity is dedicated to such plants. 探花直播researchers argue that botanic gardens are of "critical importance to plant conservation", and internationally coordinated efforts are needed to house even more species at risk of extinction 鈥撀爌articularly those from tropical climates.

" 探花直播global network of botanic gardens is our best hope for saving some of the world's most endangered plants," said senior author Dr Samuel Brockington, a researcher at Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences as well as a curator at the 探花直播's own Botanic Garden.

"Currently, an estimated one fifth of plant diversity is under threat, yet there is no technical reason why any plant species should become extinct. Botanic gardens protect an astonishing amount of plant diversity in cultivation, but we need to respond directly to the extinction crisis.

"If we do not conserve our plant diversity, humanity will struggle to solve the global challenges of food and fuel security, environmental degradation, and climate change."

探花直播plants not currently grown in botanic gardens are often more interesting than those that are, say the researchers. Hydrostachys polymorpha, for example, an African aquatic plant that only grows in fast flowing streams and waterfalls, or the tiny parasitic plant Pilostyles thurberi 鈥撀爋nly a few millimetres long, it lives completely within the stem tissue of desert shrubs.

Species from the most ancient plant lineages, termed 'non-vascular' plants, are currently almost undocumented in botanic gardens 鈥撀爓ith as few as 5% of all species stored in the global network. These include plants such as the liverworts and mosses.

"Non-vascular species are the living representatives of the first plants to colonise the land," said Brockington. "Within these plants are captured key moments in the early evolutionary history of life on Earth, and they are essential for understanding the evolution of plants."

From the spectacular new Gardens by the Bay in Singapore to London's own legendary Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the world's botanic gardens collectively host 500 million visitors a year.

"As a professional community, botanic gardens conserve and manage a far greater array of plant diversity than any other sector. However, we still have much to do." said Dr Paul Smith, study co-author and Secretary General of BGCI.

"This study is extremely important because it will enable us to target our efforts much more effectively, and work together to ensure that plant species don't needlessly become extinct," Smith said.

探花直播most in-depth species survey to date finds an 鈥渁stonishing array鈥� of plant diversity in the global botanic garden network, including 41% of all endangered species. However, researchers find a significant imbalance between tropical and temperate plants, and say even more capacity should be given to conservation, as there is 鈥渘o technical reason for plant species to become extinct鈥�.

探花直播global network of botanic gardens is our best hope for saving some of the world's most endangered plants

Samuel Brockington

CUBG

Cambridge 探花直播 Botanic Garden (CUBG)

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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