BGjournal - Botanic Gardens Conservation International 2_1.… · BGjournal Journal of Botanic...

Special Island Biodiversity issue

BGjournalJournal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Volume 2 • Number 1 • January 2005

Admission is limited and competitive. Application deadline is March 1, 2005.

www.appliedplantconservation.org

and

present the

Applied Plant ConservationTraining Program

June 2005• Principles and techniques used in

the research and conservation of threatened plants

• One and two week seminars featuring the Centerfor Plant Conservation

• Eight week research internship

ForthcomingMeetings

January 24 – 28, 2005PARIS, FRANCE

Biodiversity: Science and Governance

This international conference is being held underthe high patronage of M. Jacques Chirac, Presidentof the French Republic, and Mr Koïchiro Matsuura -Director-general of UNESCO. For further information contact:[email protected], Internet: www.recherche.gouv.fr/biodiv2005paris

February 7 – 9, 2005LONDON, U.K.

Barcode conference - consortium for the barcode

of life (CBOL)

The First International Barcode Conference is beingorganised by CBOL, an international cooperativeeffort among natural history museums, herbaria,zoos, government agencies, research organisationsand private companies. Researchers, policy-makers, representatives of biotechnologycompanies and officials from applied scienceagencies (e.g. public health, agriculture,environment, conservation) are invited to attend.For details contact E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/BOL/

May 8 – 13, 2005BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

8th International Workshop on Seeds - Germinatingnew ideas

This workshop is being organised by theInternational Society for Seed Science. Forinformation, contact Allison Bertoni-Remmes orKrys Henshaw, Organisers Australia, PO Box 1237,Milton, QLD 4064, Australia. Tel: +61 7 3371 0333,Fax: +61 7 3371 0555, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.seedbio2005

June 29 – July 3, 2005CHICAGO, U.S.A.

American Association of Botanic Gardens andArboreta (AABGA) 2005 Annual ConferenceRooted in Your Community

The AABGA Conference will be held at the MortonArboretum, Chicago. For further information,contact Martez Taylor, AABGA Meetings Manager,100 West 10th Street, Suite 614, Wilmington, DE19801, U.S.A. Tel: +1 302-655-7100, ext 18, E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://aabga.org/

July 18 - 23, 2005VIENNA, AUSTRIA

XVII International Botanical Congress (IBC 2005)

The International Botanical Congress is held every sixyears and provides a forum for the presentation anddiscussion of the latest advances in plant sciencesworldwide. It follows the IBCXVI which was held in

France. Tel: + 33 1 45 25 95 25, Fax: + 33 1 42 88 94 31, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.diversitas-osc1.org/

June 19 - 25, 2006SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

IX Congress of the Latin American BotanicalSociety (IX Congreso Latinoamericano de Botánica)Contribuyendo al conocimiento global de la floranativa latinoamericana (Contributing to the globalknowledge of the native flora of Latin America)

The objectives of this Congress are to spreadinformation about the flora of Latin America and bringtogether the botanical community to develop plansfor the conservation and sustainable use of its flora.For further information, please contact SoniaLagos-Witte, President, AsociaciónLatinoamericano de Botánica - ALB andCoordinator, IX Congreso Latinoamericano deBotánica, Jardín Botánico Nacional, ApartadoPostal 21-9, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.Tel: +1 809 385 2611/2612, Fax: +1 809 385 0446, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.botanica-alb.org

St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. in August, 1999, whichpassed a resolution on the need for a Global Strategyfor Plant Conservation (GSPC). The Second Circularwas distributed in the summer of 2004.

For further information contact Prof. Dr MariannePopp, Institute of Botany, University of Vienna,Rennweg 14, A-1030 Vienna, Austria. Tel: +43-1-4277-54123, Fax: +43-1-4277-9541, E-mail: [email protected] [email protected], Internet: http://www.ibc2005.ac.at/

November 9 – 12, 2005OAXACA, MEXICO

First DIVERSITAS Open Science Conference (OSC)on BiodiversityIntegrating biodiversity science for human well-being

This conference, DIVERSITAS: OSC1 offers anopportunity to explore recent advances and probepressing issues across the breadth of biodiversityscience. For general enquiries about DIVERSITAS:OSC1, please contact the DIVERSITAS Secretariat,DIVERSITAS, 51, bd Montmorency, 75016 Paris,

Contents

0203

05

07

10

13

1417

20

22

25

272931

32

Editors: Etelka Leadlay and Peter Wyse Jackson

Cover Photo: Gorda Peak National Park (GPNP) andSavannah Bay, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. A conservation checklist for GPNP is well underway andsome of the endemics are in cultivation in the J.R. O’NealBotanic Gardens (see page 10) (Photo: Royal BotanicGardens, Kew, U.K.).

Design: John Morgan, SeascapeE-mail: [email protected]

Submissions for the next issue should reach the editorbefore 20th April, 2005. We would be very grateful fortext on diskette or via e-mail, as well as a hard copy.Please send photographs as original slides or printsunless scanned to a very high resolution (300pixels/inch and 100mm in width); digital images need tobe of a high resolution for printing. If you would likefurther information, please request Notes for authors.

BGjournal is published by Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational (BGCI). It is published four times a yearand is sent to all BGCI members. Membership is open toall interested individuals, institutions and organisationsthat support the aims of BGCI (see page 15 forMembership application 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 Email: [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.ru

• BGCI (U.S.) Inc., c/o Dan Shepherd, Director, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11225-1099, U.S.A. Tel: +1 718 623 7200, Fax: +1 718 857 2430, Email: [email protected] www.bgci.org/us

• BGCI-Netherlands, c/o Utrecht University Botanic Gardens, P.O. Box 80162, NL-3508 TD, Netherlands. Tel: +31 30 253 2876, Fax: +31 30 253 5177, E-mail: [email protected], www.bi.uu.nl/botgard

• BGCI-Canarias, c/o Jardín Botánico Canario Viera yClavijo, 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 and South East Asia, c/o Registry,Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore259569. Email: Bian.Tan @bgci.org, [email protected],www.bgci.org/china

• BGCI-Colombia , c/o Jardín Botánico de Bogotá, Jose Celestino Mutis, Av. No. 61-13 – A.A. 59887, SantaFe 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-Deutschland, c/o Botanische Gärten der Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 171, 53115 Bonn, Germany. Tel: +49 2 2873 9055, Fax: +49 2 28731690, E-mail: [email protected]

BGCI is a worldwide membership organization establishedin 1987. Its mission is to build a global network for plantconservation. BGCI is an independent organizationregistered in the United Kingdom as a charity (Charity RegNo 1098834) and a company limited by guarantee, No4673175. BGCI is a tax-exempt (501(c)(3) non-profitorganization in the USA and in Russia.

Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarilyreflect the views of the Boards or staff of BGCI or of itsmembers

BGjournal replaces BGCNews and is published twice ayear (Volume one of BGjournal only consists of oneissue). The news section of BGCNews and Roots(Botanic Gardens Conservation International EducationReview) is now contained in Cuttings which is publishedquarterly. There are 31 issues of BGCNews publishedtwice yearly from 1987-2003.

Editorial

Introduction - The conservation and sustainable use ofisland biodiversity

The challenge of the GSPC – how the Seychelles, a smalltropical island state, is responding

Conservation on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands: the role of St.George Village Botanical Garden

Building capacity and developing botanical infrastructure forconservation: a case study from the British Virgin Islands

Conservation programmes in New Caledonia, westernPacific

Plant conservation in Galapagos, Ecuador

The National Tropical Botanical Garden: creating a GeneticSafety Net for Hawaii’s vanishing flora

Sustaining biodiversity on Captain Corelli’s Island –Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece

Integrated plant conservation on Pitcairn Island, south-central Pacific Ocean

Micropropagation of Bois papaye, Badula balfouriana; a critically endangered plant, endemic to Rodrigues,Mascarene Island, western Indian Ocean

Short Communications

Book Notices

Registration Form for the International Agenda for BotanicGardens in Conservation

How to join Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Publications List

BGjournal • Vol 2 (1) 01

07 2005

The special importance of botanic gardensfor the conservation of island floras has longbeen recognised. So many island endemicplant species occur as small populations,often with very restricted distributionssurviving in much modified wild habitats.This has encouraged botanic gardens todevelop and implement ex situ conservationand species recovery programmes for manysuch threatened species. It has often beenstraightforward to propagate, cultivate andmaintain the complete spectrum of survivinggenetic variability, since such species areoften reduced to one, two or just a handfulof remaining plants. The collections ofbotanic gardens around the world havetherefore become rich in species that are onthe very verge of extinction, preservingclones of the last wild specimens incultivation or storage until restoration innature becomes possible. Understandingand managing the full range of geneticdiversity of threatened but widespreadspecies can be complex, particularly ifbotanic gardens do not have facilities formolecular studies of diversity. It is clearhowever that the staff of botanic gardenswith limited facilities, as occur in someisland countries, can play an increasinglyimportant and effective role in theconservation of their own floras, applyingtheir practical skills to help ensure thatsome of the rarest plants in the world willsurvive.

In the mid 1980s, I was closely involved inthe conservation of some remarkable buthighly endangered species from the islandof Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, whichsparked my interest in international plantconservation in general. This special issue

of BGjournal is therefore of particularpersonal interest to me. As can be seenfrom the articles included in this issue, it isvery notable that while the ex situconservation of island plants has beenundertaken by botanic gardens for severaldecades, over the last ten years they havebeen increasingly involved in thedevelopment of integrated recoveryprogrammes. These have addressed notonly individual species but also therestoration of damaged and degradedecosystems and associated publiceducation and awareness issues.

Beginning in the mid 1970s, the IUCNBotanic Gardens ConservationCoordinating Body (the predecessor ofBGCI) began to survey threatened plants inbotanic garden collections. Particularemphasis was given to surveys of oceanicisland plants, many of which were found inthe collections of botanic gardens in, forexample, Europe and North America. Insome instances, these collections havebeen extremely important to provide thebasis for reintroductions, maximisingexisting genepools and for planningspecies recovery.

Such survey work of threatened plants inbotanic gardens of course continuesthrough BGCI. The launch of the on-line‘Plant Search’ on the BGCI website(http://www.bgci.org/conservation/plant_search.html) provides a new means forindividual botanic gardens not only toassess their collections in comparison withthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants butalso to review how many other botanicgardens are cultivating the same taxa.

Although information on which individualbotanic gardens are cultivating which taxais not provided in the database (security ofcollections and other access and benefitsharing issues has encouraged BGCI tokeep such information confidential),nevertheless an email system has been setup whereby potential collaborators canrequest information from the holders ofparticular taxa. We hope that this willencourage and support groups of botanicgardens to work together to developcollaborative projects for particularthreatened plants grown by severalinstitutions.

To date, the on-line database includesinformation on over 100,000 taxa known tobe in cultivation in botanic gardens, ofwhich some 10,000 are listed by IUCN asrepresenting threatened species. Weencourage more botanic gardens to play apart in the development of this database,that not only will help to document theachievement of the ex situ conservationtargets (target 8) of the Global Strategy forPlant Conservation, but also provide avaluable new tool to help in themanagement and prioritization of individualbotanic garden collections. Guidance onhow to use the database is also providedon the website (at http://www.bgci.org/botanic_gardens/Instructions.html) * butBGCI staff too will be very pleased toprovide assistance and any practicalguidance needed.

Peter Wyse Jackson22nd December 2004

* Also see BGjournal 1(1) 26-28, July 2004.

BGjournal • Vol 2 (1)02

Editorial

The common denominators of islandecosystems are their uniqueness, theirhigh level of endemism, and theirsusceptibility to the effects of natural,technological and human-relatedhazards and interference. Generally,islands (particularly oceanic islands)present high levels of endemism and ahigh number of species with smallpopulations, limited large and fewrefugia, which makes them highlyvulnerable to extinction. Indeed,islands present a high proportion ofrecorded extinctions and of currentcritically endangered species.

In addition to the fragile nature of islandecosystems, the small size of islandsreduces their assimilative and carryingcapacity for biodiversity. As land islimited, urban settlement andcommercial development (particularlymass tourism), agriculture and forestrypractices and conservation are incompetition. Islands with limited landareas have limited capacity to eitherbuffer or trade off natural events andcope with a series of interplayingfactors. Small islands are subject tocumulative vulnerability to changes innatural events (e.g. earthquakes,volcanic eruptions, cyclones,hurricanes, floods, droughts,hurricanes, and tidal waves). Moreover,low resistance to outside influences canallow the rapid spread of invasive alienspecies, endangering endemic speciesof flora and fauna. In general, islandsare disproportionately threatened byclimate change through sea-level rise and their relatively large coastal

zone, in relation to their land mass,makes small islands prone to erosion.

These major threats to island biodiversityare often undermined further byinstitutional, technical and capacity-related constraints, inadequateknowledge and policy frameworks.

The need for action for theconservation of island biodiversity washighlighted at the seventh meeting ofthe Conference of the Parties to theConvention on Biological Diversity(COP7) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiain February 2004. COP7 adopted amulti-year programme of work of theConference of the Parties up to 2010and decided to establish a new

thematic programme of work on IslandBiodiversity (Decision VII/31)(http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/areas/island/). Island biodiversity wasidentified as the item for in-depthconsideration at the eighth meeting ofthe Conference of the Parties to beheld in Brazil in 2006. A preparatoryprocess was set up for the work of theSubsidiary Body on ScientificTechnical and Technological Advice(SBSTTA) which includes an Ad HocTechnical Expert Group and alsodraws on the outcome of theinternational meeting of Small IslandDeveloping States (SIDS) for thereview of the Barbados Programme ofAction (BPoA) (http://www.sidsnet.org/docshare/other/BPOA.pdf).

BGCI • 2005 • BGjournal • Vol 2 (1) • 03-04 03

Introduction – The conservation andsustainable use of island biodiversity

Left: View of the

National Botanic

Gardens, Mahé,

Seychelles.

(Photo: Peter

Wyse Jackson)

The BPoA was a United Nationsinitiative developed at the GlobalConference on the SustainableDevelopment of Small IslandDeveloping States held in Barbados in1994. Small Island Developing Statesare defined as small islands and low-lying coastal countries that sharesimilar sustainable developmentchallenges, including small population,lack of resources, remoteness,susceptibility to natural disasters,excessive dependence on internationaltrade and vulnerability to globaldevelopments. In addition, they sufferfrom lack of economies of scale, hightransportation and communicationcosts, and costly public administrationand infrastructure. The Programme ofAction set forth specific actions andmeasures at national, regional, and

international levels in support of thesustainable development of SmallIsland Developing States. In 2002, theUnited Nations General Assemblycalled for a comprehensive review ofthe BPoA, which will take place inMauritius in January 2005(http://www.un.org/smallislands2005/).

Another important initiative with theaim of contributing to the economic,social and cultural progress of islandsthroughout the world, as well asencouraging protection of islandenvironments and protection ofresources is the International ScientificCouncil for Island Development(INSULA) created in 1989 as a non-profit making, non-governmentalorganisation (http://www.insula.org/).

Biodiversity provides goods andservices in support of economicdevelopment and is a fundamentalresource underpinning the achievementof the Millennium Development Goals(http://www.developmentgoals.org/).For instance, biodiversity helps reducepoverty by providing plants for food,health, fuel, clothing and shelter andsupports economic developmentthrough trade, tourism and indirectly bymaintaining the planet’s basicenvironmental balance and ecosystemstability (FAO, 2002; Koziell & McNeill,2002; SCBD, 2002). One item that willtherefore be widely discussed inMauritius will be how islanders can besupported in making more productiveuse of their biological diversity togenerate resources for development.

In view of the international attentionpresently being focussed on smallisland development needs, this issueof BGjournal attempts to illustrate thespecial problems of islands and howbotanic gardens can supportconservation of island biodiversity andthus contribute to economic andsustainable development.

References

➡FAO, 2004. Challenges andemerging issues in agriculture,forestry and fisheries. Food andAgriculture Organization of theUnited Nations, Rome. Paperprepared for the Inter-RegionalConference of Small IslandDeveloping States in January, 2004[http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/006/Y5203E/Y5203E00.htm].

➡Koziell, I. & McNeill, C.I., 2002.Building on hidden opportunities toachieve the MillenniumDevelopment Goals: povertyreduction through conservation andsustainable use of biodiversity.UNDP World Summit onSustainable Development EquatorInitiative Policy Series.[http://www.undp.org/equatorinitiative/pdf/poverty_reduction.pdf]

➡SCBD, 2002. Biological Diversityand Tourism: Development ofGuidelines for Sustainable Tourismin Vulnerable Ecosystems.Convention [http://www.biodiv.org/doc/publications/ecotour-brochure-en.pdf]


Right: Great

Tobago, British

Virgin Islands:

the whole

island is a

National Park

and is home to

the largest

colony of

roosting

magnificent

frigate birds

(Fregata

magnificens) in

the eastern

Caribbean.

The tree cacti

in the

foreground are

Opuntia

rubescens

(Cactaceae).

(see page 11)

(Photo: Colin

Clubbe)

Even though the floral diversity of theSeychelles islands cannot comparewith the richness of mainland tropicalrainforest, many primitive charactershave been preserved in Seychelles’relict species, such as the Jellyfish tree(Medusagyne oppositifolia) and therenowned Coco-de-Mer palm(Lodoicea maldivica). The archipelago’snorthern granitic islands have anancient geological origin as part of theGondwana super-continent and manyendemic species have close affinitieswith taxonomic groups in India, Asia,Africa and especially Madagascar. As aconsequence the islands which formpart of the Western Indian OceanCentre of Plant Diversity, areconsidered a Biological Hotspot andalso form the western boundary forgroups such as dipterocarps andpitcher plants (Nepenthaceae). Thesouthern coralline islands also haveunique plant species, particularlyAldabra Atoll, which is a WorldHeritage Site. Although the Seychellesislands were only settled in 1770, andmany islands are clothed with verdantvegetation, much of the native forestcover has been considerably modifiedand the majority of native species arenow threatened by a combination ofhuman activities and alien invasivespecies.

Seychelles has a population of only81,000, with no graduate botanists andno university or scientific researchinstitute. How is it that this small islandnation has been amongst the first torespond to the call of the Global

Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)to formulate a National Strategy? Thereare a number of reasons.

Seychelles has for a long time putenvironmental issues high on thepolitical agenda and it was the secondcountry to sign the Convention onBiological Diversity (CBD). So, perhapsSeychelles has a reputation to live upto! However, in spite of having two ten-year Environmental Management Plansand a National Biodiversity Strategyand Action Plan, plant conservationhas often been neglected orsuperseded by other issues. Althoughgovernment, NGOs, private islands andother organisations were working in the

plant conservation field, initiatives werebeing undertaken and funded in manydifferent ways, with no coordination.So the GSPC came at the right time forSeychelles. Here was the means tobring plant conservation to theattention of Seychellois, bring everyonetogether to work towards commongoals, and generate the human andfinancial capacity to deal with thethreats to our native plant species.

Being a small country has itsdisadvantages, one of the biggestbeing the lack of specialised capacity.However, one of the advantages of thissmall size is the ability to bring peopletogether when there is something


The challenge of the GSPC – how theSeychelles, a small tropical islandstate, is responding

Authors: Katy Beaver, Denis Matatiken, Didier Dogley & Christoph Kueffer

Left: Mahé

Island view,

Seychelles with

Nepenthes

pervillei Blume

in foreground

(Photo: Peter

Wyse Jackson)

important to do. For the formulation ofthe National Strategy for PlantConservation (NSPC), all it needed wasan enthusiastic group of plantconservationists to galvanise the action(with, we have to admit, someencouragement from Peter WyseJackson, Secretary General of BotanicGardens Conservation International).Thus the Botanical Gardens (part of theMinistry of Environment and NaturalResources) collaborated with a youngNGO, the Plant Conservation Actiongroup (PCA), to set the process inmotion.

The strategy development process hasbeen in four phases. First the twoorganisations identified the majorissues relevant to plant conservation inSeychelles and drafted an outlinestrategy based on the GSPCobjectives. Then came the two dayworkshop, to which all relevantstakeholders were invited. Small groupwork enabled participants to beproductive and efficient, and by theend of the second day each group hadpresented its proposed targets to theworkshop.

In the third phase the draft targetswere further refined and agencies withpotential to action the targets werealso identified. The fourth phase hasbeen collating everything into anappropriate format for a nationalstrategy, which should be printed bythe end of 2004.

The implementation of the strategy willrequire further local networking butcollaboration between the BotanicalGardens and PCA will continue. On theinternational front our partners, such as

the Geobotanical Institute in Zurich andEden Project in England, will providescientific support and other assistance.By 2005 an action plan should bedefined, with a major review ofachievements in 2007. By 2010, alltargets should be achieved.

The targets for Seychelles’ nationalstrategy are based on the fiveobjectives that structure the GSPC.One emphasis is on consolidating ourknowledge of vascular plants (notingthe huge gaps in our knowledge of‘lower plants’), quantifying informationand prioritising species for immediatefurther conservation action. It will beimportant to make information morereadily accessible, increase ourresearch capacity, and make maximumuse of the plant conservationknowledge and expertise that alreadyexists.

The Botanical Gardens has made anexcellent start to ex situ conservationof native species and this needs to becontinued. Active management ofinvasive species, which are thegreatest threat to native species at themoment, is another priority target, andincludes restoration practices, as wellas improved phytosanitary regulationsand inspections. Although there are noindigenous agricultural crop varieties,many varieties were brought in duringcolonial times and these need to beconserved. Sustainable use of nativespecies such as the Coco-de-mer andmedicinal plants is another importantissue.

Funding always seems to be a problemin small places with small economiesand needs to be addressed, as doesincreasing capacity in plantconservation personnel. Networkingwithin the country and with bothregional and international organisationswill also be important. Environmentaleducation is already well established inschools and people are reasonablyaware of environmental issues, so weneed to build on this, with furtheremphasis on plant conservation.

Katy Beaver, Plant ConservationAction groupDenis Matatiken, Director, NationalBotanic GardensDidier Dogley, Director General,Nature Conservation, Division ofEnvironmentChristoph Kueffer, PhD student,Geobotanical Institute, ETH Zurich.

Denis Matatiken, National BotanicGardens, P.O Box 445, Victoria,Mahé, Seychelles. Tel: +248 224644, Fax: +248 266903, E-mail: [email protected],Internet: www.geobot.umnw.ethz.ch/staff/kueffer (to downloadcopies of the PCA newsletterKapisen).


Right: Open

capsules of

Jellyfish tree

(Medusagyne

oppositifolia),

the only species

in a Seychelles

endemic genus

(Medusagynace

ae) with very

primitive floral

characteristics

and tiny simple

winged seeds.

There is

currently no

natural

regeneration of

this species in

the wild and ex

situ propagation

is difficult.

(Photo: Angelika

Fischer)

Right:

Participants at

the national

plant

conservation

workshop

(Photo: Peter

Wyse Jackson)

A brief vegetation history

St. Croix, at 84 square miles, is thelargest and also the most remote of theUS Virgin Islands. As on many of theother islands in the Caribbean, verylittle native vegetation remains, andwhat does remain is severelydisturbed, permeated by introducedand often invasive species. The samegoes for the native fauna that survivesonly where introduced and feralanimals - especially mongoose, catsand dogs - have not penetrated.

When Columbus first saw St. Croix itwas lush and green with flowing riversand a dense montane forest. European(mainly Danish) exploitation during the18th and 19th century sugar-caneboom stripped most of this nativevegetation to create cane fields, cattlepasture or to provide lumber forbuilding, charcoal and for cooking.Non-native species, which nowdominate some areas of the island,were introduced for fodder. Theseinclude the Central American Leucaenaleucocephala (locally called Tan tan)and the African Urochloa (Panicum)

maxima (called Guinea grass).Vegetation loss caused the rivers to dryup and the already poor soils werefurther impoverished. Some of themore inaccessible places and also thedry east end of the island haveremnants of what was here beforeColumbus but, for the most part nativespecies are scattered and littleundisturbed native vegetation remains.

Professional conservationresources

Professional biologists on St. Croix arescarce. The University of the VirginIslands has an extension service withprofessional staff as does theDepartment of Agriculture. TheNational Parks Service, the US Fishand Wildlife Service (USFWS), theDepartment of Planning and NaturalResources and The NatureConservancy all have skilled andknowledgeable staff. The botanicalgarden has one trained biologist (theauthor of this paper). We all help oneanother; occasionally we worktogether but everyone is stretched fartoo thin to constitute an effectiveconservation force.

This looks like a depressing pictureand yet, with tiny resources,conservation is alive and well on St.Croix. Small dedicated groups ofpeople, including the professionalslisted above, are doing all they can tostabilize what we have left, to restorewhat we can and to create a climate ofrespect and care for our natural

heritage. Several not for profitorganisations, including St. GeorgeVillage Botanical Garden (SGVBG), arepart of a loosely knit conservationinitiative. Here are just three examplesof current and future programmes:

Documenting what we have

There is no current Flora of St. Croix.The nearest (but geologically verydistinct) island with a published Flora isthe island of St. John, some 40 milesaway across a 2-mile-deep oceanic


Conservation on St. Croix, US VirginIslands: the role of St. George VillageBotanical Garden

Author: Brinsley Burbidge

Above: Coypha

utan (Gebang

palm) from Asia

with one of the

Garden’s

buildings, an

eighteenth

century slave

house in the

background

Left: General

view of the

Garden showing

the Great Hall

trench. Applicability of this to St. Croixis limited. Other West Indian Florashave limited value in answeringquestions about the identity and statusof plants found in the wild. So, theidentification and naming of nativeplants is, at best, difficult even for aknowledgeable field worker. SGVBG istrying to address this with a group ofthree taxonomically competentvolunteers. Working in the non-air-conditioned basement of an 18thcentury plantation house they havebuilt up a 4,000-plus specimenherbarium of (mostly) native speciesand have recently published, on theGarden’s website, a taxonomicallycorrect check list of the 1,200 nativeand established species we know areon St. Croix. We have a long way to gobut this is a start.

Native habitat restoration

SGVBG is working with USFWS torestore the native vegetation of twowildlife preserves, Sandy Point (acoastal habitat and an important

nesting place for the LeatherbackTurtle, Dermochelys coriacea) andGreen Cay (a small island and one ofthe two remaining habitats for theendemic St. Croix Ground Lizard,Ameiva polops). Seed of nativespecies from these two habitats isbeing collected and germinated in apropagation unit built with a smallgrant from USFWS. Garden volunteersare growing these plants to planting-out size and, very shortly, we will beplanting them back in the wild.

Developing plant awareness inkids: a career focussedapproach

Respect for and knowledge of theplant world is rare on St. Croix. Adesire to work with plants is even rareras the legacy of the cane plantation erais still with us; working with plants isstill seen in terms of slavery; harshtreatment and back-breaking work inthe tropical sun, certainly no career forany smart kid to aspire to. Aconsequence is that agriculture ispoorly developed and teachers withthe skills and background to inspirekids to study or even consider plantsare in short supply. We are attemptingto break this barrier with theimaginative use of a Department ofLabor grant called School to Work. Itspurpose is to help kids between theages of 8 and 13 to begin thinkingabout their future careers.

Some parts of this are easy. A dayaway from school in a Garden soundslike fun. School to Work is about

earning a living and the kids andteachers are naturally interested; thegrant will pay for their transport sothere are no financial barriers to theirattending. But the success of aprogramme such as this is basedalmost entirely on the magnetism ofthe tutor. In the wrong hands we haveno more than a group of kids that hada nice day away from school; with theright tutor we have converts toconservation. We were looking forsomeone:-

• with a personality and conviction aspowerful as an Old Testamentprophet;

• to whom the kids could immediatelyrelate as a role model;

• who had developed a successfulbusiness based on his/herknowledge of plants;

• who could talk about other careersthat can be developed from aknowledge of plants - not justfarming and landscape work butpharmacy, tour-guiding, craftworkand so on;

• who had a comprehensive local andscientific knowledge of plants; and

• who could show how our livesdepend on plants and couldpersuasively show that we need toconserve them.

The ideal individual would have severalother personal qualities: He/she mustbe from the West Indies, preferablyblack and so can relate directly to thekids’ backgrounds; he/she must have adeep respect for the natural world andshow it in the values they possess.


Above: Veronica

Gordon, weed

women of the

island of St.

Croix is wearing

jewelry she

created from

local seeds and

is holding two

baobab fruits.

Containers

made from

calabash fruits

hang in the

background.

Right: The

Garden’s new

propagation unit

for native

species, built

with the help of

a US Fish and

Wildlife Service

grant

We had a pretty difficult position to fill.But we found not just one but twopeople to take on this challengingassignment.

The first is Ras Lumumba Corriettefrom the island of Dominica. Lumumbaruns a successful ecological tourcompany on St. Croix. He has both afolkloric and a scientific knowledge ofethnobotany, and is a master atdemonstrating the practical uses ofplants. He is a Rastafarian and a veganand believes in a gentle and respectfulrelationship with nature. Mostimportant he is a charismatic individualwho can make the world of plantsfascinating to kids like no one else Ihave ever met. The second role modelis Veronica Gordon, St. Croix weed-woman (herbal medicine practitioner)who also creates wonderful craftobjects and jewelry from local plantmaterials. Most important she has abuilt a successful career based onknowledge of plants, something towhich the kids can relate.

Having located the two ideal tutors andgot their commitment, the rest was amatter of scheduling and finances: thiswas expertly undertaken by Marilyn

Chakroff, a skillful and knowledgeableeducator who had recently coordinateda spectacularly successful Eco-Fair atthe Garden (which connected over1,000 kids with the natural world in afun, informal setting).

This year some 495 kids and 56teachers (who have probably learnedas much as the kids) have attendedthis stellar programme. We hearnothing but praise from those whohave attended. We know we havemade some friends and also, we

sincerely hope, a few converts to theneed to look after the plants on whichall of us depend. We are now, with thehelp and expertise of the CurriculumCenter (a key element in the St. Croixeducational system), working on adocumentary video production thatrecords, for future use, the power andexcitement of this programme.

Brinsley BurbidgeExecutive DirectorSt. George Village Botanical Garden27 Estate St. George Frederiksted, 00840 St.Croix Virgin Islands, U.S.A. Tel/Fax: +809 692 2874E-mail: [email protected]: www.sgvbg.org


Left: School to

Work: kids learn

about the value

of plants from

Lumumba

Far Left: Ras

Lumumba

Corriette:

an inspired

communicator

about plants

Introduction

The adoption of the Global Strategy forPlant Conservation (GSPC) by theConference of the Parties to the CBD inApril 2002 was both a triumph and amajor challenge for the global plantconservation community. The 16outcome-orientated targets for theconservation and sustainable use of theworld’s plant diversity are ambitious,but are an important starting point if weare seriously going to reverse thecurrent biodiversity crisis. The need forbuilding capacity for the conservation ofplant diversity, encapsulated in Targets15 and 16, are key to the delivery of theStrategy, especially in the biodiversityrich, resources poor areas of the world.International biodiversity institutionssuch as the Royal Botanic GardensKew are ideally placed to respond tothese challenges, and have beenproviding training opportunities formany years. A powerful alumnus ofmore than 300 individuals from 100countries have attended one of ourinternational diploma courses at Kew,many run in association with BGCI, andmany regional courses have been heldin association with in-country partners(www.kew.org/education/highered.html).A twice yearly newsletter, KewOnCourse, keeps the network in touchand provides a vehicle for the exchangeof views and experiences.

The adoption of a new thematicprogramme, Island Biodiversity, atCOP7 of the CBD recognises theunique ecosystems and high endemism

of islands, together with their fragilityand susceptibility to change. For islandconservationists this timely opportunityof responding to both this newthematic area and delivering the targetsof the GSPC provides a challengingand exciting framework in which toshowcase their work.

This case study highlights activities froma 6-year collaboration with the BritishVirgin Islands (BVI) National Parks Trust(NPT) to help conserve the botanicaldiversity of this unique Caribbeanarchipelago and help build capacity andbotanical infrastructure for the long termconservation of plant resources forfuture generations of BV Islanders.Much of this work has been funded bythe U.K. Government’s Darwin initiative(www.darwin.gov.uk).

BVI is a U.K. Overseas Territory (UKOT)and as such comes under the U.K.’sratification of multi-lateralenvironmental agreements such asCBD, RAMSAR and CITES. Like manyUKOTs and other insular regionsglobally the conservation capacity restswith a few over-worked individuals ingovernment or non-governmentorganisations. An important networkwhich exists to help UKOTs is the U.K.Overseas Territories ConservationForum (www.ukotcf.org) a group ofU.K. mainland and Territory-basedbiodiversity institutions and individualsdevoted to providing advice andpromoting the coordinatedconservation of the diverse andincreasingly threatened plant andanimal species and natural habitats of UKOTs.

BGCI • 2005 • BGjournal • Vol 2 (1) • 10-1210

Building capacity and developingbotanical infrastructure forconservation: a case study from theBritish Virgin Islands

Author: Colin Clubbe

Right: Field

identification

workshop

Gorda Peak

National Park

(Photo: Colin

Clubbe)

Developing botanicalinfrastructure

The starting point for conservation is toknow what you have and so the earlyphases of the Darwin projects havebeen inventory work and theproduction of plant checklists forNational Parks, including Gorda PeakNational Park on Virgin Gorda, theAnegada Ramsar site extending now tothe whole island of Anegada under thecurrent Darwin project (www.seaturtle.org/mtrg/projects/anegada/). Thisincludes identifying non-native speciesand identifying their potential risk ofbecoming invasive and possiblesolutions (e.g. Scaevola sericea onAnegada). Training workshops in plantidentification, inventory and monitoringhave been held and the need for theestablishment of a national plantreference collection was identified as acritical infrastructure need. A smallherbarium has been established at theJ.R. O’Neal Botanic Gardens and a fullset of herbarium specimens collectedduring the project has been mountedand labelled at Kew and will berepatriated to the BVI herbarium to beavailable for a wide range of studies.Raymond Walker, programme co-ordinator for BVINPT, has successfullycompleted Kew’s international diplomacourse in herbarium techniques andwill be curating the collection. We areworking on conservation assessmentsof endemic plants and a red-listingworkshop has been held whichresulted in the development of an initialred list for BVI (Pollard & Clubbe,2003), based on endemics occurringon the islands of Anegada and VirginGorda. This is being extended as moreislands are investigated including theisland national park of Great Tobago,home to the largest roosting colony ofmagnificent frigate birds (Fregatamagnificens) in the eastern Caribbean(see photo page 4).

A seed bank has been established atthe J.R. O’Neal Botanic Gardens and aseed collecting programme isunderway as part of an ex situconservation strategy which alsoinvolves horticulture training and theestablishment of all endemic plants incultivation (see Box - Cordia rupicolacase study).

The botanic garden as aconservation showcase

Botanic gardens have a broad appealand are visited by a wide range ofpeople. Visitors are a captive audiencefor the length of their visit and thispresents us with the perfect opportunityand challenge to tell stories about theimportance of plants in our daily livesand to showcase the actions beingundertaken to conserve plant diversity.

The J.R. O’Neal Botanic Gardens is a2.87 acre piece of tranquillity in theheart of Road Town, the capital of BVIon the island of Tortola. Founded in1979 on the site of the originalAgricultural Experimental Station, it isnow managed by BVINPT who withKew’s help are re-defining the role ofthe collections and the priorities of thegarden. The aim is to concentrate moreon the indigenous flora, threatenedplants and to act as a showcase for thework that NPT are doing with in situconservation within the National ParksSystem. A strategic planning workshophas been held which developed amission statement, programme areaswith strategic objectives and a workplan for the botanic gardens.Horticulture training workshops areplanned for 2005 as part of the Darwinproject. Other outputs include aconservation poster series on theThreatened Plants of the BVI and newinterpretation in the garden.

The future

Island ecosystems are interconnected,diverse and fragile. By identifying long-term partnerships, meeting trainingneeds and helping establish the criticalbotanical infrastructure islandconservations will have the toolkit tohelp conserve these unique fragmentsof the world and botanic gardens can

provide the perfect venue to tell peopleabout their work, inspire visitors andraise money for their vital conservationwork.

Acknowledgement My thanks to allmy colleagues in the BVI, at Kew andother U.K. institutions andinternationally who have provided manyhours of fruitful discussions and debateabout many of the issues discussedhere. Conservation is a collaborativeundertaking and the work describedhere would not have been possiblewithout the commitment of the manypeople who have been involved withthe fieldwork, training and follow-upactivities referred to in this article.


Left: Puerto Rican

Bank - A

geographical,

biological and

geological

province which

was a continuous

land mass 14,000

years ago when

sea levels were

100 m lower than

present.

Below: J.R.

O’Neal Botanic

Gardens – front

entrance

dominated by

an avenue of

Caribbean royal

palms

(Roystonea

oleracea)

(Photo: Colin

Clubbe)

Cordia rupicola: a criticallyendangered Puerto RicanBank Endemic

Prior to the start of Darwin projectwork the status in the wild of Cordiarupicola Urban (Boraginaceae), asmall perennial shrub of the PuertoRican Bank (see map), was uncertain.Originally described as endemic to asmall region of Puerto Rico in 1899by Urban, reports in the literature inthe early 1990s cited it as occurringin Anegada, BVI, but without anyherbarium specimens lodged forverification. The Puerto Rico site ison private land which has beendeveloped for housing and thepopulation thought extirpated,leaving Anegada as the only knownlocation. On the basis of thesereports Cordia rupicola was putforward as a candidate species forprotection under the US EndangeredSpecies Act and it was listed asEndangered in the 1997 IUCN PlantRed List (Walter & Gillett, 1998).

Research in the Kew herbariumdiscovered a hitherto unknown typespecimen of C. rupicola collected byUrban in 1899. This has been digitallyscanned and the image repatriated toBVI. We used this image andinformation from published accountsof likely habitats to develop adedicated sampling strategy to lookfor it on Anegada. The first individualwas discovered in 2000 within theRamsar site near Flamingo Pond.Specimens collected have beenlodged in the herbaria at Kew (K) andthe Smithsonian (U.S.A.) and havebeen verified as C. rupicola. Furtherfieldwork has established that it is

relatively widely distributed in thewestern region of Anegada (Clubbe etal, 2004). On the basis of our up-datedknowledge of its distribution in the wildwe have re-listed C. rupicola ascritically endangered (Clubbe et al,2003, Pollard & Clubbe, 2003).

The 2003 wet-season in BVI proved tobe an excellent one for fruiting andseed has been collected of C. rupicolaand sent to the Millennium Seed Bank(MSB) at Kew, Wakehurst Place(www.kew.org/msbp/) as part of theForeign and Commonwealth fundedprogramme of ex situ conservation forthe UKOTs, and a contribution to Target8 of the GSPC (Alton, 2004). Seedshave been cleaned, dried andhermetically sealed into glass vials. Half of these have beenlodged in the MSB and halfhave been sent back to BVIwhere they are stored in thelocal seed bank in the J.R.O’Neal Botanic Garden,established by this project.Data relating to viabilitytesting and germinationtesting have also beenrepatriated to BVI to help ingetting C. rupicola establishedin the botanic garden as partof an endemic plant display to raise awareness aboutindigenous floras, endemicplants and conservationissues. Seedlings from thegermination trails at the MSBare being incorporated intothe living collections at Kew as part ofan island floras exhibit.

A conservation management plan isbeing developed for the long-termsurvival of C. rupicola.

References

➡Alton, S. 2004 The Millennium SeedBank Project InternationalProgramme. BGjournal 1 (1): 15-16.

➡Clubbe, C., Gillman, M., Acevedo-Rodriguez, P. & Walker, R. 2004Abundance, distribution andconservation significance ofregionally endemic plant species onAnegada, British Virgin Islands. Oryx38 (3): 342-346.


Right: Herbscan

of Urban’s 1899

type of Cordia

rupicola

Right: Habit of

Cordia rupicola

➡Clubbe, C., Pollard, B., Smith-Abbott, J., Walker, R. & Woodfield,N. 2003. Cordia rupicola. In: IUCN2003. 2003 IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species.<www.redlist.org>. Accessed on 31October 2004.

➡Pollard, B. & Clubbe, C. 2003 StatusReport for the British Virgin Islands’Plant Species Red List. RoyalBotanic Gardens, Kew, U.K.

➡Walter, K.S. & Gillett, H.J. (eds)1998. 1997 IUCN Red List ofThreatened Plants. IUCN-The WorldConservation Union, Gland,Switzerland and Cambridge, U.K.

Colin ClubbeRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewRichmond, Surrey , TW9 3AB, U.K.Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5637Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5640E-mail: [email protected]: www.kew.org

New Caledonia is a French OverseasTerritory in the western Pacific. It isworld renowned for its exceptionalbiodiversity (Myers, 1988) andparticularly for its flora which comprises3,261 species of vascular plants.Furthermore 1,423 species or 73.3 percent of the total, as well as 110 generaand 5 families, are endemic.

The dry forest (or sclerophyll forest),which covers less than 2 per cent ofthe archipelago almost ceased to existabout 10 years ago (Bouchet et al.,1995), is now the subject of animportant programme involvingresearch, use of conservationtechniques and restoration(www.foretseche.nc). Some dry forestremnants have been protected by theremoval of ungulates (deer and cattle);their recovery is being monitored andrare species are being propagated innurseries with a view to theirreintroduction into the protected sites.

However, the dry forest, which willbenefit from this well-designedconservation programme, contains only10.4 per cent of the endemic speciesof the country. Among the vegetationtypes most at risk in New Caledonia atpresent are the forests and shrubbymaquis on ultramafic rocks. Theserocks are the source of minerals suchas nickel and cobalt and are beingextensively exploited. New Caledoniais one of the world’s largest producersof nickel. The mining of theseminerals, which is accompanied byclearing of the vegetation and

sometimes its burial under debris, willincrease considerably during thecourse of coming years with intensifiedmining and industrial activity (doublingof the production of nickel by ERAMET-SLN, and the initiating of miningprojects by Koniambo Falconbridgeand INCO-Goro Nickel).

The maquis and the forests onultramafic rocks contain 2,137 speciesof vascular plants, which is 65 per centof the total flora. Furthermore 81.4 percent of these species are endemic and1,145 of them (47.2 per cent of theendemic flora) are found exclusively onultramafic rocks. It should also beemphasised that 40 species (allendemic) of conifer are found on thisrock type and 27 of them are restrictedto it. This is also the case for 37 of the104 endemic genera. In addition, of the392 rare or threatened species of theNew Caledonian flora (Jaffré et al.,1998), 280 are found in thesevegetation types on ultramafic rocksand 250 of them are restricted to them.

In the face of these facts, a jointprogramme should be established,modelled on the “Dry ForestProgramme”, with the aim of increasingknowledge of the most threatenedvegetation types of ultramafic rocksand of conserving and restoring theirfloristic and ecological diversity. Thisseems more than ever to be an urgentnecessity, which should be accordedhigh priority.

References

➡Bouchet, P., Jaffré, T. & Veillon, J.M.1995. Plant extinction in NewCaledonia, protection of sclerophyllforest urgently needed. Biodiversityand Conservation 4: 415-428.

➡Jaffré, T., Bouchet, P. & Veillon, J.M.1998. Threatened plants of NewCaledonia. Is the system ofprotected areas adequate?Biodiversity and Conservation 7:109-135.

➡Jaffré, T., Morat, P., Veillon, J.M.,Rigault, F. & Dagostini, G. 2001.Composition and characteristics ofthe native flora of New Caledonia.Documents scientifiques ettechniques, II: 4. IRD Nouméa.

➡Myers, N. 1988. Threatened biotas:“Hot Spots” in tropical forests.Environmentalist 8: 1-20.

Tanguy JaffréLaboratoire de Botanique et d’Ecologie Végétale AppliquéesIRD - Institut de recherche pour ledéveloppement, Centre de NouméaBP A5 Nouméa - 98848 Nouvelle-CalédonieTel: +687 26 10 00, Office: +687 26 07 13, Fax: +687 26 43 26E-mail: [email protected]: http:\\www.ird.nc

BGCI • BGjournal • Vol 2 (1) • 13 13

Above: A mining

landscape in the

Poro region. In

the foreground,

maquis

dominated by

Araucaria rulei,

an endangered

species.

Below Left:

A dry forest

remnant

protected by a

fence after the

removal of deer

(Réserve

Metzdorf. Poya

Commune).

(The main tree

of the canopy is

Terminalia

cherrieri

(Combretaceae),

a critically

endangered

species).

Author: Tanguy Jaffré

Conservation programmes in New Caledonia, western Pacific: in place for the dry forest, but urgently needed for the ultramaficvegetation

Galapagos is unique among tropicalarchipelagos for two reasons: it haslost relatively little of its nativebiodiversity, owing to its late settlementby humans (not until the 19th century),and more than 96 per cent of its landarea was designated as the GalapagosNational Park, 45 years ago, when thehuman population was still no morethan 2,000. However, despite thesetwo factors in favour of the 40 per centof the native plant and animal speciesthat are endemic to the islands, theGalapagos ecosystem is sufferingdegradation resulting from humanactivities, and the signs are clear thatGalapagos is on the same path toextinctions that has been followed byother island groups.

Several Galapagos endemic animalshave become extinct in historicaltimes, notably some of the gianttortoises, rice rats and land snails, butso far only three endemic plants seemto have become extinct: Deliliainelegans and Sicyos villosa fromFloreana Island and Blutaparon rigidumfrom Santiago. Charles Darwin wasthe first and last person to record thetwo Floreana species, when he foundthe Sicyos “in great beds injurious tovegetation”! It is not known why thesetwo species disappeared, but Floreanawas the first island to be settled, a fewyears before Darwin’s visit. Blutaparon,last seen in 1906, is suspected to havebeen extinguished by feral goats as itis an amaranth, a family favoured asfood by goats. During the 20th century,Santiago supported a goat populationthat grew to 100,000 before aneradication campaign began in 2003.

Despite the apparently almost intactflora, many more species have severelydecreased in numbers or area, and willbe lost in the near future unless theirdecline can be reversed. TheGalapagos endemic flora has beenred-listed in its entirety by the BotanyDepartment of the Charles DarwinResearch Station (CDRC) and the IUCNGalapagos Plant Specialist Group, andthe data are alarming. Over 60 per centof the endemic taxa are ranked asthreatened. Even though two-thirds ofthese are “only” Vulnerable, mainlyowing to their naturally small ranges,and have not yet declined (as far as isknown), they are naturally susceptible

to the introduction of new pests ordiseases, which could quicklydecimate any species restricted to asingle island. Conservation prioritieslie with the 20 taxa that are classifiedas Critically Endangered and the 30Endangered, which have all declined.

The figure of 60 per cent of endemictaxa threatened may seem high,perhaps even over-inflated, but it istypical of tropical oceanic island floras.It dramatically illustrates the extremevulnerability of island biodiversity tohuman-mediated change. World-wide,habitat destruction is the main threat toplant species, and this has also beentrue for most islands. However,increasingly, introduced species arebeing recognised as the chief currentand future threat to oceanic islandendemic plants. In Galapagos, habitatloss has caused the decline of manyplants, especially when agricultural


Plant conservation in Galapagos,Ecuador

Author: Alan Tye

Right: Sicyos

villosa, only

ever collected

by Charles

Darwin, who

considered it

common on

Floreana Island

but it has never

been seen since

Right:

Lecocarpus

darwinii

(Endangered,

yellow flowers),

and Calandrinia

galapagosa

(Critically

Endangered, tall

stems) growing

together on San

Cristobal Island.

areas were created in four of the sevenislands that have wet highlandhabitats, but the continuing decline inGalapagos plant species is now due topressure from introduced herbivoresand plant invaders. In many cases,populations of endemic plants, thathave been reduced by past habitatclearance, are now especiallyvulnerable to pressure from introducedspecies.

The policy of the Galapagos NationalPark has always been to conserve thebiodiversity of the islands in situ,including the full range of its geneticvariability. The plant research andmanagement programmes take thisobjective as the starting point, and thethreatened plants programmecomprises five levels of activity: 1. establishing the baseline of

knowledge; 2. monitoring for change; 3. prioritizing the problems; 4. biological studies of priority species

and communities; and 5. management including protection

and restoration.

Establishing the baseline One tendsto think of Galapagos as well-studied,but there are still big gaps in theknowledge of the abundance anddistribution of many species, and manyparts of the islands have never beenvisited by botanists. Furthermore,much of the information is old, andfundamental changes have occurred inthe archipelago in the last 40 years. In1998, a programme of botanicalsurveys was begun, focussing on theendemic and threatened plants,especially of areas where previous

records are scarce or absent. Withmore than 130 islands on which landplants can grow, this will take severalyears, but the programme has alreadyyielded surprises, including therediscovery of two plants that werethought to be extinct, Linum cratericolaand the nominate subspecies ofScalesia atractyloides on Santiago. Onvirtually every field trip new populationsof threatened plants are found whichputs the red-listing on a firmer footingand directs conservation action to theright places.

Monitoring for change Populationsneed to be monitored to detectchanges, and to distinguish declinescaused by feral goats (for example)from fluctuations caused by naturalevents such as the El Niño cycle.Unfortunately this is expensive, andknown populations of highly threatenedspecies can only be visited once in awhile. A full monitoring programmerequires major, permanent financialresources that are not available.

Prioritization In the case ofGalapagos plants, the basic step isred-listing. The most threatenedspecies in Galapagos are identified; theassessments are comparable withthose for other places through theIUCN system. This procedure helpsdecide management action. Thespecific action depends on the threat(including action to find out what thethreat is, if it is not already clear),availability of effective conservationtechniques, and ability to apply them inspecific cases. Therefore the firstaction is often to undertake moreresearch, if we do not have theanswers to these questions.

Biological studies The prioritythreatened species are studied tounderstand the cause of decline orfailure to recover and where tointervene to reverse the decline.Studies therefore often focus onpopulation dynamics and reproductivebiology. They are often undertaken asthesis projects by Ecuadorian andforeign students working at CDRS.

Management Management ofthreatened plants, where in situconservation is the goal, consistsessentially of protection andrestoration. Protection of threatened

Galapagos plants often means controlof a specific threat, such as goats,which is less focussed on an individualplant species than on the targetintroduced organism. However, interimprotection, until the threat can be dealtwith, is sometimes more plant-focussed, such as building fences toprotect remnant populations orcommunities. Restoration of endemicplant populations is a relatively newelement in the programme and will beincreasingly important as species areidentified that do not recover bythemselves once the threat has beenremoved.

This does not mean that ex situmethods are completely ignored inGalapagos, but they are the last resort.At CDRS, nursery and shade housefacilities are maintained to enablethreatened species to be cultivated


Top: Walter

Simbaña, at the

site of his study

plant, Linum

cratericola

Above:

A population of

the Critically

Endangered

Scalesia

retroflexa,

fenced to protect

it from feral

herbivores

Left: Linum

cratericola, once

thought possibly

extinct and

found at only a

single site, out

of reach of

goats, on

Floreana Island

when necessary, but only for temporaryor experimental purposes, such asrearing plants for in situ restorationprojects. There are no plans toestablish extensive living collections,but it is hoped that a seed bank forGalapagos endemic plants will bestarted within the next two years.However, it is also hoped that noGalapagos plant species will everdepend on it!

The message from Galapagos is that, ifone tropical archipelago can be savedin near-pristine, pre-human condition, itis here. Galapagos is iconic in thatrespect and if its biodiversity cannot besaved, it will be another damningindictment of humankind’smanagement of the planet.

More information on plant research andconservation in Galapagos can befound at: www.darwinfoundation.org/articles/botany1997-2003.pdf

Alan TyeCharles Darwin Research StationVia Casilla 17-01-3891, Quito,EcuadorTel: +593 5 526146/47Fax: +593 5 527013 ext 3E-mail: [email protected]: www.darwinfoundation.org

How to restore an island

The integrated and strategic natureof the programme is illustrated bylooking from another viewpoint: howto restore the vegetation of an islandas a unit. Española and Santiagoislands both suffered fromintroduced goats. The first step istherefore: deal with that threat. OnEspañola, the smaller of the two,goats were eradicated in 1978. OnSantiago they are being eradicatedand a series of 20 enclosures(totalling about 40 ha) have beenestablished to protect tiny fragmentsof the vegetation communities.Matched plots inside and outside thefences are regularly monitored todetermine the detailed effects ofgoats on species and communities,in order to evaluate their eventualrecovery without goats. OnEspañola, 25 years of monitoringshowed that the vegetation ingeneral came back within 20 yearsof goat eradication, to resemble itsstatus 100 years ago (as shown in

old photos). The endemics of thewhole island have been surveyedand mapped and two species areapparently not recovering: theOpuntia cactus and Lecocarpuslecocarpoides, an Asteraceae nowalmost restricted to islets in the mainbay of the island. The life cycle ofthe cactus is being studied todetermine the critical stage forintervention to improve itsregeneration. Preliminary resultssuggest that the very young seedlingis highly vulnerable to damage, andit may be that so few seedlings areproduced now, that all are killed byendemic birds and reptiles.Meanwhile, an attempt is beingmade to establish Lecocarpus at anadditional site. On Santiago, activerestoration will take place after thegoats are eradicated when itbecomes clear which species returnand which do not. A population ofScalesia atractyloides which becameextinct in the 1980s will be re-established at its old site from seedcollected and grown in CopenhagenBotanic Garden, Denmark.


Above:

Scalesia.

atractyloides,

also thought

possibly extinct

but discovered

surviving amid

hostile lava on

Santiago Island

Right:

Santiago Island.

Site of an

extinct

population of

Scalesia

atractyloides.

It is hoped

that the species

will be

re-established

from plants

maintained at

Copenhagen

Botanic Garden

The Hawaiian Islands are the mostisolated high islands in the world,located over 2,000 miles from thenearest continental land mass. Theirisolation, together with a high diversityof habitat types, makes the Hawaiianflora one of the most unique in theworld. Approximately 1,500 plantspecies are indigenous to the HawaiianIslands, with perhaps the highest rateof endemism in the world at over 90%.Nearly half of the 114 species knownto have become extinct in the U.S. inthe first 20 years of the EndangeredSpecies Act are in Hawaii. Humanshave precipitated these extinctions

through the introduction of exoticplants, animals and diseases and thetransformation of the land with fire,livestock and deforestation.

To try to stem the tide of extinction inthe Islands, the National TropicalBotanical Garden (NTBG) ConservationDepartment has an integrated strategythat addresses threats and recoveryneeds at the species and landscapelevels. The Genetic Safety Net (GSN)program provides a seamlesssequence of conservation strategiesthrough collection, curation, nativeplant nursery operation and a rapidly

growing ecological restoration andreserve management program thatcreates, enhances and manageshabitats for rare plants in perpetuity.

The GSN list consists of 118 Hawaiianspecies that have fewer than 50individuals remaining in the wild.NTBG has developed strict protocolsfor GSN collecting which includegenetic sampling of populations,accurate GPS locations for individualplants and populations and thecreation of high quality speciesdistribution and survey maps.Over the past 20 years, roughly twodozen species have been rediscoveredby NTBG botanists that were thoughtto be extinct and about 20 newspecies have been discovered thatwere previously unknown to science.

The Native Plant Nursery Operationhas developed techniques for nurserypropagation of native plants fromstorage of propagules, appropriategermination techniques and othermeans of propagation to theorganization of climate-controlledgrowth environments for large-scaleplant stock production. This nativeplant nursery operation has producedthousands of plants that are well-established in the NTBG reserve andrestoration area system and gardens.Capacity has greatly expanded with anextended native plant nursery facilitynow coming on-line.


The National Tropical BotanicalGarden: creating a Genetic Safety Netfor Hawaii’s vanishing flora

Authors: D.A. Burney, D. Bender, S. Perlman, C. Salvador and C. Wichman

Left: With the

spectacular

Limahuli

Preserve for a

backdrop, NTBG

Acting Director

Chipper

Wichman “talks

story” with

visitors,

explaining the

need for

conservation of

native plants

through

Hawaiian

legends

Restoration and Natural AreaManagement

The overall strategy is to establish orenhance a sufficiently large area ofhabitat dominated by native species toprovide suitable conditions within thesenative plant communities for newpopulations of GSN species and tomonitor, protect and enhance existingpopulations on NTBG properties.

Limahuli PreserveLimahuli Preserve is the largestpreserve in the system (990 acres).The 400-acre Upper Valley of Limahuliis mostly intact and is home to a greatabundance and exceptionally highdiversity of native plants and animals.Since 1992, the NTBG has activelymanaged Limahuli Preserve to protectand enhance the populations of nativeplants that are threatened byhurricanes, alien plants and feralungulates. Among these are extantpopulations of 10 Federally ListedThreatened or Endangered plantspecies, a large nesting colony ofNewell’s Shearwater (a pelagicseabird), Hawaiian honeycreepers,Hawaiian owls and the endemic hoarybat. Since 1998, Limahuli Preserve hasdeveloped 10 acres of lowland wet andmesic forest restoration outplantingsites. Within these sites the restorationteam has planted ca. 5,000 native,nursery-grown trees and shrubs, ca.

720 of which are specimens ofFederally Listed Threatened orEndangered species and other at-riskspecies. A second major elementcrucial to the long-term protection ofLimahuli is the construction of anungulate-proof fence enclosing theentire Upper Valley of Limahuli to keepferal pigs and goats from the Preserve.The NTBG has received a sizeablegrant from the US Fish & WildlifeService to undertake the fencingproject in 2005.

Lawai Kai Coastal RestorationThe Lawai Kai coastal project is a 3-acre native plant restoration site locatedat the mouth of Lawai Stream, on thesouth shore of Kaua’i. It is nearpaleoecological and archaeologicalsites, which provide information on thelocal ecological history and guided therestoration plan. A goal of this project isto improve coastal and lowland foresthabitat for more than 20 rare nativeplant species and to remove a thick matof alien grass from the beach strand toenable sea turtle to nest. Several at-riskspecies are being planted within thissite – including Sesbania tomentosa,Munroidendron racemosum,Hibiscadelphus distans, Pritchardiaaylmer-robinsonii and others.

Kaùpulehu Preserve, Kona, HawaiiKaùpulehu is a 6-acre dry forestpreserve located in North Kona on the

Big Island, Hawaii. Though small insize, this preserve has been fencedcontinuously since the 1950’s andunlike much of the surrounding forest,Kaùpulehu contains an extraordinarilyrich native dryland flora that isexceptionally intact. Maintenance offirebreaks around the preserve andreplacement of the perimeter fencewhich keeps feral goats from enteringare pressing management needs forthis small preserve.

Kahanu Gardens, MauiAt Kahanu Gardens, NTBG managesan extensive native hala woodland(Pandanus tectorius) andethnobotanical plants, as well as thelargest pre-contact Hawaiian heiau orstone temple.

McBryde Gardens on KauaìUnder support from the NTBG FellowsProgram, NTBG’s McBryde Gardens onKauaì has initiated a dry forestrestoration project designed to support20 or more plants on the USEndangered Species List and dozensof other rare dry-adapted plants.

Under contractual collaborations,NTBG staff assist large landownerswith restoration projects (e.g. GroveFarm, Inc., the Bette Midler Trust) andthe Federal-State collaborations torestore the sea-bird colonies on tinyLehua Islet off Niìhau.

NTBG staff fervently hope that, withthe continued application of a multi-faceted approach to native plantconservation, many of the 118 speciesof GSN-designated rare plants willsoon be firmly back on the road topermanent recovery.

D.A. Burney, D. Bender, S. Perlman, C. Salvador and C. WichmanNational Tropical BotanicalGarden, 3530 Papalina Rd.,Kalaheo, HI 96741, U.S.A.Tel: +1 (808) 332-7324Fax: +1 (808) 332-9765E-mail: [email protected]: www.ntbg.org


Right:

Participants in

the Horticultural

Intern program

at NTBG have

worked hard in

recent months

on the Lawai

Kai coastal

restoration

project and

other

restorations in

the McBryde

and Limahuli

Gardens on

Kauaì, as well

as at Kahanu

Gardens on

Maui

Providing a home forPritchardia aylmer-robinsonii

NTBG draws from all availablescientific sources in choosing theright plants for its ecologicalrestorations. If a native plant isgrowing already on the site to berestored, or nearby in similarhabitats, it may be included in theproject. But sometimes, less directclues must be employed, especiallyin highly degraded sites. Thenbotanists and ecologists at NTBGmay employ oral and writtenhistories or information from thepollen, seeds, and fossil leaves thatmay occur in adjacentpaleoecological sites.

The case of Hawaii’s endemic loulupalms (Pritchardia spp.) are a goodexample. Limahuli still has anendemic palm, P. limahuliensis. Butat Lawai Kai and throughout Kauaì’ssouth coast, no loulu palms havesurvived in the wild to moderntimes. Yet thousands of fossilseeds from the sediments ofMakauwahi Cave show that thesestately native palms were a key

element in coastal plant communitiesthroughout the millennia leading up tohuman settlement (Burney et al., 2001,Ecological Monographs 71:615-641).Most of these fossils are an unusuallysmall, spherical type of Pritchardiaseed unlike that of most Kauaì speciesof the genus. One exception is P.napaliensis, which grows on steep wetslopes along the island’s westernNapali Coast, a very different habitatfrom the low, sandy, seasonally drysouth coast.

P. napaliensis has close cousins onother islands that are clearly dry-adapted. The most common of theseis P. remota, on the distant island ofNihoa in the Northwestern HawaiianIslands chain. Much closer at hand isP. aylmer-robinsonii, a stately palmendemic to the adjacent island ofNiìhau, a few miles offshore fromKauaì’s south coast, a species that isnearly extinct in the wild. Botanistsbelieve there are only two maturespecimens remaining on Niìhau.Although species from off-island wouldnot normally be used in NTBGrestorations, staff at NTBG have optedto use this rare species in their southshore restorations, as it is adapted to

dry lowland conditions, has nocurrent opportunity for restorationon its home island, and may well bea species formerly found in adjacentcoastal forests of Kauaì, or theclosest living relative of one that did.In any case, the decision has paidoff, as more than 30 largespecimens of P. aylmer-robinsoniiare now thriving and growing rapidlyin NTBG restorations at Lawai Kai inthe Allerton Gardens and theMakauwahi Cave Reserve, a jointproject with Grove Farm, Inc.


The very rare endemic Loulu palm,Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii, thrivesin NTBG’s restoration sites onKauaì’s south coast. These rapidlygrowing specimens are inside thelimestone sinkhole at MakauwahiCave, a joint project with landownerGrove Farm, Inc. Sedimentsexcavated here by NTBG staff andvolunteers yielded thousands ofseeds identical to those of thisstately palm.

Greece is well known for its rich anddiverse flora; around 6,000 speciesgrace the varied but often mountainouslandscape of this relatively small andphysically isolated country. Anotherreason for the high level of biodiversityis the presence of almost 3,000 islandsdotting the seas surrounding the longand dramatic Greek coastline. Crete isespecially important as a centre ofendemism; less well known for theirflora are the Ionian Islands, situated tothe west of Greece. With well over onemetre of winter rainfall each year, plantgrowth is verdant when compared tothe islands of the Aegean. ThoughCephalonia is considerably lower inpopulation density than the mostprosperous of the group, Corfu, it isthe largest of the Ionian Islands. It alsohas the highest mountain of thearchipelagos, Mount Ainos, a NationalPark since 1962. With its Grecian Firforest (Abies cephalonica – firstidentified on the island), it darkly loomsabove the island’s activities at a heightof 1,627 metres, dominating nearlyevery vista. Settlements concentratearound the coastal plains leaving themountainous interior deserted.Located in an area of significantseismic activity, much of theinfrastructure of the island wasdestroyed during the massiveearthquake of 1953; as a result thedepopulation that began with thecollapse of the Ionian currant trade inthe 19th century accelerated.Cephalonia is nowadays best knownas the setting for Louis de Berniere’snovel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.


Sustaining biodiversity on CaptainCorelli’s Island – Cephalonia, IonianIslands, Greece

Author: Jennifer Gay

Right:

Steps through

phrygana in the

garden. Existing

plants were

supplemented

with new

species.

Inevitably tourism has increased inrecent years, bringing with it an influxof population, adding to the pressureson fragile marine and coastal naturalresources.

Just outside the main town ofArgostoli, on a lowish hillsideoverlooking the harbour, liesCephalonia Botanica. This smallgarden of botanical interest started itsjourney with the new millennium and isthe brainchild of a non-profit makingorganisation, the Focas-CosmetatosFoundation. The aim is to create agarden of native flora which provides alocation for the Foundation’s existingenvironmental education programmes,as well as offering a local recreationalactivity and sustainable touristattraction. East facing, the 2 acre sitewas formerly an olive grove but hadlong been abandoned when work onthe project began. A massive firemoved through the area about 20 yearsago, but the olives, though blackenedand in some cases destroyed, mostlysurvived and now offer welcomeshade. The olive grove fell into disuseafter the fire, and the creators of thegarden faced a veritable jungle as theyset out on their task to sculpt a gardenfrom the gently sloping hillside. Thesite is a gem; set around a gully, thelandscape creates a bowl-like valley ofpeace and tranquillity surrounded byridges of Kermes Oak (Quercus

coccifera). The land is terraced with200 year old stone retaining walls -many are remarkably intact consideringthey have survived more than a fewearthquakes.

During the period of abandonment,many maquis and phrygana plantscolonised the site, and thesecommunities have been enriched andenhanced with appropriate species.Aggressive plants were cleared (Rubusfruticosus, Smilax aspersa), leavingonly representatives, and dominantspecies (notably Spartium junceum andSarcopoterium spinosum) werereduced to make way for theintroduction of a greater diversity.Amongst others, Euphorbiadendroides, Laurus nobilis, Ceratoniasiliqua, Myrtus communis, Arbutusunedo, Rhamnus alaternus, Ericaarborea, and Cupressus sempervirenswere planted into the maquiscommunity, while species of Cistus,Thymus, Salvia, Teucrium andLavandula were introduced into thephyrgana. Plenty of species present onthe site were real assets: Cyclamenhederifolium and Iris unguicularis areworthy of special mention, colonies ofeach providing beautiful displays inautumn. Both re-appeared afterseveral years of dormancy whengrasses over one metre high werecleared and subsequently kept low. Anumber of orchids also occur naturally.

The project plans to increase its role inenvironmental education andeventually in conservation activities.For now, its focus is on increasingawareness of the ecologicalvulnerability of islands and thepressures that result from economicdevelopment. In common with islandsaround the world, the richness ofbiodiversity on Cephalonia (over 1,300species recorded to date) is matchedby its fragility. Rather than bepresented as a hindrance todevelopment, biodiversity should beseen as an asset to the island not onlyin terms of wildlife but also economy.Threats to island ecosystems havedirect and indirect consequences onwhole social and economic systems.Several initiatives are being developedto help islands not just survive butthrive, in a sustainable way (seeintroduction to this issue).

Isolation is frequently the biggestproblems, and in view of this,Cephalonia Botanica is keen todevelop links with other environmentalorganisations on Mediterranean islandsfacing similar challenges, or to developa forum where ideas, experience andeven people could be exchanged.

For further information contact:Winston WoodwardCephalonia BotanicaFocas Cosmetatos Foundation1 P. Vallianos Argostoli 28100CephaloniaGreeceTel: + 30 26710 26595E-mail: [email protected]


Left: Educational

activities in the

garden. The

Foundation runs

education days

once or twice a

week.

Below: Viola

cephalonica

endemic on

Mount Ainos

Pitcairn Island is a small, isolatedisland at the eastern extremity of themain group of Polynesian islands,roughly half way between New Zealandand South America and just south ofthe Tropic of Capricorn. The researchinterest of Trinity College, Dublin (TCD)in the island began in 1991 during theSir Peter Scott CommemorativeExpedition to the Pitcairn Islands,which focussed its attention mainly on‘nearby’ Henderson Island (a WorldHeritage Site) and two atolls Oeno andDucie. During this expedition itbecame apparent that the mainconservation issues with the flora ofthese islands was on Pitcairn itself. As a U.K. Overseas Territory governedfrom the British High Commission inNew Zealand, the responsibility forbiodiversity conservation on the island

rests with the UK Government.Accordingly, TCD and the Irish NationalParks and Wildlife Service (NPWS)secured funding from the U.K. Foreign& Commonwealth Office in 1997 toexamine in detail the floristics,vegetation communities andconservation status of the native flora.

The 1997 visit to the island provided amore complete floristic inventory thanwas previously possible, adding 12new records of presumed nativespecies to bring the total native flora to81 taxa, of which 10 are consideredendemic. Vegetation communitieswere described and mapped, and theconservation status of native speciesassessed, including assessments ofthe major threats, population size anddemographic structure for certain taxa

considered to be most at risk. In somecases these data were backed up witha molecular assessment of geneticdiversity. Therefore, a large amount ofbaseline data was provided whichfacilitated prioritisation of futureconservation activities. The mainthreats to the native species wereidentified as those posed by invasivenon-native plants, by critically smallpopulation size or distribution, byhabitat loss, and by erosion. The maininvasive species causing problems areSyzygium jambos, introduced originallyfor fuel wood, and Lantana camara;both are well known as invasivespecies elsewhere. Several nativespecies were found to exist in eithervery restricted areas, such asLastreopsis aff. pacifica where all butone individual occurred in a colonyoccupying an area of 20 x 60 m2, oroccurred in very low numbers, such asthe endemic Coprosma benefica,where only 12 individuals wererecorded. Only one male plant of thedioecious C. benefica was found,though the sex of several individualscould not be determined. Thevulnerability of species with such lownumbers was made evident when thelargest specimen of C. benefica blewover in a storm during a visit. Theendemic Abutilon pitcairnense andMyrsine sp. previously recorded fromthe island could not be located on thisvisit.

Following the 1991 expedition,recommendations were made that aConservation Officer be funded as a


Integrated plant conservation on Pitcairn Island, south-central Pacific Ocean

Authors: Steve Waldren, Naomi Kingston, Noeleen Smyth, Jay Warren and Carol Warren

Right:

Native forest in

McCoy’s Valley,

towards the

south west of

the island

showing the

canopy trees

with decumbent

stems

(Metrosideros

collina), and a

rich fern layer

on the forest

floor. Several

individuals of

the critically

endangered

Coprosma

benefica grow

in this location,

and an

unnamed

Myrsine was

discovered in

this valley in

2003 which was

previously

considered

extinct.

local government position, and thiswas achieved in 1997 when Jay Warrenwas appointed to the post. Jay alsoreceived training in practical plantconservation by attending a course inthe U.K. in 1999 on ‘The Cultivationand Conservation of Threatened PlantSpecies’ at the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew, U.K, through the U.K. DarwinInitiative aimed at U.K. OverseasTerritories.

The U.K. Foreign & CommonwealthOffice provided funding in 2003 toinvestigate methods to removeSyzygium jambos and reinstate nativeforest species, while minimising thepotential effects of soil erosion. At thesame time, Fauna and FloraInternational provided funding toundertake recovery work on criticallyendangered plants, and the IrishResearch Council for Science and

Technology provided a researchfellowship for Noeleen Smyth. Veryrecently, the Stanley Smith HorticulturalTrust has provided a grant to improvethe horticultural capacity of the islandnursery.

In the meantime, a specimen of theAbutilon had been had relocated byCarol Warren, and it was successfullypropagated by Carol and Jay fromcuttings, proudly displayed to Noeleenand Steve when they visited in July2003; a cutting is now also growingstrongly at Trinity College BotanicGarden, and some self-pollinatedseedlings have already been plantedout on Pitcairn. A trial translocation ofthe endemic giant fern Angiopterischauliodonta, undertaken during the1997 visit, was successful, with 26young plants established in JackWillems Valley from 40 transplanted

stipules (fleshy outgrowths of the stipebase, containing an axilliary bud). Ayoung plant of a Myrsine species wasdiscovered in McCoy’s Valley, and twoplants have been raised from cuttingsat Trinity College Botanic Garden.Molecular studies will determinewhether this taxon differs from M.hosakae, considered endemic tonearby Henderson Island.

Perhaps the most exciting event wasthe construction and subsequentdevelopment of the island nursery,which is providing a facility topropagate both threatened nativeplants and plants that are of economicbenefit to the islanders. For example,there is a plan to introduce a range ofavocado cultivars grafted ontostandard stocks, which will greatlyincrease the avocado season on theisland. Noeleen’s practical horticultural


Far left: Pitcairn

Islanders and

Noeleen Smyth

in the island

nursery

Left:

Lastreopsis aff.

pacifica, known

from only two

locations on

Pitcairn

Far left:

Inflorescence of

Syzygium

jambos: this

species was

originally

introduced

for fuelwood,

but has

subsequently

invaded

degraded areas

of cultivation

and now forms

a dense thicket

over much of

the northern

side of the

island.

Left:

Jay Warren and

Noeleen Smyth

examine a

young

Cyclophyllum

barbatum

transplanted

into a plot

cleared of

Syzygium

jambos, which

can be seen as

a dense thicket

in the

background.

training will be put to use in trainingislanders with grafting techniques. Thenursery is also being used to raisestock for planting into experimentalplots cleared of Syzygium, as well aspropagation of critically threatenedspecies, such as Coprosma andAbutilon. A series of 20 plots have sofar been surveyed, and these are beingcleared of Syzygium as stock forreplanting is propagated and grown on.Almost the whole community of theisland is working with Noeleen on theplot survey, clearance and propagation,providing a useful source of localincome as well as undertaking practicalconservation and emphasising theimportance of local conservation actionwithin the community.

A strategy for the recovery of criticallyendangered species have beendevised which involves firstly securingthe existing genepool by vegetative

propagation, followed by anassessment of genetic variation usingAFLP markers, and then controlledbreeding to try and maximise diversity.For instance, Abutilon, seedlings fromselfed seed have been raised and thenext step will be to characterise themgenetically before selective crossingfrom the most dissimilar genotypes.Ultimately this work might include astudy of the relative effects ofinbreeding and outbreedingdepression. Many problems remain tobe studied, not least the taxonomicidentity of taxa such as the Myrsineand Lastreopsis. Several of theCoprosma surveyed in 1997 could notbe refound in 2003; no trace remainedof the largest plant that blew over in1997, and the solitary male from thattime had recently died. Howeverseveral other specimens were locatedand, intriguingly some plants that were‘female’ in 1997 now appeared to be

exclusively ‘male’. Molecular markerswill again be used to confirm or refutewhether the individuals that have beenrelocated are the same.

Clearly, there is still much to learn,including the most effective means ofinvasive species control. But so far theteam are extremely optimistic aboutthe approach taken, which involves agenuine partnership between the localcommunity with their practical skills,and the baseline information that thescientific team from Dublin canprovide. Many activities undertakenover the past 13 years makecontributions towards the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation, andhopefully it will be both possible to setlocal targets for Pitcairn, and toachieve these by 2010. By workingtogether, a real synergistic contributionto practical plant conservation on theisland can be made and the approachtaken on Pitcairn may serve as a modelfor conservation on other islands.

Steve WaldrenTrinity College Botanic Garden,Palmerston Park, Dartry, Dublin 6,IrelandTel: +353 (0)1 497 2070Fax: +353 (0)1 608 1147E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.tcd.ie/Botany/garden.html

Naomi KingstonNational Parks and WildlifeService, Department ofEnvironment and LocalGovernment, 7 Ely Place, Dublin 2,Ireland

Noeleen SmythDepartment of Botany, TrinityCollege, Dublin 2, Ireland

Jay Warren and Carol WarrenPitcairn Island, south-centralPacific Ocean


Right:

Noeleen Smyth

surveys

Lastreopsis aff.

pacifica, known

from only two

locations on

Pitcairn; the

2003 survey

showed an

increase in

numbers since

the initial survey

in 1997,

perhaps

suggesting that

this taxon is a

relatively recent

colonist.

Pitcairn plants

of this taxon are

very glandular

and have

minute,

caducous

indusia; they

may merit

taxonomic

recognition, and

plants grown ex

situ at Trinity

College will aid

taxonomic

studies.

Badula balfouriana (Kuntze) Mez., Boispapaye, is a small, heterophyllous treeof the Myrsinaceae family. endemic toRodrigues, a small island of 109 km2

located 574 km east off Mauritius and1,450 km to the east of Madagascar.Rodrigues, Mauritius and Réunionmake up the Mascarene Islands in thewestern Indian Ocean. A leaf and barkdecoction is used in traditionalmedicine to relieve teething problemsin infants and young children (Gurib-Fakim & Brendler, 2004). Floweringand fruiting is very irregular (Strahm,1989) and there are currently only twoknown adults and seven otherindividuals growing in the wild onRodrigues. It is endangered (Walter &Gillett, 1998) or possibly criticallyendangered (Pers comm. WendyStrahm and John Mauremootoo).

Measures have been taken to conservethis species in its natural habitat. Tento twelve individuals, grown from seedor propagated by cuttings, have beenplanted in the upland GrandeMontagne, one of the remnants of theRodriguan upland native forest, by theMauritian Wildlife Foundation incollaboration with the Ministry forRodrigues Forestry Service(http://www.mauritian-wildlife.org/).

An individual collected as a cutting in1982 on the slopes of Mont Cimetiéreby Jean-Yves Lesouef is in cultivation

in the Conservatoire BotaniqueNational de Brest, France. Four newplants were produced by cuttings fromthe original plant in 2000. Neither theoldest plant (1.5 m tall) nor the younger(60-80 cm tall) have flowered.

B. balfouriana has been in cultivation atthe Botanic Garden in Copenhagen,Denmark since 1985. Three plants weregrown from seed collected by thebotanist Karen Thingsgaard in 1985 and1987, on the slopes of GrandeMontagne. One was subsequently lostand neither of the two remaining plantshave produced seeds. The taller plant is

now about 3 m high and has floweredtwice, but did not produce any fruits. Inaddition an individual produced by acutting in Brest was sent toCopenhagen in 2004 and amicropropagated plant of one of the twoCopenhagen clones was sent to Brest.

The status of B. balfouriana as anendangered plant prompted us todevelop a simple and rapidmicropropagation system and amethod for transferring tissue cultureplants to normal growth conditions inour greenhouse.


Micropropagation of Bois papaye,Badula balfouriana; a criticallyendangered plant, endemic toRodrigues, Mascarene Island, westernIndian Ocean

Authors: M. M. H. Kristensen, J. Damgaard, J. Find and P. Krogstrup

Left:

Establishment

of Badula

balfouriana

cultures from

shoot tips.

Work began July 1994, but due toheavy contamination problems, and thescarcity of plant material, the firststerile explants were not obtained until1996. Shoot tips were cultured on amodified Woody Plant Medium (WPM)containing 5 µM benzyl-6-aminopurine(BAP), a cytokinin growth regulator,alternating with culture on a similarmedium but without BAP, producedaxillary shoots, with a yield of 6-8shoots per explant after 12-14 weeksin culture. Rooting was achieved on amodified WPM with varyingconcentrations of sucrose. The highest

number of roots per explant wasobtained on medium with 40g/lsucrose. A total of 150 plants weretransferred to the greenhouse andappeared phenotypically uniform andsimilar to the original seed plant.

The micropropagation method reportedhere makes it possible to produce alarge number of plants in an all-yearround process without seasonaldependency. These plants may beused in seed orchards, for cuttings andultimately introduced into the wild.

However, micropropagation isexpensive due to the costly equipmentand the trained technical staff who areneeded to perform the techniques,Micropropagation may lead to theformation of loose, friable andunorganised, amorphous tissue (callus)which is often associated with geneticalterations, e.g. somaclonal variation.

The reported method,however did not includecallus formation andplantlets appearedphenotypically normal anduniform as compared to thedonor plant. NeverthelessDNA fingerprint testingwould be the ultimatemethod to test whether theproduced plants aregenetically identical to thedonor plant. Further,micropropagation, likegrafting and cuttings, is aclonal process which maypotentially narrow thegenetic base. Therefore, it is

important to plant several clones thatoriginate from different parent treeswith as diverse genetic background aspossible.

Taking these factors into consideration,micropropagation offers supplementaryconservation possibilities which havethe potential to support in situprotection strategies of B. balfourianaand other related species, which havea limited reproductive capacity andexist in threatened habitats.

Acknowledgement The authorswould like to thank Wendy Strahm ofIUCN Plants Officer and JohnMauremootoo of Mauritian WildlifeFoundation for useful information onthe conservation status of Badulabalfouriana and Cherry Nielsen andDorte Gurskov for their excellenttechnical work.

References

➡Gurib-Fakim, A. & Brendler, T., 2004.Medicinal and aromatic plants ofIndian Ocean Islands: Madagascar,Comoros, Seychelles andMascarenes. Medpharm ScientificPublishers, Stuttgart, Germany.

➡Strahm, W., 1989. Plant Red DataBook Book for Rodrigues, KoeltzScientific Books, Konigstein,Germany.

➡Walter, K. and Gillett, H. 1998. 1997IUCN Red List of threatened plants,IUCN – The World ConservationUnion, Gland, Switzerland andCambridge, U.K.

M. M. H. Kristensen, J. Find and P. KrogstrupBotanic Garden, Plant Cell &Tissue Culture Laboratory,University of Copenhagen, ØsterFarimagsgade 2D, DK 1353Copenhagen K., Denmark.Tel: +45 3532 2222Fax: +45 3532 2221E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.botanic-garden.ku.dk/eng/

J. DamgaardBotanic Garden, Living Collections,Cacti- and Succulents.


Right:

A total of 150

plants in soil

were produced.

Right:

Flowering of

Badula

balfouriana in

the greenhouse:

the plant was

grown from

seed collected

in Rodrigues.

Adult plants

have broader

leaves

compared to

juvenile plants.

CITES News

2004 has been a busy and productiveyear for CITES. The thirteenthConference of the Parties (COP13) tothe Convention on International Tradein Endangered Species of Wild Faunaand Flora (CITES) was convened inBangkok, Thailand from 2-14 October2004. Key plant issues included thelisting of all species of the Indo-Malaysian tree genus Gonystylus(Ramin) on CITES Appendix II, thedelisting from Appendix II of a range oforchid hybrids (from the generaCymbidium, Vanda, Dendrobium andPhalaenopsis), the listing of medicinalAgarwood-producing species of thegenera Aquilaria and Gyrinops and theaddition of the succulent, Hoodia, toAppendix II. Appendix II allows forboth wild and artificially propagatedtaxa to be traded subject to permittingregulations. Ramin is in high volumetrade from Asia to Europe and theUSA. It is traded as woodenmouldings, picture frames, Venetianblinds, components for gardening andhousehold tools (e.g. trowel and broomhandles) and snooker cues. A numberof plant species were delisted fromCITES control including a wide rangeof Euphorbia cultivars, thus removingthe need to permit millions of artificiallypropagated plants per year. This tradehas no impact on wild populations andis a positive move for conservation. Italso releases scarce CITES resourcesto be targeted at non-sustainabletrade. The next COP is scheduled forApril 2007 in The Netherlands.

Discussions also centred oncooperation between CITES and otherorganisations, including the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD), and theincorporation of the sustainable useconcept into the CITES non-detrimentfinding process. The final outcome ofthese discussions centred on reviewingthe findings and recommendations ofthe Vilm Workshop on CITES-CBDcooperation and synergies, held inGermany from 20-24 April 2004,

identifying priority actions from thisworkshop in order to meet WorldSummit on Sustainable Development(WSSD) 2010 targets, and revision ofthe CITES Work Plan forImplementation of Joint Activitiesbetween CITES and CBD beforeCoP14. The Parties were urged tomake use of the CBD’s Addis AbabaPrinciples and Guidelines for theSustainable Use of Biodiversity,participate in CBD work and providethe CITES Secretariat with case studiesof how these Principles can be used inthe trade of Appendix II species.

Enforcement is an important element forimplementing CITES and it receivedconsiderable attention at COP13 withThailand’s willingness to take a lead inthe formation of a new south east Asianregional law enforcement network tocombat nature crimes. The tenEnvironment Ministers of the Associationof Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN)agreed to formulate a regional actionplan on trade in wild fauna and flora.

In September 2004, two new CITESUser Guides were published. ‘CITESand Plants: A User’s Guide’ is a ‘userfriendly’ tool for training those who wishto know about CITES and plants.‘CITES and Succulents: A User’s Guide’

provide an introduction to the succulentplants on CITES.’ The Guides wereproduced by the Conventions andPolicy Section (CAPS) of the RoyalBotanic Gardens, Kew, UK and werefunded by the UK CITES ManagementAuthority, the Department forEnvironment, Food and Rural Affairs(Defra). They were launched at theCITES COP in Bangkok by the UKMinister of State for Environment andAgri-Environment, Elliot Morley and areproduced in English, French andSpanish. Both User Guides containspeaker notes, a bibliography, a list ofresources and a CD with Powerpointpresentations which can be tailored tothe individual users needs.

For more information check thefollowing websites:CITES - http://www.cites.orgEU Wildlife Trade Regulations -http://www.eu-wildlifetrade.orgTraffic - http://www.traffic.org

Madeleine Groves, Lucy Ellerbeck& Noel McGough, Conventions & Policy Section,Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, U.K.Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5723, Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5757, E-mail: [email protected]


Short Communications

Emergency decree banningdeforestation in Argentina

Argentina has lost 70 per cent of itsnative forests in the last 88 years. Inthe Official National Census of 1914,1,060,000 km2 were covered withnative forests. In 1970, 600,000 km2

remained. At the present time,according to the recent NationalInventory of Native Forests of theArgentine Republic (ArgentineSecretary of Environment andSustainable Development, 2002), only330,000 km2 still exist. In 1914, 38 percent of the country had native forests;in 1970 22 per cent; now it has lessthan 12 per cent. These figures arestriking and the cause is simple. Therehas been unregulated tree fellingmainly for the expansion of agriculturewith no support for farmers thatrespect sustainable development.Planning is essential to supportsustainable production, andconservation of natural areas. Thereneeds to be regulations formanagement of forests and naturalreserves to preserve ecosystems andprotected species.

Deforestation not only destroysbiodiversity, but also important ruralcommunities, cultures and ancientcrops, and above all, unemploymenthas grown greatly leading to ruraldepopulation. Native forests areArgentina’s primary wealth. Plant andanimal biodiversity are a rich genetic,environmental and economic resource.Among other precious benefits, forestsprevent soil erosion, floods, droughts,climate changes, and most importantly,shelters biodiversity. The NationalInventory of Native Forests (2002) alsowarns that deforestation may lead tothe loss of 40 per cent of plant andanimal species of the country. Manytrees are threatened with extinction,among others Araucaria angustifolia(Pino Paraná) in the province ofMisiones, Tabebuia spp. (Lapachos)and Amburana cearensis (Palo trébol)in the NW jungles of the Yungas;Bulnesia sarmientoi (Palo santo) andSchinopsis spp. (Quebrachoscolorados) in Chaco; Fitzroyacupressoides (Alerce), Austrocedruschilensis (Ciprés de la cordillera ) andAraucaria araucana (Pehuén) in theSouth. Deforestation has been

condemned in the media. Forinstance, Greenpeace protested thatnatural reserves were being sold togrow soybean in the province of Salta(transgenic soybean production is oftennot used for human nourishment inArgentina, but to feed cattle indeveloped countries). The mostseverely damaged zones are in the NWand NE of the country, as well as in theChaco forests. The deforested areasare abandoned or become deserts,once the land is degraded.

The province of Entre Ríos is one ofthe most severely affected by watererosion and deforestation. The OfficialNative Forest Census of 1914registered 4,930,000 ha of forests (56per cent of its total area). According toanother study requested by thegovernment in 1997, Entre Ríos had1,995,873 ha covered with nativeforests (33 per cent of its total area). In2003, the provincial government askedthe Faculty of Agricultural Sciences ofthe Entre Ríos National University incollaboration with the Teledetectionand Image Processing Group of theFaculty and the Oro Verde BotanicGarden to identify the remaining areaswith native forests. This report showedthat in the last seven years over600,000 ha disappeared in theprovince. Only 1,360,056 ha remainedat the beginning of 2003 and manymore are thought to have beendeforested. As a result of theseconclusions the government of EntreRíos sanctioned an emergency decreebanning deforestation in all its territory

establishing severe penalties for itsinfringement (The Provincial EmergencyDecree No 4519/03 (Decreto deEmergenica Ambiental). The presentgovernment abolished this decree, buta legal appeal was presented by manyecological groups and won. This led toan historical agreement between theprovincial government of Entre Ríos,non-governmental organizations andagricultural entities to establishregulations in accordance withsustainable development that has noprecedent in the country (Paraná, 26de agosto de 2004). The Oro VerdeBotanic Garden was asked to presenta detailed report to give reasons forpreserving native forests which wasused in evidence by the examiningmagistrates.

The future of these newannouncements is perhaps the mostunknown question. There were 106million hectares of native forests in thecountry at the beginning of lastcentury. Today there are 33 millionhectares. In between there are only 88years. It is clear that there is no time towaste.

Juan de Dios Muñoz, Jardín Botánico Oro Verde,Facultad de CienciasAgropecuarias, UniversidadNacional de Entre Rios, Casilla deCorreo 24, 3100 Paraná, EntreRíos, Argentina. Tel: +54 43 975075, Fax: +54 43 975096, E-mail: [email protected]


Right: Native

woodland of

Entre Rios in the

Oro Verde

Botanic Garden

(Photo: Douglas

Gibbs)


R.D. Smith, J.B. Dickie, S.H. Linington, H.W.Pritchard and R.J. Probert (eds), 2003Seed conservation – turning science intopracticeKew: Royal Botanic Gardens 1,023 pp. ISBN 1 84246 052 8 Price: £59.95 ($107.90)plus postage £5.50 U.K., £11.00 WesternEurope, £20.90 Rest of Europe, £17.60 U.S.A., £20.90 Rest of world.To order a copy contact KewBooks.com, c/o Summerfield Books, Main Street,Brough, Cumbria, CA17 4AX, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)17683 41577, Fax: +44 (0)17683 41687,Internet: kewbooks.com

This book is the outcome of a workshop in2001 hosted at Wakehurst Place by theMillennium Seed Bank Project, and reflectsinternational collaboration on the seedconservation of wild plant species. The 56chapters are divided into 3 sections:planning and collecting, seed processingand testing and seed storage and utilisation.

The planning and collecting section haschapters on the applications ofGeographical Information Systems, usinggenetic data (to help guide decisions aboutsampling), and seed maturity (when tocollect seeds from plants) with case studieson forage grasses and legumes, collecting inNamibia, South Africa and Burkina Faso anduse of a database in Mexico for targetingand managing biological collections. Theseed processing and testing section haschapters on the significance of seed andfruit structure in seed conservation, generalprinciples of seed processing for storage,seed drying methods, databases, viabilitytesting and dormancy-breaking treatments.The last section, seed storage and utilisationincludes chapters on the principles of seedbank design for wild germplasm, optimallong-term storage conditions and casestudies that provide outlines on aspects ofseed conservation in Ethiopia, Spain,Greece, U.S.A. The Netherlands, the Nordiccountries, Jordan, India and Morocco. Thefinal chapter looks at the implications ofthree international initiatives, the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), theadoption of the International Treaty on PlantGenetic Resources for Food and Agriculture(ITPGRFA) and the Global ConservationTrust (Johannesburg, South Africa, 2002) onthe future of seed banks, both collectivelyand individually.

This book is full of practical articles oncurrent seed banking experience and isessential base-line information for all seedbanking facilities particularly thosedeveloping new projects.

Mike Maunder, Colin Clubbe, ClareHankamer and Madeline Groves (eds), 2002Plant Conservation in the Tropics -Perspectives and PracticeRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, U.K. 628 pp.ISBN 1 84246 014 5 (paperback)Price: £29.95 plus postage £3.50 U.K.,£5.50 Europe, £9.00 North America and restof world. To order a copy contact KewBooks.com, c/oSummerfield Books, Main Street, Brough,Cumbria, CA17 4AX, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)17683 41577, Fax: +44 (0)17683 41687, Internet: kewbooks.com

These case studies drawn from Africa, theGalapagos Islands, Mauritius, Seychelles,Trinidad, Central and South America, SEAsia and Australia on plant conservation inthe tropics are an outcome of the DarwinPlant Conservation Techniques course forEast Africa, a joint Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew and National Museums of Kenyaproject. It provides the tools for nationalbiodiversity action planning; habitat survey;community participation and assessment ofsustainable use and the role of horticulturein species recovery and sustainablemanagement.

Longman, K. A. (2003)Tropical Trees: Propagation and PlantingManuals: Volume 2 Raising seedlings oftropical treesCommonwealth Science Council, London,U.K. 118 pp. ISBN: 0 85092 656 4 Price: £16.00Obtain from Commonwealth SecretariatPublications, Marlborough House, Pall Mall,London SW1Y 5HX, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)20 77476500, Fax: +44 (0)20 7930 0827, E-mail: [email protected], Internet:http://publications.thecommonwealth.org/In English, Spanish and Bahasa Malaysia.

This is the second of five volumes (althoughthe fourth to appear) in the series TropicalTrees: Propagation and Planting Manuals.These manuals have been written by DrLongman on his retirement after a workinglife as a forester and university lecturermainly in West Africa. As earlier volumes onrooting cuttings, growing trees for plantingand preparing to plant trees, the informationis set out in a conversational style (aquestion and answer format) with many linedrawings. It is spirally-bound with 53 sheetson topics such as why grow tropical trees,sexual reproduction in trees, choosing seedsources which discusses biodiversity anddomestication and the assessment of

germination and a list of further resources.The assessment of germination discusseswhen you would need to assess germinationaccurately, the different procedures whichcould be used and how to see which seedshave germinated. This approach willempower staff to make informed decisionson raising seedlings and would be useful forbotanic garden staff in the tropics who aredeveloping propagation techniques.

E. Robbrecht and A. Bogaerts (eds), 2004EuroGard III Proceedings - Papers from theThird European Botanic Gardens Congressand the Second European Botanic GardensEducation Congress (BEDUCO II).Scripta Botanica Belgica 29. 177 pp. ISBN 90 72619 60 9 Price: €24.00For copies, contact National Botanic Gardenof Belgium, Domein van Bouchout, B-1860Meise, Belgium. Tel: +32 2 260 09 20, Fax: +32 2 270 15 67; E-mail: [email protected], Internet: www.br.fgov.be

These proceedings have been divided intofour sections: the work of botanic gardens,research on living collections, biodiversityand conservation. They provide a valuableresource and permanent record of goodpractice, models and case studies forbotanic gardens to use for enhancing futureactivities.

T.D. Pennington, C. Reynel and A. Daza, 2004Illustrated Guide to the Trees of PeruDH BOOKS, Sherborne, U.K. 848 pp. ISBN 0 953 8134 3 6 Price incl. postage:U.K.: £ 45.00, €70.00, Rest of world:£50.00/US$80.00 (surface mail: pleaseenquire rates for airmail. Address for orders:DH BOOKS, The Manse, Chapel Lane,Milborne Port, Sherborne, DT9 5DL, U.K. orKew website: http://www.kew.org

The Illustrated Guide to the Trees of Peru isa user-friendly, comprehensive genericaccount of the Peruvian tree flora. Althoughdesigned for Peru, it will also be valuable inother Andean countries, such as Ecuadorand Bolivia, which share many of the sametree species. It has family and generic keysto 980 genera, including commonlycultivated and naturalized genera. It isprofusely illustrated with line drawings andcolour illustrations by Rosemary Wise andabout 200 colour photos. As Professor SirGhillean Prance says in the Foreword, this isnot just a work based on the extraction ofinformation from the literature but is basedon extensive field and herbarium work of thethree authors and will be extremely usefulfor botanic garden libraries.

Book Notices

Matthew Jebb and Judith Cheney, 2004Design and display of plant collectionsPlantNet, U.K. 52 pp.For further information, please contactJudith Cheney, PlantNet Administrator, c/o University Computing Service, New Museums Site, Pembroke Street,Cambridge, CB2 3QH.Tel & Fax: 01223 763901, E-mail [email protected], Internet: www.plantnet.org

This booklet Design and display of plantcollections is based on a PlantNet (The PlantCollections Network of Britain and Ireland)conference at the Royal Horticultural SocietyGarden, Rosemoor in April 2002. Currentinnovations and ideas were explored thoughteight themes: authenticity and history, naturaland ecological, conservation, plants andplanting, spectacle and ‘wow-factor’, seasonsand festivals, education, research and selfdiscovery, structures and features. Theinformation is also presented in an innovativeway – the themes are reviewed by the authorswhich are illustrated by notes from the talksand garden visits. The notes cover gardenpromotion (Peter Thoday), prairie planting(James Hitchmough), family beds (MatthewJebb), plant community displays (AlasdairHood) and collection planning at Rosemoor(Christopher Bailes).

J.E. Victor, M. Koekemoer, L. Fish, S.J.Smithies and M. Mössmer, 2004Herbarium essentials: the southern Africanherbarium use manualSouthern African Botanical DiversityNetwork Report No. 25SABONET, Pretoria, South Africa. 94 pp.ISBN 1 919976 01 9Copies are available from the SouthernAfrican Botanical Diversity Network, c/oNational Botanical Institute, Private Bagx101, Pretoria, 0001 South Africa. Tel: +27 12 804 3200, Fax: +27 12 804 5979,E-mail: [email protected], Internet: www.sabonet.org

This beautiful and user-friendly bookdescribes types of herbarium collection,plant collecting, pressing and drying,mounting, physical curation, herbariumpests, scientific curation and procedures forsetting up a new herbarium. It includes auseful list of references and acomprehensive index. This book willprovide helpful techniques and backgroundreading for anyone working in a herbariumnot only beginners.

The book is extremely detailed with a wealthof practical experience; it has beendeveloped from notes on herbariumpractices and techniques which would havebeen passed between collectors, mountersand curators and not necessarily written orpublished. The chapter on scientificcuration is very clear; it has a very goodpage on incorporating new research with astep by step guides on how to evaluate

taxonomic revisions and how to incorporatea taxonomic revision. It gives guidelines onevery topic from collecting permits tocreating labels and also includes useful tipssuch as ‘Laser printer toner is permanentand is of archival quality. Bubble jet andDeskjet ink is NOT waterproof’, ‘. . A basicknowledge of first aid could be life saving . .’and ‘When using a hand lens, move theobject to be viewed, rather than the lens.’

J.M.M. Engels and L. Visser (ed), 2003A Guide to Effective Management ofGermplasm CollectionsIPGRI Handbooks for Genebanks No. 6,IPGRI, Rome, Italy. 174 pp. ISBN: 92 9043582 8 Price: US$ 24For further information please contact theInternational Plant Genetic ResourcesInstitute (IPGRI-HQ), Via dei Tre Denari472/a, 00057 Maccarese (Fiumicino) Rome,Italy. Tel: +39 06 6118.1, Fax: +39 06 61979661, E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected], Internet: www.ipgri-cgiar.org/publications PDF file available from website.

This handbook is primarily aimed atgenebank staff to provide ideas, options andconsiderations to assist in developingcoherent and effective genebank strategies.Chapters cover the context of genebankmanagement, setting objectives forgenebanks, considerations for improvedconservation and utilization concepts andstrategies, genebank managementprocedures, rationalization of genebankmanagement, economic costs of genebankoperations and sharing repsonisibilities.

The idea is to ensure that genebanksbecome more useful, better used, and betterknown in wider society. To that end theHandbook goes beyond a narrow view ofgenebank management – the preservation ofgenetic integrity and viability of storedmaterial – to deal with agenda setting,improved use of accessions, economiccosts, and how to share responsibilities andcollaborate with a wider range of partners. Italso includes a series of case studiesillustrating how three specific genebankshave addressed these wider concerns.

L. Vallee, T. Hogbin, L. Monks, B. Makinson,M. Matthes, and M. Rossetto, 2004Guidelines for the translocation ofthreatened plants in Australia 2nd Edn.Australian Network for Plant Conservation,Canberra, Australia. 80 pp. ISBN0975219103. Price: AUD$22 plus postageand handling of $5 per copy within Australia.

Order forms available fromhttp://www.anbg.gov.au/anpc/books.html orcontact the ANPC National Office Tel: +61 (0)2 6250 9509, Fax: +61 (0) 2 6250 9528, E-mail [email protected]. Internet: www.anbg.gov.au/anpc

Translocation or reintroduction is thedeliberate transfer of plants or regenerativeplant material from an ex situ collection ornatural population to a location in the wild,including existing or new sites or thosewhere the taxon is now locally extinct.However, despite the potential benefits oftranslocation, there are potential risksassociated with the technique and asconsiderable effort required to implement atranslocation programme the AustralianNetwork for Plant Conservation (ANPC)published Guidelines for the Translocationof Threatened Plants in Australia in 1997.

The ANPC recognised the need to revisethe guidelines as translocation hascontinued to be used as a conservation toolbut with some inappropriate practices. Thisnew edition, reflects advances in scientificpractice and the greatly increased practicalexperience in translocation. In particular,the new guidelines include greateremphasis on evaluating whethertranslocation is justified and practical,monitoring and evaluation, and involvinglocal communities. The main points arebrought together in useful case studiesfrom across Australia. A new formatenhances useability and operationalsections have convenient checklists to aidthose involved in the planning, approval, orimplementation of translocation programs.

The ANPC is running a series of workshopson translocation, to familiarise practitionerswith the new Guidelines and to help peopleexchange experiences.

Erik Millstone and Tim Lang, 2003The Atlas of Food Who Eats What, Whereand WhyEarthscan, U.K. 128 pp. ISBN:1853839655(paperback) Price: £12.99Earthscan, 8-12 Camden High Street,London, NW1 0JH, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1903 828 800; website orderenquiries +44 (0)1903 828 800, Fax: +44 (0)20 7387 8998, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: www.earthscan.co.uk

This atlas follows on from other Earthscanatlases such as those on water andendangered species. The atlas providesdouble-page spreads of easy to read facts,figures, maps and graphics on over 40topics on the core issues that affect ourfood from population and water throughfarming to trade and food processing,retailing and consumption. The topicsinclude pesticides, agricultural biodiversity,urban and sustainable farming, food miles,staples and organic food and provide usefulbaseline information.



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Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)PUBLICATIONS LIST 2004

POLICY

Global Strategy for Plant Conservation CBD Secretariat, 2003

International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation Wyse Jackson & Sutherland (eds, 2000) English, French or Spanish versions

ACTION PLANS

Action Plan for Botanic Gardens in the European UnionCheney et al. (comp & eds, 2000) English or French versions

MANUALS

The Darwin Technical Manual for Botanic GardensLeadlay & Greene (eds, 1998) English, French or Spanish versions

A Handbook for Botanic Gardens on the Reintroduction of Plants to the WildAkeroyd & Wyse Jackson (1995)

A CITES Manual for botanic gardens Akeroyd, McGough & Wyse Jackson (eds, 1994) English or Spanish versions

PROCEEDINGS

European Botanic Gardens - studies in conservation and education(papers from the Eurogard 2000 Congress) Hobson (ed, 2003) CD-ROM

Plants, People and Planet Earth - the role of botanic gardens in sustainable living - (5th International Botanic Gardens Conservation

Congress) Davis & Scott (comp, 2001) CD-ROM

Conservation into the 21st Century (4th International Botanic Gardens

Conservation Congress) Touchell et al. (eds, 1997

Botanic Gardens in a Changing World (3rd International Botanic Gardens

Conservation Congress) Hobson (ed, 1996) diskette

EDUCATION

Plants for the Planet BGCI, 2005, CD-ROM

Environmental Education in Botanic Gardens: Guidelines for developingindividual strategies Willison (ed, 1994)

Teaching for the 21st Century (3rd International Congress on Education in

Botanic Gardens) Hobson & Willison (eds, 2001)

PRICE POSTAGE

Member of Non-member U.K. Europe Rest of World BGCI of BGCI (2nd class) Economy Standard

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Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Descanso House, 199 Kew Road,Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3BW, U.K.

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