Red lists: Plant conservation assessments and the role of ... 14_… · what of plant conservation...

Journal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Volume 14 • Number 1 • January 2017

Red lists: Plant conservationassessments and the role ofbotanic gardens

Features in this issue:

• Talking plants: an interview with a plantconservation champion

• Plant hunting tales fromTanzania

• Featured garden: focus on South China

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1) 01

BGjournal is published by Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational (BGCI). It is published twice a year.Membership is open to all interested individuals, institutionsand organisations that support the aims of BGCI.

Further details available from:

• Botanic Gardens Conservation International, DescansoHouse, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3BW UK.Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5953, Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5956, E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.org

• BGCI(US) Inc, The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Rd, San Marino, CA 91108, USA. Tel: +1 626-405-2100, E-mail: [email protected]: www.bgci.org/usa

• BGCI-China, South China Botanical Garden,1190 Tian Yuan Road, Guangzhou, 510520, China. Tel: +86 20 85231992, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: www.bgci.org/china

• BGCI-Southeast Asia, Jean Linsky, BGCI Southeast AsiaBotanic Gardens Network Coordinator, Dr. Cecilia Koo Botanic Conservation Center, No. 31, Tongsing Rd., Gaoshu Township, Pingtung County90646, Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel: +886 8 796 0913, Mobile: +886 966484475, Email: [email protected], Internet: www.bgci.org; www.kbcc.org.tw/en

• BGCI-Africa, Kirsty Shaw, BGCI Africa Office, IUCN Easternand Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), P.O. Box68200 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya, Tel. +254 (0)725295632Skype: bgci_kirsty, Email. [email protected] Internet: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 is a worldwide membership organisation establishedin 1987. Its mission is to mobilise botanic gardens andengage partners in securing plant diversity for the well-being of people and the planet. BGCI is an independentorganisation registered in the United Kingdom as a charity(Charity Reg No 1098834) and a company limited byguarantee, No 4673175. BGCI is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3)non-profit organisation in the USA and is a registered non-profit organisation in Russia.

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

Suzanne SharrockDirector of GlobalProgrammes

Malin RiversRed List Manager

EDITORS

Volume 14 • Number 1

Cover Photo: Echinocereus trichglochidiatus, T. Heller

Design: Seascape www.seascapedesign.co.uk

EDITORIAL RED LISTS: PLANT CONSERVATIONASSESSMENTS AND THE ROLE OF BOTANIC GARDENS

FEATURES

NEWS FROM BGCI

INTERVIEW: TALKING PLANTS

PLANT HUNTING TALES: IN SEARCH OF A TREE ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION

FEATURED GARDEN: SOUTH CHINA BOTANICAL GARDEN, THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

BGCI DATABASES

JOIN THE WORLD’S LARGEST PLANT CONSERVATION NETWORK

ARTICLES

RED LISTING – AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WHY, WHO AND WHAT OF PLANT CONSERVATION ASSESSMENTS Malin Rivers and Suzanne Sharrock

THE GLOBAL TREE ASSESSMENT – RED LISTING THE WORLD’S TREESMalin Rivers

A NEW RED LIST OF OAKS: INFORMING CONSERVATION ACTION ANDCATALYZING COLLABORATION Murphy Westwood

RED LISTS INFORMING IN SITU CONSERVATION OF PLANTS IN AMEGADIVERSE COUNTRY – AN EXAMPLE FROM SOUTH AFRICADomatilla Raimondo

CONSERVING THE THREATENED PLANTS OF THE BRITISH VIRGINISLANDS (BVI) Sara Bárrios, Natasha Harrigan, Nancy Pascoe,Keith Grant, Marcella Corcoran, Tom Heller, Rosemary Newton,Michele Sanchez, Colin Clubbe and Martin Hamilton

PROGRESS IN CONSERVING FUNGI: ENGAGEMENT AND RED LISTING Gregory M. Mueller

RESOURCES

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IN THIS ISSUE...

Welcome to BGCI’slatest edition ofBGJournal, the theme of which is red listing andconservationassessments. The publication ofthis edition coincides

(not accidentally) with the launch ofBGCI’s newest database – ThreatSearch(www.bgci.org/threat_search.php) – themost comprehensive database of plantthreat assessments in the world (see page4). ThreatSearch currently comprisesaround 242,000 assessments representingover 150,000 taxa. Apart from being theprimary source of information on progresstowards achieving Target 2 of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation1, we hopethat this new resource will greatly assistbotanic gardens in assessing the value of their collections. I suspect that manygardens will be surprised to find out howmany rare and threatened plant speciesthey harbour in their living collections andseed banks. BGCI is grateful to ourpartners at the Zoological Society ofLondon and the Royal Botanic Gardens,Kew in compiling this database, which will be maintained and added to as newassessments become available.

BGCI has long argued that the loss ofplant diversity is the most importantchallenge for botanic gardens to address.We have unique skills, knowledge anddata related to plants right across thetaxonomic array. In a recent analysis ofBGCI’s PlantSearch database, wediscovered that the 1100 botanic gardensrepresented in that database conserveand manage one third of known plantdiversity. Those 1100 gardens are onlyabout 40% of the total number of gardensout there, so this is a minimum figure. It isquite likely that, collectively, our sector

conserves and manages more than half of the world’s known plant species. No other professional community comesclose to this total, and it is therefore ourresponsibility to use our skills andresources to prevent extinctions. In this edition of BGJournal, we interviewJennifer Cruse-Sanders, a leadingmember of our community whopassionately believes this, and has put her energies into saving plants fromextinction (see pages 6-7).

Given the lack of resources available for plant conservation, prioritisation isessential and threat status is, of course,the top criterion for deciding where weshould concentrate our efforts. Anexample of just such a targeted effort is described in our plant hunting feature(pages 8-9) in which a team of botanistsfound one of the last two remainingpopulations of the East African tree,Karomia gigas. This species is believedto be down to just 15 trees left in the wild and, with loggers active nearby, it is now critically important that wesecure viable seed in order to propagatethis species ex situ.

Threat assessments come in manydifferent forms but the global standard is IUCN’s Red List methodology. On pages 14-15, Malin Rivers andSuzanne Sharrock take us through theRed List categories and methodology. BGCI is a member of IUCN’s Red ListPartnership, and at the recent WorldConservation Congress in Hawai’i wesigned a memorandum of Understandingwith IUCN committing to support redlisting efforts for a further five years. The Global Tree Assessment (pages 16-19) is our flagship red listing projectand provides a framework for efforts toassess all the world’s known tree speciesby 2020. BGCI is co-ordinating this effort,

and a key tool we have developed for thispurpose is GlobalTreeSearch, the firstglobal list of tree species, georeferencedto country level (www.bgci.org/globaltreesearch). This list will enable us to carryout a gap analysis to see which treespecies have not yet been assessed, afterwhich unassessed taxa can be allocatedto the relevant national or taxonomicspecialists. An example of this processfor an important taxonomic group is theGlobal Oak Conservation Partnership(pages 20-23) led by the MortonArboretum in the United States. Anexemplary national red listing initiative ledby the South African National BiodiversityInstitute is described on pages 24-26,and an example of a smaller scalenational effort led by the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew in the British Virgin Islandsis outlined on pages 27-29. Last but farfrom least, Greg Mueller from ChicagoBotanic Garden reminds us that fungi are threatened too (pages 30-33). Greg reminds us of why this matters andreassures us that, through the GlobalFungal Red List Initiative, significantefforts are now being made to assess the conservation status of ecologically and economically important, threatenedfungi around the world.

One final word. Please make every effort to join us at BGCI’s sixth Global Botanicgarden Congress, hosted by theConservatory and Botanical garden of the City of Geneva from June 26th-30th. The theme of the Congress is BotanicGardens and Society: visions for thefuture. How do we help to solve the bigenvironmental challenges – food security,water scarcity, energy, health, climatechange and loss of biodiversity? Be thereto find out!

Dr Paul SmithBGCI Secretary General

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1) • 0202

EDITORIAL:RED LISTS: PLANT CONSERVATION ASSESSMENTS AND THE ROLE OF BOTANIC GARDENS

1 An assessment of the conservation status of all known plantspecies, as far as possible, to guide conservation action by 2020.

Erythrine zeyheri


FEATURES

NEWS FROM BGCI

INTERVIEW: TALKING PLANTS

PLANT HUNTING TALES:IN SEARCH OF A TREE

ON THE EDGE OFEXTINCTION

FEATURED GARDEN:SOUTH CHINA

BOTANICAL GARDEN,THE CHINESE ACADEMY

OF SCIENCESAcer pycnanthum

Montane forest

Maple collection

Rhododendron milleri

REGISTER NOW FOR 6GBGC

Registration and abstract submissions are now open for the 6th Global BotanicGardens Congress. The Congress will beheld in Geneva, Switzerland from 26-30June 2017. Themed on ‘Botanic gardensin society: Visions for the future’ theCongress will explore the roles andrelevance of botanic gardens in today’ssociety. Early bird registration extendsuntil 31 March and the abstractsubmission deadline is 31 January. Find out more at www.6gbgc.com

BGCI DATABASES

ThreatSearchlaunched

BGCI is excited toannounce the launchof its new database –ThreatSearch.

ThreatSearch is the most comprehensivedatabase of conservation assessmentsof plants. It contains over 242,000conservation assessments, representingover 150,000 taxa (www.bgci.org/threat_search.php).

The aim is for ThreatSearch to be a one-stop shop to find conservationassessments for plants. Together withour two main collaborators - the NationalRed List (www.nationalredlist.org) andthe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew(www.kew.org) - we have assembledcurrently available conservationassessments into a single list ofconservation assessments for plants. Weare continuing to add new conservationassessments, as well as adding oldernon-digital sources. Species nameshave been matched to The Plant List(www.plantlist.org) whenever possible.In all cases, the source of theassessment is indicated, and whenavailable a URL link will take you to theoriginal source of the information.

ThreatSearch can be used to findinformation about any species of interest,but it can also be filtered on scope,

threatened status and year of theassessments. BGCI members will soonhave the possibility to carry out morerefined searching of the database in themembers’ only area of the BGCI website.

Look out for our second new database –GlobalTreeSearch – a comprehensiveglobal list of tree species georeferencedto country level. Coming soon.

NEW RESOURCES FROM BGCI

From idea to realisation

Further chapters of BGCI’s new Manualon planning, developing and managingbotanic gardens are now available fordownload from the BGCI website. This comprehensive resource providesessential guidance for newly developinginstitutions, as well supportingestablished botanic gardens that may beseeking advice or information as part ofa re-development or organisationalreview. Consisting of four main parts,the eight chapters of the Manual arebeing published in stages, with Chapters1 to 6 now available online. Recentlypublished chapters 5 and 6 coverCollection Record Management Systemsand Horticultural Management. Find outmore about the Manual and downloadthe chapters from the BGCI website:www.bgci.org/resources/2016-BGCI-botanic-garden-manual

Seed conservation training modules

BGCI has created a suite of learningmodules on seed conservation, essentialfor those working in seed banks or inbotanic gardens with seed collection

programmes. The modules take thelearner step-by-step through theprocess of seed conservation fromplanning to collection to processing andstorage. After every module there is aquick quiz to test knowledge gained.Powerpoint presentations are alsoavailable to download for thoseinterested in utilising this resource fortraining purposes. These resources arealso available in Spanish. Find out moreat: www.bgci.org/plant-conservation/seed_learning/

NEW STAFF AT BGCI

BGCI would like to extend a warmwelcome to Helen Miller, our new Head ofEducation. Helen joined the BGCI officein January 2017 and brings a wealth ofexperience in public engagement andvocational training on conservation andbroader environmental issues. You will behearing from her more fully soon in thenext edition of Roots.

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1) • 04-0504

FEATURE

NEWS FROM BGCI

From Idea to Realisation •••• BGCI’s Manual on Planning, Developing and Managing Botanic Gardens

Chapter 5: Collection Record Management Systems

Part C: The Plant Collection – Linchpin of the Botanic Garden

From Idea to Realisation •••• BGCI’s Manual on Planning, Developing and Managing Botanic Gardens

Chapter 6: Horticultural Management

Part C: The Plant Collection – Linchpin of the Botanic Garden

THE BIG GIVE CHRISTMASCHALLENGE

The Big Give Christmas Challenge is a yearly fundraising event that seesdonations to charities doubled bymatched funds. This year the campaignran from midday Tuesday 29th Novemberto midday Friday 2nd December 2016 andraised a staggering £7.2 million in total.Through participating in the Big Give,BGCI managed to raise a fantastic£16,553.75, beating our target of £15,000.This year, the funds will be used tosupport the International Plant SentinelNetwork (IPSN). The IPSN aims to protecttree (and non-woody) species from attackby invasive damaging pests and diseases.Find out more at www.plantsentinel.org A big thank you to everyone whocontributed to the Big Give.

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE

In November, BGCI was delighted toannounce the winners of the 2016 Marsh Awards for International PlantConservation and for Botanic GardenEducation.

For her contribution to InternationalPlant Conservation, the award went to Jenny Cruse Sanders of AtlantaBotanical Garden in the USA.

Jenny is a commendable leader of plantconservation initiatives in the SoutheastUnited States and is guiding the plantconservation field in significantdirections at the national level. Jennyhas developed conservation programs at the local, state and regional levels for numerous threatened species andhabitats of the biodiverse Southeast,including orchids, pitcher plants, and theTorrey pine, one of the most threatenedconifers in the world.

For her work in Botanic GardenEducation, the Marsh Award goes to IwaKołodziejska of the University of WarsawBotanic Garden in Poland. Iwa has beenactive at the university and botanic gardenfor 13 years. During this time thedepartment has gone from strength tostrength, with education at the gardenbecoming increasingly respected. Iwa isalso a researcher in ethnobotanicalknowledge which supports her ability todevelop activities that are innovative andengaging to different audiences. She iskeen to see the connection between artand science communication and thereforehas the ability to speak to a broad rangeof often hard-to-reach audiences,including teenagers and refugees.

The awards came with a cash prize of£1,000 and a Certificate for each winner.The Award Ceremony was held at theLinnean Society in London on the eveningof December 6th.

NEW INITIATIVES

New IUCN Specialist Group on seedbanking to be established

As part of the IUCN World ConservationCongress that took place in Hawai’i, inSeptember, a Knowledge Café sessionwas held that brought together seedbanking experts from over 20 institutions.The group was gathered to discussinitiating a new IUCN Species SurvivalCommission (SSC) Seed ConservationSpecialist Group (SCSG).

During the Knowledge Café session,participants nominated Marian Chau,Seed Conservation Laboratory Managerat Harold L. Lyon Arboretum; DustinWolkis, Seed Bank & Laboratory Managerat the National Tropical Botanic GardenHawai’i and Uromi Goodale, AssociateProfessor at Guangxi University in Chinaas Co-chairs of the SCSG. BGCI will actas Secretariat of the group. The next stepwill involve submitting a proposal to theSSC Chair on the establishment of theSCSG. The first objective of the group isto create a global directory of resources,facilities and expertise on seed banking.

Sharing and growing - MoU Signedbetween BGCI and CETAF

On October 18,BGCI and theConsortium ofEuropeanTaxonomicFacilities signed

a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)marking the start of a new partnershipbetween the two organisations.

The Consortium of European TaxonomicFacilities (CETAF AISBL) was created in1996, with 33 members representing 57 natural history institutions from 20 European countries. It is a uniqueplatform for collections and taxonomywithin Europe. Through the MoU, BGCIand CETAF agree to exchange informationand to participate in and contribute toeach other’s networks. The signatoriesrecognize each other as strategic partnersfor pursuing their common interests andwill strive to work together on issues ofcommon interest.

BGCI US to partner with MontgomeryBotanical Center and other membergardens to protect trees

BGCI US and the Montgomery BotanicalCenter in collaboration with The MortonArboretum, Chicago Botanic Garden,National Tropical Botanical Garden, andother experts have received a NationalLeadership Grant from the Institute ofMuseum and Library Services. Theproject will optimize the design of ex situtree collections by analyzing geneticvariation in a range of important treegroups, from palms to oaks to magnolias,and will help improve the conservationquality of living tree collections byadapting proven methods from zoos.


BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1) • 06-07 06

We know you are passionate about plantconservation; what or who originallyinspired your love of plants?

My interest in plants grew out of my lovefor conservation and understanding howpeople impact native species. Aftercompleting my undergraduate degree, I travelled to Belize to study birdpopulations in roadside tropical dryhabitats. During this trip, I discovered howimportant it is to be able to catalogueplant diversity and share this informationwith people in-country. The stories abouteach native plant species offered insightsinto our connections with the naturalworld. Another important lesson for mewas the realization that in order to haveany real impact in the field ofconservation, I needed to be able todescribe natural habitats and understandbotanical diversity better. After this fieldexperience, I began a graduate programin Plant Taxonomy at the University ofGeorgia. The first plant that I looked atunder a dissecting microscope was aweedy little mint (Lamium amplexicaule),but under the scope it was the mostgorgeous thing that I’d ever seen. Fromthat point on, I’ve never wanted to studyanything other than plants.

You have developed conservationprotocols for a wide range of species,which was the most challenging and why?

At the Atlanta Botanical Garden I’ve hadthe great privilege to work with one of themost endangered conifers in the world,

Torreya taxifolia. This species is restrictedto forests along a 35 mile stretch of theApalachicola River in extreme southwestGeorgia and the panhandle of Florida. It was once a canopy tree, but in the mid20th Century there was a catastrophicloss of natural populations, leaving onlyseedlings and young germinating plants.For 50 years there have been questionssurrounding why Florida torreya declinedand how best to protect it. This is aflagship species for the Center for PlantConservation and it was one of the firstplants protected under the EndangeredSpecies Act of the U.S. It represents acase study in conservation. Most of thenatural distribution for Torreya taxifolia isprotected by state owned lands within theFlorida Park system or within the NatureConservancy owned properties. The factis that the fungal disease that impacts thisspecies, and other threats do not stop atpark boundaries. Therefore managementof this species depends on collaborationbetween botanical gardens, researchers,and land mangers to pull together adiversity of resources to prevent thisspecies from going to extinction.

You clearly have a very wide ranging job,but is it possible to describe a typicalworking day?

A typical day for me includes either fieldwork or garden office work. At thebotanical garden I combine office workwith meetings, reports, laboratoryresearch, student training andadministrative work. Although I love the

garden collections, my favorite days arein the field working on projects acrossthe southeastern U.S. Each day in thefield with co-workers and collaboratorsis balanced with several days at thegarden preparing for the field trip orfollowing up with reports and budgeting.Almost every day at the Garden isaccompanied by time spent readingpublished literature and current media,thinking about how to increase thescientific value of the collections, how toconnect with collaborators, and how tobudget for the next project.

You have been involved in setting up aseries of sciences cafés to bring thepublic together with scientists. Why didyou decide to do this and how do youthink we can better engage the public inplant conservation issues?

After I first learned about science caféseight years ago, I was inspired, and Idecided to start a series at the AtlantaBotanical Garden. Science cafés (caféscientifiques) were the brain child ofDuncan Dallas as a way to open upvenues for discussing some of the mostimportant issues in society. It was abrilliant idea that was freely given to the world to adapt and use for multiplepurposes.

My objective in bringing science cafés tothe garden was to attract new audiencesand highlight the behind-the-scenesscience and conservation that was anintegral part of our programs. I often

INTERVIEWTALKING PLANTS

In this issue of BGjournal, BGCI talks to Jennifer Cruse-Sanders,

Vice President for science and conservation at the Atlanta Botanical

Garden, and recently appointed Director of the State Botanical Garden

of Georgia at the University of Georgia, USA. Jennifer was also the

2016 winner of the Marsh Award for International Plant Conservation.

FEATURE


chose general or controversial subjectsas a series topic (with the goal to addressthe science underlying the subject ratherthan the controversy). This has workedfor subjects as diverse as climate change,evolution, art and science, and plants andhuman health. The garden provides abeautiful venue for science discussionsand a ready way to connect collectionswith almost any scientific subject. With a little creativity we made science a sensory experience and helped thegeneral public see how plants touchalmost every aspect of their lives.

Early on, when science café was offeredduring cocktails in the garden (a weeklyThursday night event), we paired eachscience café with a signature cocktail and then built the cocktail as an openingicebreaker with one of our horticulturistsas the lead. The horticultural expertdiscussed each botanical ingredient,where it was domesticated, or how it isgrown or prepared. We would then endthe science café with a tour of thecollections and an opportunity for peopleto see the plant ingredients growing atthe garden. The first time we tried this ourspeaker was a physicist from the GeorgiaInstitute of Technology. His talk was titled“Evolution in Darwin’s warm little pond,”and we paired it with a cocktail called amudslide, featuring chocolate, coffee andvanilla. This sort of approach was fun anda great way to feature our horticulturalexpertise and collections.

You have achieved so much already inleading plant conservation activities inthe USA. But where do your futureambitions lie? What are the nextchallenges you will address?

I’m lucky because I do what I love, and Iwork with people who also love what theydo. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity towork at the Atlanta Botanical Garden andhelp to build a Center for SoutheasternConservation that brings together thestrengths and partnerships that are somuch the fabric of Atlanta’s garden.

This year I have the opportunity totransition to a new role as the Director ofthe State Botanical Garden of Georgia atthe University of Georgia. These are twovery different gardens that work within thesame plant conservation networks. Eachgarden has complementary strengths thatare both important for plant conservationin the southeastern U.S.A.

I’m looking forward to growing thecollections and programs at the StateBotanical Garden of Georgia andworking with the University of Georgia tobuild on the successes and impacts ofthis garden. In many ways this is ahomecoming for me because UGA iswhere I first learned botany.

I’m also excited to participate in thenetwork of Southeastern Partners forPlant Conservation because I know that

the only way we will be successful inplant conservation is by working within an alliance of governmental agencies(federal, state, local) that includes anetwork of botanical gardens, academicinstitutions, non-governmentalorganizations, citizen scientists andothers to prioritize and address thepressing needs for conserving nativeplants species.

What advice could you give to a newbotanic garden just starting to work inplant conservation?

Our strengths and successes are builtupon our botanical garden network –however it is defined –statewide,regionally, nationally or globally. I recommend becoming familiar with theBGCI website and the tools it provides, aswell as with the Global Strategy for PlantConservation. These are free resourcesthat allow any botanical garden, large orsmall, to identify global initiatives for plantconservation and a larger context for theirefforts. Once you’ve taken this step, I recommend that you clearly define yourstrategic goals, strengths and capacities.Once these areas are defined, you canidentify what objectives for plantconservation make sense for your garden,and where you need to invest resources ifyou’d like to grow in a particular direction.I strongly believe that every garden cancontribute to plant conservation. It beginswith providing a space that allows peopleto interact with and learn about plants.

is still only known from fewer than 20 trees and clearly requires urgentconservation action.

A rocky start

As with many a botanising trip, theexpedition got off to a rocky start. Thetrees are located several kilometres fromthe main road, along a difficult, dusty,


FEATURE

In October 2016, BGCI led a survey tripto look for Karomia gigas, a tree foundonly in southeast Tanzania. With an

expert team, including representativesfrom Missouri Botanical Garden, theTanzania Forest Service, the Tanzania

Tree Seed Agency and Tanzania CoastalForest Botanic Garden, and fundingsecured from the Mohamed bin ZayedSpecies Conservation Fund, we set off tolook for this Critically Endangered tree.

History of the tree

Karomia gigas was previously knownfrom a single individual tree in Kenyawhich was cut down in the late 1970’s.Another individual was then identified inTanzania in 1993, but when this specimencould no longer be found, it was fearedthat the species had become extinct.

However in 2012, the species wasrediscovered in Tanzania by botanistsfrom the University of Dar es Salaam, 28 km away from the site of the 1993collection in Tanzania. Therefore,although not extinct, Karomia gigas

PLANT HUNTING TALESIN SEARCH OF A TREE ONTHE EDGE OF EXTINCTION

A team of botanists from

three continents set out in

search of Karomia gigas,

a Critically Endangered

tree with fewer than 20

individuals estimated to

be surviving in the wild.

Authors: Emily Beech and Kirsty Shaw

Karomia gigas

Karomia gigas is a species of plant inthe Lamiaceae family. It is only knownin Tanzania, where only very smallpopulations survive. The species waspreviously found in Kenya, where thesingle known tree was cut for timber.

There is little known about thespecies and why it has become soextremely rare. Clearly the trees areattractive for use for timber as theyare much taller and straighter thanother trees growing in its nativehabitat. During the expedition, signsof timber extraction were noticeablethroughout the forest.

Another important factor in its declineis thought to be land use change. Theforest where it is found is in an areathat is gradually being converted intoagricultural land. The clearing offorests for cultivation, compoundedby the ravages of fires – to which thespecies is very susceptible - are likelyto put great pressure on already verylimited populations.


weaving track through Miombowoodland. The first day was sadly cutshort when one of our vehicles got stuckin deep ruts in the track. With rumoursthat there were leopards in the area, wewere pleased to get the vehicle movingagain before sunset.

If at first you don’t succeed…

The group returned to the forest early thenext morning, navigating carefully alongthe same track, reaching as far as the carcould go without getting stuck again. We had enlisted the help of Mr. SalimJangwa, a member of the nearest village,whose knowledge of the forest wasinvaluable to help us locate the trees wewere looking for. He led us for over anhour on foot winding through dry, hot,coastal forest. After months of drought,the forest was almost silent with fewsigns of wildlife, birds or insects. The onlysound as we walked was the crunch ofdry leaves underfoot. The dominantvegetation was small, leafless trees, withthe odd flash of colour from bright rednative Hibiscus and coral red Erythrinaflowers through the open forest.

Success

And then we spotted our first Karomiatree. Towering over the other vegetationin the forest, the tree rose straightupwards from the forest floor with apatchy grey/yellow bark. We found sixindividual trees of Karomia gigas, all withsimilar impressive trunks. Herbariumspecimens collected in the past at thesame time of year as our survey, had

suggested the trees would have seedavailable at the time of the trip. Althoughwe did find seed, the seeds were notfresh and therefore unlikely to be viable.There were no signs of naturalregeneration. A sample of seeds washowever taken to the Tanzania Tree SeedAgency (TTSA) for viability testing.

During our mission we appointed Mr.Jangwa as a tree surveyor. He will monitorthe trees twice a month to report whenflowers and seed are present. The GlobalTrees Campaign (GTC) has managed toraise further funds for a seed collectingtrip, so when we are informed that freshseed is available, a trained team can goout to collect. Funding has also beensecured to survey the only other knownpopulation of Karomia gigas which isestimated to consist of nine trees. Thesurvey will take place alongside seedcollection at the first site in the hope thatseed will also be available for collection at the second population. Conservation action

Genetically representative seedcollections will be established at TTSAand coastal botanic gardens in Tanzania.A local propagation programme will beinitiated to enable restoration. Theseefforts represent hope for the future ofthis Critically Endangered tree which,with no current formal protection inplace despite high deforestation rates in the region, is at great risk of being lost forever.

The expedition was funded by theMohamed bin Zayed SpeciesConservation Fund.

So far at SCBG, more than 14,500plant taxa - of which 456 arethreatened plant species (Ren Hai

et al., 2016) are conserved in 37 specialex situ living collections, includingmagnolias, bamboos, palms, gingers,orchids, cycads, medicinal plants, etc. in an area of 282 ha. About 1,100,000plant specimens are being kept in theherbarium. Over 2,400 plant species areconserved in situ in an area of 1,155ha inthe Dinghushan National Nature Reserve

which was established in 1956 and wasthe first national nature reserve in Chinaas well as the only nature reserveaffiliated to CAS.

Since the publication of the GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)in 2002 and China’s Strategy for PlantConservation (CSPC) in 2008, SCBG hasbeen implementing and making significantcontributions to these Strategies, with aparticular focus on Targets 1 (on-line


FEATURE

FEATURED GARDENSOUTH CHINA BOTANICAL

GARDEN, THE CHINESEACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Founded in 1929, South China Botanical Garden (SCBG),

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is one of the top

botanical research institutions and botanical gardens in

China. Located in Guangzhou City of Guangdong Province,

SCBG plays an important role in plant conservation including both ex situ and in situ

conservation, public education and the sustainable utilization of plant resources. In addition,

SCBG carries out scientific research, especially in the fields of forest and restoration

ecology, systematic and evolutionary botany, plant resources and biotechnology.

flora), 2 (conservation assessments), 3 (methods and protocols), 7 (in situconservation), 8 (ex situ conservation), 10 (invasive species) and 14 (educationand public awareness).

Conservation status assessments ofplants provide the foundation for practicalconservation action. As the onlycomprehensive botanical garden in SouthChina, SCBG is responsible for theassessment of the conservation status

Authors: Xiangying Wen, Zhang Linhai and Ren Hai

of plants distributed in cities near toGuangzhou, nature reserves inGuangdong Province or provinces closeto Guangdong Province, such asDongguan City, Nanling National NatureReserve in Guangdong, as well as thedistribution and assessment of rare andendangered plants in Ganshiling NatureReserve of Hainan Province (RongjingZhang et al., 2015).

SCBG has carried out the assessments of90 rare and threatened plant species fromGuangdong province according to IUCNCategories and Criteria. These areincluded in China’s red list, Theassessment results showed that while nospecies were listed as Extinct (EX) orExtinct in the Wild (EW), 12 species wereconsidered to be Critically Endangered(CR), 78 species were Endangered (EN),and 12 species were listed as Vulnerable(VU). Meanwhile, SCBG has alsoevaluated Plant Species with ExtremelySmall Population (PSESP) in GuangdongProvince and proposed conservationapproaches for these, including in situ,near situ and ex situ conservation,germplasm banks, reintroductionprogrammes and capacity buildingactivities, based on the evaluation results(Ren Hai et al., 2016).

Research on lycophytes and ferns is oneof the most important activities at SCBG.To assess the extinction risk of lycophytesand ferns growing in China, experts fromSCBG have been involved in thepreliminary evaluation of 2,250 taxa(including 146 lycophytes and 2,104 ferns)according to the IUCN Red ListCategories and Criteria (version 3.1)

at national level. The preliminary resultsare: 43 species identified as CriticallyEndangered (CR, including six probablyextinct), 68 Endangered (EN), 72Vulnerable (VU), 66 Near Threatened (NT),1,125 Least Concern (LC), and 876 DataDeficient (DD). Of the total 183 threatenedspecies (VU, EN, and CR), 79 are speciesendemic (or nearly so) to China.Conservation priorities have beensuggested for 79 threatened, endemicspecies, especially for the 24 CR species(Shi-Yong Dong et al., 2016).

Based on those evaluation results, SCBGhas published more than 120 papers inEnglish on rare and endangered plantsand taken various practical conservation

actions. Reintroduction activities for 28 threatened plant species have beeninitiated and good progresses made with species such as Primulina tabacum,Tigridiopalma magnifica, Magnolialongipedunculata, Euryodendronexcelsum, Apterosperma oblate,Bretschneidera sinensis, Camellia azaleaetc. (Ren Hai et al., 2016).

As the host of two internationalorganizations (BGCI and IABG), SCBG willcontinue to play an important role in theimplementation of the GSPC, especially inplant conservation and botanical gardenconstruction and development.

References

, Ren Hai, Zhang Qianmei, WangRuijiang. 2016. Conservation andStudy of Rare and Endangered Plantsin Guangdong Province. ChinaForestry Publishing House.

, Rongjing Zhang, Zhe Zhao, WenbaSu, Fuwu Xing. 2015. Distribution andassessment of rare and endangeredplants in Ganshiling Nature Reserve,Hainan. Biodiversity Science, 23(1):11-17.

, Shi-Yong Dong, Zheng-Yu Zuo,Jianying Xiang,Haining Qin. 2017. The IUCN Red List of the lycophytesand ferns from China: A preliminaryassessment. Biodiversity Science,(accepted).



ARTICLES

RED LISTING – AN INTRODUCTIONTO THE WHY, WHO AND WHAT OFPLANT SPECIES CONSERVATIONASSESSMENTS

THE GLOBAL TREE ASSESSMENT –RED LISTING THE WORLD’S TREES

A NEW RED LIST OF OAKS:INFORMING CONSERVATION ACTIONAND CATALYZING COLLABORATION

RED LISTS INFORMING IN SITUCONSERVATION OF PLANTS IN AMEGADIVERSE COUNTRY – ANEXAMPLE FROM SOUTH AFRICA

CONSERVING THE THREATENEDPLANTS OF THE BRITISH VIRGINISLANDS (BVI)

PROGRESS IN CONSERVING FUNGI:ENGAGEMENT AND RED LISTING

Rhododendron viallii Magnolia wilisoni (Arboretum Wespelaar)

Dipteronia sinensis


Magnolia sp.

Conostegia arborea

Acer griseum

Identifying species at risk

There are over 350,000 known plantspecies in the world. Each speciesinhabits its own ecological niche

and forms a part of a wider biologicalnetwork. The loss, or extinction, of anindividual species not only means theloss forever of a unique biological entity,but it is likely to also have unforeseenconsequences for the other species thatare linked to it in the intricate web of life. Recent estimates have suggested that

1 in every 5 plant species is under threatof extinction1. However, due to the largenumbers of plant species and the lack ofrelevant information, we do not presentlyknow which plants are under thegreatest threat, and where we shouldfocus our conservation efforts.

Conservation assessments allow us todetermine the extinction risk for anyparticular species and therefore prioritiseconservation action on species most in need.

There are different systems available forassessing extinction risk, but the mostcommonly used and most widelyrecognised system is the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species (www.iucnredlist.org).The IUCN Red List categories and criteriaare intended to be an easily and widelyunderstood system for classifying theglobal risk of extinction for plants, animals and fungi.

What information is needed?

Carrying out a red list conservationassessment involves collectinginformation on the status of the species in the wild. The best available knowledgeis gathered from a range of sources,including published literature, floras,herbarium specimens, survey reports,satellite imagery, consultation with expertsetc. and this is used to determine thedistribution of the species as well asprovide data on the species’ population


ARTICLE

RED LISTING AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WHY, WHO AND WHAT OF PLANT CONSERVATION ASSESSMENTS

Red list assessments help to determine which speciesare at greatest risk of extinction. They are used toprioritise the most threatened species for conservationaction, publicise their plight and provide vitalinformation to plan the action needed to save them.

Authors: Malin Rivers and Suzanne Sharrock

1 https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/

Rhododendron crassifolium

size and extent. Analysis of the dataallows trends and changes in thepopulation to be assessed and threatsidentified. To assist with this, records fromthe past and present as well as projectionsinto the future are used. Following theassessment, the species is then assigneda conservation category representing itsextinction risk – See Box 1.

Making an assessment

Anyone working in plant conservation canget involved in conservation assessments.It is not necessary to be a specialist, but itis necessary to have relevant knowledgeabout the species being assessed. Moreinformation on how to red list a treespecies is available from the Global TreesCampaign website2. Completing red listassessments to the standards required bythe IUCN Red List relies on priorknowledge and understanding of how tocorrectly assign the different IUCN RedList categories and criteria. Red listtraining is available both online andthrough training workshops3.

Importance of red listassessments

Completing a red list assessment foreven one species is a major achievementand takes much time and effort.However, it must also be recognised thateven though a species is listed under athreatened red list category, this does notautomatically mean that the species willbe conserved. The results from red listassessments need to be proactively used for conservation planning and formonitoring trends over time.

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal 15

This information gathered in theassessment process is collated andpublished together with the conservationassessment. Conservation assessmentsand their associated informationtherefore become a highly valuable

resource to effectively guide, plan for and raise awareness of the need forconservation action on the ground.

Potential uses for red list assessmentsinclude:

• Identify and prioritise the species ingreatest need of conservation action in a particular region, country orlandscape.

• Facilitate education and publicawareness of species conservationissues to a wide range of audiences.

• Identify gaps and provide focus for ex situ conservation collections.

• Identify gaps in protected area networksand other in situ conservation efforts.

• Provide a basis for monitoring thestatus of plants in the wild.

• Identify knowledge gaps – whichspecies are poorly known (e.g. DataDeficient species) and from whichregions.

• Support and provide information forinternational conservation policy.

Box 1: The IUCN Red List consists of nine different categories:Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered(EN), Vulnerable (VU), Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Data Deficient(DD) and Not Evaluated (NE).

EX means a species has gone extinct, whereas species that are EW are extinctin the wild, but do persist ex situ (such as in botanic garden collections). CR, ENand VU are the three threatened categories. Species that do not qualify for athreatened category, but are close to or likely to qualify for a threatened categoryin the near future, can be assigned to the category NT. LC is used for speciesthat are assessed but are not considered threatened, including widespreadspecies and rare but stable species. The use of the category DD may beassigned to poorly known taxa. Species not yet evaluated are classified as NE.

2 http://globaltrees.org/resources/resource-type/practical-guidance/: Brief No. 10: How to red list a tree species. 3 http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/red-list-training

Combretum grandidieri

The aim of the Global TreeAssessment (GTA) is to have a redlist conservation assessment for

every known tree species in order tocomplete an evaluation of theconservation status of the world’s treesby 2020 (Newton et al., 2015). The GTAwill be an essential data source that willbe used to prioritise conservation actionfor trees. To take this initiative forward,

we have completed a list of the world’stree species, we have developed arobust procedure for identifying thosethat are not threatened according tointernational criteria and have identifiedthose tree species that are known to bethreatened at national, regional and /orinternational level.

The GTA is led by BGCI and the IUCNSpecies Survival Commission (SSC)Global Tree Specialist Group (GTSG),who are continuing to develop anextensive global collaborativepartnership to safeguard the world’sthreatened tree species from extinction.

The importance of trees

Trees are essential for life on Earth. They provide us with food in the form of their seeds, fruits, leaves and roots;they also enhance human life further by providing medicines, timber and fuel. Trees are also central to many ecological processes such as climateregulation (including carbon dioxideabsorption), soil fertility and thepurification of both water and air. Trees provide the physical structure for some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on earth, including woodlands and forests.


Author: Malin Rivers

THE GLOBAL TREE ASSESSMENT –RED LISTING THE WORLD’S TREESThe Global Tree Assessment (GTA) is an initiative to provide conservation assessments ofall the world’s trees by the year 2020.

ARTICLE

Moreover individual tree species oftenplay a keystone role in their ecosystems,supporting a multitude of other speciesfrom their position at the base of trophicpyramids in ecological networks.

However, increasing numbers of treespecies are at risk of extinction by over-exploitation and habitat destruction, as well as by pests, diseases, invasivespecies and the impacts of climatechange. The effects of such threats ontrees can lead to the rapid decline ofwhole ecosystems, their associatedwildlife, livelihood values and carbonstocks. Maintaining tree diversity iscritical for solving some of this century’smajor challenges, including foodsecurity, water scarcity, human healthand mitigation and adaptation to climatechange. However, effective forest (andtree) conservation requires species-specific action. It is therefore imperativethat we consolidate and analyseinformation on the world's tree speciesas a basis for supporting effectiveconservation of all components ofterrestrial biodiversity.

Conservation assessments

The first large-scale assessment ofthreatened trees was published in 1998 inthe book The World List of ThreatenedTrees (Oldfield et al., 1998). From thispublication over 7,000 conservationassessments of trees were added to theIUCN Red List. Since then BGCI, workingwith Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and

the Global Tree Specialist Group havecontinued to produce global conservationassessments of trees both withtaxonomic and regional foci (Table 1).

To date, about 10,000 tree species havebeen assessed globally for their risk ofbecoming extinct and have beenpublished on the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species (IUCN 2016.3).Another 10,000 species have beenassessed on a national or regional level(BGCI, unpublished). However, withoutknowing which of the remainingunassessed tree species are threatenedand what the threats are, we cannoteffectively protect and safeguard thesetrees. The Global Tree Assessment willensure that no tree species is ignored.

The Global Tree Assessment will first andforemost give us a complete assessmentof the conservation status of the world’strees. However, in addition conservationassessments are an invaluable datasource of information for tree conservationaction. The assessments are done to theIUCN Red List standard and arepublished, as far as possible, on the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species website,freely available to all. The GTA will providedata for governments, companies, civilsociety and forest communities so thattree species can be managed, restoredand saved from extinction.


Above: Red listing workshop in Fiji

Delonix boiviniana

Tree Red List Year publishedThe Red list of Endemic Trees & Shrubs of Ethiopia and Eritrea 2005The Red List of Trees of Guatemala 2006The Red List of Magnoliaceae 2007, 2016The Red List of Oaks 2007The Red List of Maples 2009The Red List of Trees of Central Asia 2009The Red List of Mexican Cloud Forest Trees 2011The Red List of Rhododendrons 2011A Regional Red List of Montane Tree Species of the Tropical Andes 2014The Red List of Betulaceae 2014

Table 1. Summary of Red Lists produced by the Global Tree Specialist Group,Botanic Gardens Conservation International and Fauna & Flora International

“Conservation of trees, halting

deforestation and sustainable

management of forests is

recognised as playing a major role

in addressing climate change

”

10/01/2017 10:11 Page 2 10/01/2017 10:27 Page 4 10:06 Page 2 A 10/01/2017 09:49 Page 2

Global Tree Assessment: The process

Developing a checklistThe Global Tree Assessment is already in progress and following the processoutlined in Fig. 1. A global tree checklistwith country distributions has beenproduced: GlobalTreeSearch. This list of approximately 60,000 accepted treespecies forms the backbone of theGlobal Tree Assessment. TheGlobalTreeSearch database will shortly be freely available on the BGCI website.

Least concern speciesThe next step in the process – amethodology to identify widespread, not threatened species, has beendeveloped. An initial workshop wasconducted in November 2016 with 18experts to identify data sources, toolsand methodologies to identify LeastConcern (not threatened) trees. Rapididentification and documentation ofLeast Concern species will allow us toconcentrate on collecting information on the species most at risk.

Threatened speciesWe are continuing to red list the mostthreatened trees around the world, andseveral recent or planned projects aredescribed in the Case Studies. We arealso conducting a gap analysis to see inwhich plant families and in whichcountries the remaining tree species fall.These species will then be allocated tospecialist groups and regional andtaxonomic experts for assessment. Thisallows us to ensure that our resourcesare focused on the species that are atgreatest risk of extinction.

Global Tree Assessmentpartners – and how to join

The Global Tree Assessment is managedand coordinated by BGCI andIUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group.We are working with the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)and a wide range of national and localorganisations and individuals. The IUCNSSC’s Global Tree Specialist Group hasover 80 tree experts from countries allaround the world who are contributinginformation and carrying out speciesassessments.

BGCI is also the pivotal centre of theglobal network of around 2,500 botanicgardens and arboreta. Our membersinclude many gardens and arboretaalready involved in the Global TreeAssessment - Morton Arboretum, RoyalBotanic Garden Edinburgh, WestonbirtArboretum, Missouri Botanical Gardenand many others. In addition, we workwith and support many smaller botanicgardens situated in the world’s plantdiversity hotspots. We are also buildingpartnerships with other institutions suchas other NGOs, forestry and researchinstitutions.

The role of botanic gardens

Botanical gardens and arboreta play avery important role in the GTA. Theseinstitutions support many of the world’sbotanical experts, including specialists incertain taxonomic groups or geographicregions, many of whom also have detailedknowledge of the distributions andecology of threatened tree species in thewild. These experts also have access tovaluable networks of colleagues withsimilar interests and skills. Collectively,gardens and arboreta have theknowledge, capacity, and motivation tosupport the GTA. We urge gardens tocontribute in the following ways:

• Coordinate the Red List efforts for agenus, family, or ecological region.Recruit colleagues and other expertsto provide the necessary data tocompile the assessments.

• Share and provide data andinformation on taxa from your region of interest.

• Encourage students to completeassessments for the species they arestudying. These count as publicationsand are a great way to get yourstudents familiar with the taxon thatthey will be studying.

• Review draft species assessments.• Host a Red List workshop or training

day at your institution. • Publicize the GTA and recruit

contributors and experts whenever you can (at conferences and botanicalsociety meetings, on your webpage, in your publications, etc.)

Despite the best efforts of botanic gardensaround the world, for too long plantconservation has not received the popularand political support that it deserves.


THE PROCESS

Source tree lists from all over the world

Use The Plant List and thetaxonomic literature to checkthat scientific names are valid

Collate and publishassessments of all

species online

Compile and publish a Final Report on the Global

Tree Assessment (2020)

Distribute the remainder for full IUCN Red List

assessments to specialistgroups, regional andtaxonomic experts

Add geographicaldistributions to country level using floras and

other literature sources

Publish georeferenced global tree checklist online (end of 2016)

Develop and apply rapidmethodology to identifywidespread species that

are not threatened

Fig. 1: The process

The Global Tree Assessment with itsclear and ambitious goal will provide amajor new resource to focus attentionand efforts on the conservation of treesand the ecosystems they define. TheGlobal Tree Assessment will provideprioritization information to ensure thatconservation efforts are directed at theright species so that no tree speciesbecomes extinct.

References

, IUCN, 2016. The IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species v. 2016.3Available at: www.iucnredlist.org

, Mark, J., Newton, A., Oldfield, S. andRivers, M. 2014. The InternationalTimber Trade: A working list ofcommercial timber tree species.Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational, Richmond, UK.

, Newton, A., Oldfield, S., Rivers, M.,Mark, J., Schatz, G., Garavito, N.T. et al. 2015. Towards a Global TreeAssessment. Oryx 49(3): 410-415.

, Oldfield, S., Lusty, C., and MacKinven,A. 1998. The World List of ThreatenedTrees. World Conservation Press.Cambridge, UK

, Rivers, M., Beech, E., Murphy, L. andOldfield, S. 2016. The Red List ofMagnoliaceae – revised and extended.Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational, Richmond, UK.

, Rivers, M., Shaw, K., Beech, E. andJones, M. 2015. Conserving theworld's most threatened trees. A global survey of ex situ collections.Botanic Gardens ConservationInternational, Richmond, UK.

Malin RiversRed List ManagerBGCIDescanso House, 199 Kew RoadRichmond, Surrey, TW9 3BW UK


Threatened trees of Fiji

Fiji is home to around 600 tree specieswhich are only found in Fiji. Many of itsnatural areas and tree species are underthreat from habitat loss or over-exploitation. The extinction risk ofindividual tree species in Fiji is poorlydocumented and less than 20% of theFijian trees are currently included on theIUCN Red List. This is in sharp contrastto the island’s animals, with all birds,mammals and amphibians already fullyassessed. BGCI is working with NatureFiji Maquete Viti to build capacity for treered listing in Fiji and supporting on-the-ground tree conservation action.

Assessing timber species

Part of the Global Tree Assessment is anup-to date assessment of the world'scommercial timber species. Timber treescontribute some $468 billion to the globaleconomy every year. They also providecrucial ecosystem services underpinningecosystem stability, function andbiodiversity. A working list of 1,575commercial timber species has beenproduced and all species have beenmapped by a PhD student atBournemouth University (Mark et al.,2014). BGCI is helping to ensure thatcomplete assessments are included onthe IUCN Red List to supportsustainable, legal timber harvesting,trade policies and regulations.

European Trees

BGCI and IUCN are working together toassess all the trees in Europe, as well assome larger shrubs. Funded by the EU Lifeprogramme, this project that will ensurethat all trees in Europe have up-to-dateconservation assessments. It hashighlighted many trees at risk acrossEurope from threats such as pests anddisease, alteration in management practiseand over exploitation. Even in information-rich Europe, some species still lack thenecessary data to be able to assign aconservation category. The assessmentwill be completed in early 2018.

Magnoliaceae

The Red List ofMagnoliaceae (Riverset al., 2016) reportsthat nearly half (48%)of the magnoliaspecies assessedare threatened withextinction in thewild. In the wild,magnolias areprincipallythreatened bylogging activity,with habitat lossdue to land conversion to agriculture andlivestock farming also a significant factorin their global decline. Other threatsinclude collection of wild plant materialand impacts of climate change. The RedList of Magnoliaceae has alreadystimulated conservation action for themagnolia species highlighted as underthreat. BGCI is working with our partnerbotanic gardens in Ecuador, Cuba, Chinaand Colombia to carry out practicalconservation projects to protectthreatened magnolia species.

North American Trees

As part of the Global Tree Assessment, a collaborative effort is underway tocoordinate North American tree RedListing. One of the first steps proposedby BGCI, The Morton Arboretum,NatureServe, and the U.S. Forest Serviceis to create a definitive list of NorthAmerican tree species. This will providea foundation to determine which specieshave been evaluated, and when, by themajor conservation status assessmentplatforms (IUCN Red List, NatureServeG-ranks) as well as the U.S. ForestService CAPTURE program, the U.S.Endangered Species Act or Canada’sSpecies At Risk Act lists. Thiscomprehensive list of North Americantree species together with most recentthreat status evaluations will then beused for prioritizing which species needto be assessed and for mobilizingsupport for achieving the Red List of allNorth American trees.

CASE STUDIES

Introduction

When The Red List of Oaks wasfirst published in 2007 (Oldfieldand Eastwood, 2007), it

became clear that the oaks of the world,the genus Quercus, were in urgent needof research and conservation action. The2007 report included 175 of the roughly450 accepted Quercus species. Of those175, one-third fell within a threatenedcategory of Critically Endangered (CR),Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU).Another 19% of the evaluated specieswere data deficient (Fig. 1). The fact thatone-third of the evaluated species werethreatened, and well over half of allknown species were data deficient ornot evaluated, was greatly concerning.The 2007 report marked a majormilestone in our knowledge of thisecologically and economically important


Author: Murphy Westwood

A NEW RED LIST OF OAKS: INFORMING CONSERVATION ACTION AND CATALYZING COLLABORATION

Oak species of greatest conservation concern are being

identified and prioritised for action as part of the Global

Oak Conservation Partnership to inform collaborative

conservation action.

Fig 1: The 2007 Red List of Oaks included less than half of the world’s oakspecies and found that one-third of oak species were threatened with extinction.

ARTICLE

Summary of Results

Conservation Status Number of Oak TaxaExtinct 0Critically Endangered 13Endangered 16Vulnerable 27Near Threatened 22Data Deficient 33Not Evaluated c.300Least Concern 97

tree genus, but there is a still a largeinformation gap to fill. What is the threatstatus of the 300+ unevaluated species?What are the major threat trendsaffecting Quercus species today, tenyears after the publication of the firstRed List of Oaks, and do those threatsvary by region, habitat, or lineage withinthe genus? What research andconservation actions are underway toprotect threatened oaks? What are thebiodiversity hotspots for threatenedoaks? Where should conservation effortsfocus in the future? These are thequestions that The Morton Arboretum, in collaboration with the Global TreesCampaign, set out to answer when theycreated the Global Oak ConservationPartnership.

Why oaks?

Oaks are keystone species in a widerange of ecosystems around the world,such as in oak-pine forests and cloudforests in Mexico, and subtropicalbroad-leaved evergreen forests inSoutheast Asia. Globally, oaks areecologically valuable for promotingterrestrial biodiversity, performing criticalecosystem functions, and providing foodand habitat for countless species ofanimals (Miller and Lamb 1985; Menitsky2005; le Hardÿ de Beaulieu and Lamant2010). For example, in North America,

native oak species are host to 534different species of Lepidoptera (mothsand butterflies), making Quercus themost ecologically valuable plant genusfor that insect group (Tallamy andShropshire, 2009). However, oaks arethreatened with extinction worldwideand oak-dominated ecosystems aredeclining (Oldfield and Eastwood 2007;Fahey et al., 2012). Furthermore, oakacorns cannot be seed banked throughconventional preservation methods oflow temperature and humidity, soeffective long term ex situ conservationof threatened oak species must bethrough living collections of geneticallydiverse, wild-collected trees of knownprovenance – a challenging undertakingfor such large, long-lived trees.

The Global Oak ConservationPartnership

The iconic oak has long been a symbolof The Morton Arboretum, a 1,700 acrepublic garden in the suburbs of Chicago,IL (USA) and oaks feature prominently inits collections, research projects,educational programs, and outreachevents. The logo of the Arboretum, themighty white oak (Quercus alba), is thestate tree of Illinois, and the Arboretumhosts the Millennium Oak, Illinois’millennium landmark tree (Fig. 2). Oaksare arguably the dominant and mostimportant tree group in ecosystems ofthe region – the North American Midwest– such as oak-hickory forests and oaksavannas. For these reasons, the genusQuercus is a focal point of research andconservation efforts at The MortonArboretum. In response to the need formore research and conservation effortsfor threatened oak species, The GlobalOak Conservation Partnership wasestablished by the Arboretum, BGCI,and Fauna & Flora International in 2015as a formal project of the Global TreesCampaign. The shared vision of thesepartners is that:

“All oak species are secure

within healthy ecosystems.

”In recognition of the fact thatconservation of threatened oak specieswill require tailored in situ protection andmanagement efforts working incoordination with ex situ conservation ofliving trees, the Partnership has adoptedan integrated conservation managementapproach for oaks (Oldfield and Newton2012; BGCI 2014).


The Morton Arboretum’s iconic Millennium Oak(Quercus alba)

Oak experts from the International Oak Society learning the IUCN Red List process and reviewing threatassessments.

The goals of the Partnership’s activitiesare:

1) Oak species of greatest conservationconcern are identified and prioritisedfor action.

2) The world’s most threatened oakspecies are secure and their wildpopulations are recovering throughconservation action.

3) Ex situ conservation collections ofthreatened oak species arescientifically informed, efficientlymanaged, genetically diverse andrepresentative, and climate changeresilient.

4) Partners, practitioners and the widercommunity are empowered to act foroak conservation.

Updating the Red List of Oaks

As a first step towards filling theinformation gap on threatened oaks, The Morton Arboretum began compilingan updated Red List of Oaks in 2015. As of 2016, 73 new assessments havebeen published on the IUCN Red List,with another 13 completed and in review(Table 1). Most of these are species from North America, as the Arboretumstarted with the species closest tohome. A complete Red List of US Oaksis nearly finished. The Mexican taxa willbe addressed in 2017. A complementaryeffort by BGCI to assess all of the nativeEuropean tree species has includedseveral Quercus species, helping topush forward this initiative.

Of the North American taxa so farassessed, 21% fall within a threatenedcategory (CR, EN, and VU). This isworrying because the majority of theassessed species are US natives,

which are known to be generally lessthreatened than species in Mexico andCentral America. It is anticipated that thepercentage of threatened species willgrow considerably as the myriad rareendemics of Mexico begin to beevaluated. Preliminary results suggestthat as many as half, possibly more, of Mexican oaks are likely threatenedwith extinction.

New collaborations

In order to gather the most accurate andup to date information for the Red Listassessments, the Arboretum hosted aone-day Red List training and assessmentreview workshop associated with theInternational Oak Society conference inOctober, 2015. In addition to theInternational Oak Society, the support ofthe Oak Curatorial Group of the AmericanPublic Garden Association has also been key to gathering the necessaryinformation for the assessments.Engaging local experts who know well thespecies in question has been productivenot just for compiling threat assessments,but also for generating collaborations.The Red Listing process has broughttogether dozens of oak experts fromaround the world and opened up aproductive dialogue on the pressingthreats facing oaks.

At the International Oak Societyworkshop, it was agreed that a meetingwas needed to discuss oak conservationin one of the world’s oak diversityhotspots: Mexico. Mexico is home tonearly 180 native species of oak, manyof which are threatened and/or verypoorly known. So, The MortonArboretum, in collaboration with

the Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad,Universidad Nacional Autónoma deMéxico (UNAM) and the University ofMinnesota, hosted the first “InternationalWorkshop on Oak Conservation inMexico and Central America” at theUNAM campus in Morelia, Mexico inMarch, 2016. The objective of theworkshop was to facilitate collaborationsand catalyze action for oak conservationin Mexico and Central America byidentifying critical knowledge gaps,defining conservation objectives,prioritizing next steps, and strengtheningthe network of oak research andconservation experts. The mostsignificant outcome of the workshopwas the establishment of the Oaks of the Americas Conservation Network(OACN), a consortium of experts fromuniversities, botanical gardens, arboreta,industry, conservation NGOs, andgovernment agencies dedicated toprotecting threatened oak species. The Network committed to writing ascientific paper outlining the importanceof oaks and oak diversity in Mexico andCentral America and calling foradditional resources and effort towardsoak research and conservation. Theworkshop also identified the urgent needfor a conservation gap analysis for oaksin this region (a protocol for which is nowbeing developed) and identified criticaltraining and capacity building needs,especially in the area of oak taxonomyand field identification. Specificconservation opportunities wereidentified and collaborative projectsinvolving OACN members are nowunderway. Follow up workshops andoak-focused conference sessions arebeing planned for the future.


Quercus brandegeei in the wild in Baja California Sur.

Table 1: Summary of results of the IUCN Red List ofOaks initiative from 2015-2016. 73 species havebeen published on the IUCN Red List, with another13 assessments complete and ready for review.

Published and in ReviewCR 4EN 10VU 4NT 3LC 62DD 3Total 86Threatened 18% Threatened 21%

Informed conservation action

In addition to catalyzing globalcollaborations, the new Red List of Oakshas allowed the Global Oak ConservationPartnership to develop targeted actionplans for prioritized threatened oakspecies, thus maximizing the conservationimpact of limited resources. Because theRed List process provides a subjectiveway to quantify extinction risk, andrequires a clear explanation of the specificthreats facing each assessed taxon,individual members of the Partnership areable to very strategically identify targetspecies on which they can have the mostimpact, based on their unique areas ofexpertise (e.g. plant propagation,community education and outreach,conservation genetics research, etc.). Forexample, after completing the Red Listassessment for Quercus brandegeei, anoak endemic to the southern tip of BajaCalifornia Sur, it became clear thatadditional field and greenhousepropagation research was needed todetermine what ecological factors werepreventing seedling regeneration in thisendangered species. This is precisely thesort of work that an arboretum or botanicgarden is well positioned to undertake.The Morton Arboretum, in collaborationwith researchers at UNAM and VallartaBotanical Garden, and local partners,have developed a research andconservation action plan for Q.brandegeei that is designed to result in a scientifically informed restoration

and reintroduction strategy, as well asbetter ex situ representation of this rarespecies in gardens in Mexico. The projectis currently underway.

Global conservation impact foroaks

The establishment of the Global OakConservation Partnership and the initiationof the new Red List of Oaks have resultedin many positive and exciting outcomes inthe past two years. New partnershipshave been fostered that span politicalborders and cross professional sectors.Scientifically informed conservationstrategies are being developed.Collaborative funding proposals havebeen submitted and awarded, resulting inincreased capacity for oak conservation.Dozens of oak experts have been trainedin and are now engaged in the IUCN RedList process. The Oaks of the AmericasConservation Network was founded and isgrowing. New workshops, collecting trips,grant proposals, and publications are inthe pipeline. Ultimately, all of these effortsand outcomes will contribute to protectingthreatened oak species in the wild andstrengthening the conservation value ofliving ex situ collections for thiseconomically and ecologically valuablegroup of iconic trees. With the threats of climate change, invasive pests anddiseases, overharvest and habitatdestruction looming large for oaks, this global challenge demands a global solution.

References

, BGCI. 2014. Building living plantcollections for conservation: a guidefor public gardens.http://www.bgci.org/files/UnitedStates/MBC_Collections_Guide_2014.pdf

, Fahey, R.T., M. Bowles, and J.McBride. 2012. Origins of the Chicagourban forest: composition andstructure in relation to pre-settlementvegetation and modern land-use.Arboriculture and Urban Forestry38(5): 181-193.

, le Hardy de Beaulieu and T. Lamant.2010. Guide illustré des chênes.Belgium: Edilens

, Menitsky, Yu. L. 2005. Oaks of Asia.Enfield: Science Publishers, Inc.,

, Miller, H. and S. Lamb. 1985. Oaks ofNorth America. Happy Camp:Naturegraph Publishers, Inc.

, Oldfield, S. and A. Eastwood. 2007.The Red List of Oaks. Cambridge:Flora & Fauna International.

, Oldfield, S. and A.C. Newton. 2012.Integrated conservation of treespecies by botanic gardens: areference manual. Richmond: BotanicGardens Conservation International.

, Tallamy, D. and K. Shropshire. 2009.Ranking Lepidopteran use of nativeversus introduced plants. Conservation Biology 23: 941–947.doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01202.x

Murphy WestwoodThe Morton Arboretum4100 Illinois Route 53Lisle, Illinois 60532


The first International Workshop on Oak Conservation inMexico and Central America, at which was founded theOaks of the Americas Conservation Network

Quercus brandegeei, an endangered oak endemic to Baja California Sur and the target of a research andconservation project by The Morton Arboretum, UNAM, and Vallarta Botanical Garden (Jose Luis de la Luz)

Introduction

South Africa has the world’s richesttemperate flora, with 20,456recorded indigenous vascular

plant taxa. With the current estimate ofthe global flora at 379,881 taxa, 5% ofthe world’s plant diversity is representedwithin South African borders. Between2004 and 2008, South African botanistsled by the Threatened SpeciesProgramme from the South AfricanNational Biodiversity Institute (SANBI),

completed a comprehensive assessmentof the status of the South African florausing the IUCN Red List Categories andCriteria Version 3.1. In so doingbecoming the first of the world’smegadiverse countries to fully assess

the status of its entire flora and toachieve Target 2 of the Global Strategyfor Plant Conservation ‘An assessmentof the conservation status of all knownplant species, as far as possible, to guideconservation action.’


Author: Domatilla Raimondo

RED LISTS INFORMING IN SITU CONSERVATIONOF PLANTS IN A MEGADIVERSE COUNTRY AN EXAMPLE FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Site Avontuur on the Bokkeveld Escarpment in Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Avontuur was bought by WWF in 2008 on request by the botanical communityfor the conservation of Endangered Bokkeveld Sandstone Fynbos. The site will be officially declared as a protected area in 2016. There are 45 threatened plant speciesthat occur at this site, they are threatened throughout the rest of their range due to the conversion of their habitat for rooibos tea and wheat cultivation (Noel Oettlé)

ARTICLE

A five step process to guide countries in upscaling in situ

plant conservation efforts – starting with identifying plant

species of conservation concern.

Since the completion of the firstcomprehensive Red List Assessment,South African conservationists haveused the National Plant Red List as anessential resource to guide in situ plantconservation work.

South Africa has 4,687 plant taxa ofconservation concern (species that areeither rare or threatened). With such ahigh number of species to conserve insitu, a species by species approach isnot possible. South Africa hasdeveloped a number of strategies toeffect the conservation of as manyspecies as possible in the most resourceefficient way. Reflecting on work doneon in situ conservation over the pastseven years, five critical factors haveemerged as essential steps for countriesto undertake if they are to effectivelyconserve plant diversity, these arereflected on below.

Step 1: Conduct comprehensiveconservation assessments toidentify all plant species ofconservation concern.

Most National Red Lists for plantsevaluate only a small proportion of theindigenous national floras. In so doing,many species of conservation concernare never identified and do not getincluded in conservation processes. InSouth Africa prior to 2003, historic redlists evaluated less than 20% of theflora. As a result of the firstcomprehensive assessment of all 20,456taxa, published in 2008, 2,045 plant taxaof conservation concern were added tothe Red List for the first time. Of these942 were taxa threatened withextinction. The majority of these werehistorically of conservation concern, butwere never previously assessed. Manythreatened taxa and other taxa ofconservation concern are missed whenonly selective assessments are done.

South Africa uses the IUCN Red ListCategories and Criteria Version 3.1 toassess the conservation status for plantsas it is globally recognised, and is ascientifically sound means of identifyingspecies threatened with extinction. The IUCN Red List system is in itselfhowever not sufficient for theidentification of all plants of conservationpriority. For example rare, rangerestricted species that face no threatqualify under the IUCN system as least

concern; these taxa are often eithernational endemics or near endemics,have very restricted global ranges (lessthan 500 km2) and are crucialcomponents of the flora to conserve. Incountries with high levels of endemismthese rare species can make up a largeproportion of the flora, South Africa forexample has 1,478 rare plant taxa. Both rare taxa and taxa threatened withextinction need to be included in in situconservation programmes.

Step 2: Invest in mobilisingspatial occurrence data for allspecies that are either listed asthreatened or are range-restricted

Over the past 10 years SANBI’sThreatened Species Programme (TSP)has mobilised plant occurrence data fortaxa of conservation concern. The mainsource of plant occurrence data comesfrom herbarium specimens housed inSouth Africa’s six major herbaria whichhold samples of more than 95% ofSouth Africa’s plant species. Specimensof plants of conservation concern havebeen digitised through a number ofprojects supported by small grants fromSouth Africa’s National ResearchFoundation of the Department ofScience and Technology. TheThreatened Species Programme staffhave worked over many years toaccurately geo-reference this specimendata. Historic occurrence data from plant

specimens have been augmented withrecent on-the-ground observationscollected by volunteers from theCustodians of Rare and EndangeredWildflowers Programme (CREW). CREWis a citizen science programme jointlyfunded by South Africa’s BotanicalSociety and SANBI that has been inoperation since 2003. CREW volunteerscollect accurate data on wherepopulations of plants of conservationconcern occur, as well as monitoring thestatus of these populations, collectingdata on population size anddocumenting threats present.

Step 3: Prioritise areas forprotecting plant taxa ofconservation concern usingsystematic conservation planning

South Africa uses accurate spatial data onwhere species of conservation concernoccur to determine how well protectedthese plants are and to identify which taxahave insufficient levels of protection andneed to be included in new protectedareas. South Africa’s biodiversity sectorbases its work on priorities identifiedthrough systematic biodiversity planswhich identify Critical Biodiversity Areasthat represent ecological viable networksof ecosystems and species forconservation. Occurrences for plant taxa of conservation concern are used to set targets in systematic conservationplans conducted for all nine of SouthAfrica’s provinces.


Brachystelma modestum, a Near Threatened Species from the family Apocynaceae (D. Styles)

Step 4: Expand protected areasto protect species.

Protected area expansion is based onCritical Biodiversity Areas identifiedduring systematic conservation plansproduced by South Africa’s nineprovincial conservation authorities. Capturing unprotected threatenedspecies which have been identified by systematic conservation planning is a major priority for protected areaexpansion. Active protected areaexpansion is taking place acrosss South Africa based on protected areaexpansion strategies. Sites with highconcentrations of unprotectedthreatened plants are being prioritised inthis expansion process. One of the mosteffective current forms of expandingprotected areas is through BiodiversityStewardship programmes which facilitatethe protection of private and communalland through contractual agreementsbetween conservation authorities andlandowners. Stewardship programmeshave been successfully established in thelast decade in most of South Africa’s 9provinces. In addition to Stewardship

programmes, outright land acquisition forprotection is also conducted by SouthAfrican National Parks and by WorldWildlife Fund’s Land Trust.

South Africa is actively working to achieveTarget 7 of the Global Strategy for PlantConservation ‘75% of known threatenedplant species conserved in situ’. SANBI’sThreatened Species Programme isworking hand-in-hand with provincialauthorities to ensure priority sites withunprotected plants of conservationconcern are protected. For example 30land cadastres (sites) have been identifiedthrough systematic conservation planning(von Staden et al., in prep) as required tobe conserved in order to achieve Target 7.Most of these sites occur in the WesternCape and the Northern Cape and havebeen incorporated into the Protected AreaExpansion strategies for these provinces.Stewardship negotiations are currentlyunderway at more than 50% of thesesites. With current progress it is likely thatSouth Africa will achieve Target 7 by 2020.

Step 5: Mainstreamconsiderations for endemic andthreatened species into sectorscausing loss of biodiversityoutside of protected areas.

The above discussed expansion ofprotected areas to conserve plants catersfor plant species that occur in large, intactareas of natural vegetation. Unfortunately,South Africa also has many threatenedplant taxa that have lost most of theirformer habitat and now remain only onremnant small patches of vegetationwithin urban and agricultural landscapesor along road verges. These taxa arehighly vulnerable to extinction as a resultof development. South Africa hasenvironmental authorisation legislationunder the National EnvironmentalManagement Act (NEMA; Act No. 107 of 1998) in terms of the EnvironmentalImpact Assessment (EIA) regulations,which requires an EIA to be undertakenfor a wide range of development activities(82 in total). During the EIA process,provincial conservation authorities arerequested to comment on developmentapplications. SANBI provides theprovincial conservation authorities, on anannual basis, with accurate spatial data of the known occurrences of threatenedspecies. This allows the provincialauthorities to oppose developmentapplications in areas where threatened

taxa occur. Guidelines for environmentalassessment practitioners and botanicalspecialists working on EIAs have beendeveloped to ensure standardisedrecommendations for the protection ofplants of conservation concern takesplace during the EIA process.

In 2014, South Africa passed anInfrastructure Act which allows largedevelopment infrastructure projects tobe subject to streamlined environmentalauthorisation processes. StrategicEnvironmental Assessments (SEA) arecarried out for these large scaleinfrastructure programmes. During 2015spatial data for plants of conservationconcern fed into the SEA for theRenewal Energy Development, and theSEA for the Electricity Grid Upgrade.Currently the Central Karoo Basin inSouth Africa has had prospectinglicenses for Shale Gas Extraction issued.A Strategic Environmental Assessmentunder way has spatially mappedecological sensitive areas not suitablefor Shale Gas Extraction. 2,431 plantoccurrence records for taxa ofconservation concern have influencedareas identified as ecologically sensitiveand not suitable for development.

Conclusion

South Africa’s experience to date with insitu conservation shows the value of notonly approaching in situ plantconservation work on a species byspecies basis. Rather we illustrate thevalue of comprehensively assessingwhich plants are priorities forconservation, mobilising the spatial dataon where these taxa occur and feedingthis information into the decision makingprocesses for the country. This isprimarily important in determining whereprotected areas are expanded andinfluencing the use of land to preventtransformation of remaining habitatoccupied by plants of conservationconcern. We hope the five step processoutlined above may prove to be a usefulroad map for other countries wishing toupscale their efforts in in situ plantconservation.

Domatilla RaimondoThreatened Species ProgrammeManager, South African NationalBiodiversity Institute,[email protected]


Above: Serruria meisneriana, (Proteaceae)Endangered (C. Paterson-Jones)Top: Disa tenella tenella, (Orchidaceae) Endangered (Rupert Koopman)

Introduction

The Caribbean region is home to ahighly diverse flora with around11,000 native species of which

nearly 72% are endemic (Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong, 2008), and isclassified as a biodiversity hotspotexperiencing significant threats to itsbiodiversity (Myers et al., 2000).

Despite this recognition as a globalpriority, there has been limitedconservation activity across the region.For example, in the British Virgin Islands(BVI) the risk of extinction has beenassessed for just 63 plant species (IUCN2016) using the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species categories andcriteria (IUCN 2012). This representsaround 11% of the total native flora

based on our working list of plantspecies. To address this conservationdeficit we need to close the knowledgegap by assessing all plant species nativeto the Caribbean and to activelyconserve those already recognised asthreatened taxa. For more than a decadeThe UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs)team in the Conservation ScienceDepartment at the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew has been collaboratingwith local partners to address theseconservation issues. In BVI, we areworking with the National Parks Trust ofthe Virgin Islands (NPTVI) to assess theextinction risk of native plants, establishex situ collections and implement in situconservation actions to save thisglobally threatened flora.


Authors: Sara Bárrios, Natasha Harrigan, Nancy Pascoe, Keith Grant, Marcella Corcoran,Tom Heller, Rosemary Newton, Michele Sanchez, Colin Clubbe and Martin Hamilton

CONSERVING THE THREATENEDPLANTS OF THEBRITISH VIRGINISLANDS (BVI)

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has been working with

local partners in the British Virgin Islands since 1998

with a focus on assessing the extinction risk for native

plant species and mitigating against the main threats.

ARTICLE

Intact coastal dry forest, Fallen Jerusalem National Park, British Virgin Islands. (Sara Bárrios)

BVI endemic and near endemicplant species

The British Virgin Islands is a UK OverseasTerritory (UKOT) located in the CaribbeanSea about 90km east of Puerto Rico. BVIcomprises around 240 islands and cays,the majority of which are small anduninhabited. Tortola is the largest and themost densely populated island and hometo BVI’s capital, Road Town. BVI, thenearby US Virgin Islands (USVI) and theislands of Puerto Rico form the PuertoRican Bank floristic province (Lugo et al.,2006). Of the 2,221 native plants recordedfrom the Puerto Rican Bank, 305 areendemic and four are currently thought tooccur exclusively on BVI (Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong 2008).

Under threat

There are very few patches of primaryforest left in the British Virgin Islands dueto the clearing of land during the 18thcentury primarily for agricultural uses.The main existing vegetation is

secondary seasonal dry forest, whichhas, to some extent recovered since theplantations ceased. Modern threats tonative plants are mainly related to thepressure from development, associatedwith new tourism, infrastructure andhousing developments. Adding to this,the increase of international trade and a lack of biosecurity have led to moreintroduced (non-native) plants and pestsarriving which often spread out ofcontrol. Some of these species havebecome invasive, modifying nativeecosystems and competing with nativespecies for available resources. Finally, it is also important to consider the threatposed by climate change. Although thisis an area adapted to seasonal tropicalstorms, more frequent storms of higherintensity are expected as the climatechanges. In the future, sea level rise ispredicted to affect many coastal areason the majority of the islands and couldeliminate the already fragmentedhabitats of coastal plant species.

The IUCN Red List as a tool toframe conservation action

Since Kew’s UKOTs team and NPTVIstarted collaborative work in 1998,assessing extinction risk of native plantspecies and mitigating against the mainthreats have been key objectives of thepartnership. As a result of an initialproject funded by the Darwin Initiative,the first report on the status of thethreatened plant species of the BritishVirgin Islands was published in 2003(Clubbe and Pollard, 2003). This reportwas particularly important in highlightingthe existing knowledge gaps on thedistribution of native species. At thattime, limited field observations and

access to digitised herbarium collectionswere major restrictions. Since then, wehave undertaken several projects thathave enabled field work activities, oftenin previously unexplored areas, whichhas greatly increased our knowledge.Access to better mapping andvisualisation tools such as Google Earthand handheld data recording deviceswith built-in GPS are now available. This technology accelerates surveys,generates high quality data and enableseasier data sharing and interpretation.

To prioritise our efforts to conserve theBVI flora, an initial target list wascompiled that included all plant speciesendemic to the Puerto Rican Bank thatoccur in BVI. Field surveys wereundertaken to look for these species bytargeting suitable habitat. Data for allnew and confirmed occurrences weredigitally recorded and new collections(herbarium vouchers and DNA samples)were made where possible. If thespecies was found in fruit, seeds werecollected for long term storage at Kew’sMillennium Seed Bank and for cultivationtrials at Kew and at the J.R. O’NealBotanic Garden in Road Town, Tortola.Currently 125 seed collectionsrepresenting 94 plant species have beencollected from BVI for long term storage.We have also secured 45 plant speciesin ex situ living collections at Kew andthe J.R. O’Neal Botanic Garden fromeither seed or vegetative propagationmethods through Darwin Initiativefunded projects. Besides the obviousconservation benefits of securingspecies in ex situ conservationcollections, there are many otherbenefits including awareness raising and access to material for research.

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1)28

Above: Leptocereus quadricostatus is an Endangered(EN) plant species endemic to Anegada (BVI) and theisland of Puerto Rico (Sara Bárrios)Top: Vachellia anegadensis is an Endangered (EN)plant species endemic to the British Virgin Islands(Sara Bárrios)

Road widening and paving on the island of Anegada (BVI) fragments and degrades the habitat of native plants(Martin Hamilton)

Areas with high concentrations ofthreatened species are being identifiedin order to increase in situ plantconservation in BVI as part of a newTropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs)project. All data from collections andobservations made so far are being usedto undertake new or updatedconservations assessments and identifyTIPAs. Our collaborations in BVI areensuring that the native flora is welldocumented and providing thenecessary information to make informedconservation decisions.

References

, Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M. T.2008. Floristic richness and affinities inthe West Indies. The Botanical Review74: 5-36.

, Clubbe, C. & Pollard, B. (RBG, Kew),Smith-Abbott, J., Walker, R. &Woodfield, N. (BVI National ParksTrust). 2003. Calyptranthes thomasiana.The IUCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies 2003: e.T43895A10830915.http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T43895A10830915.en.Downloaded on 21 November 2016.

, Clubbe, C. and Pollard, B. 2003.Status Report for the British VirginIslands’ Plant Species Red List. RoyalBotanic Gardens Kew.

, IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red ListCategories and Criteria: Version 3.1.Second edition. Gland, Switzerlandand Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iv + 32pp.

, IUCN. 2016. IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species. Version 2016.3.<www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 8 December 2016.

, Lugo, A.E. et al., 2006. Botanical andecological basis for the resilience ofAntillean dry forests. In J. A. Ratter,ed. Neotropical savannas andseasonally dry forests, plant diversity,biogeography, and conservation. BocaRaton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 359-381.

, Myers, N. et al., 2000. Biodiversityhotspots for conservation priorities.Nature, 403, pp. 853-858. Available at:http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/10706275.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the UKGovernment’s Darwin Initiative, theMohamed bin Zayed SpeciesConservation Fund, the Bentham-MoxonTrust and the Emily Holmes Scholarshipfor funding to support this work . Ourcurrent activities are supported by theDarwin Plus funded project [DPLUS030]“Building systems and capacity tomonitor and conserve BVI’s flora” and theHSBC funded project “Identifying andconserving Tropical Important Plant Areas(TIPAs) in the British Virgin Islands”.

Sara Bárrios; Marcella Corcoran,Rosemary Newton, Tom Heller,Michele Sanchez, Colin Clubbe andMartin HamiltonUK and Islands ProgrammeConservation Science Department,HerbariumRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewRichmond, TW9 3AE, [email protected]

Natasha Harrigan, Nancy Pascoe and Keith GrantJ.R. O’Neal Botanic GardenNational Parks Trust of the Virgin IslandsRoad Town, Tortola, BVI


Collecting herbarium vouchers and DNA samples, Great Tobago National Park, BVI.(Thomas Heller)

Calyptranthes thomasiana is a plantspecies endemic to the British andUS Virgin Islands that waspreviously assessed as Endangered(Clubbe et al., 2003). By targetingthis species during recent fieldwork, we were able to confirm itsoccurrence on Virgin Gorda and at anew location in BVI on the island ofTortola within the Sage MountainNational Park. Cuttings were takenand seedlings were rescued frompath edges to establish the speciesin cultivation at Kew. Closemonitoring of the species in the wildallowed the team to secure a seedcollection of the species andestablish it in the ex situ collectionsat the J.R. O’Neal Botanic Garden.An updated conservationassessment is now beingcompleted, taking into account thisnew location data and updatedpopulation status.

Calyptranthes thomasiana, Endangered (EN) inthe wild, flowers for the first time in ex situcollection at Kew’s Tropical Nursery in June2016 (Marcella Corcoran)

Case study: Calyptranthes thomasiana

Context

Fungi are among the most importantorganisms in the world, not onlybecause of their vital roles in

ecosystem functions, but also becauseof their influence on humans and human-related activities. Fungi are essential tosuch crucial activities as decomposition,nutrient cycling, and nutrient transport,and are indispensable for achievingsustainable development (e.g., Palm andChapela, 1998; Mueller and Bills 2004;Lange 2014). Some species areimportant plant and animal pathogens;others form obligate mutualisticsymbioses with sundry species ofplants, algae, cyanobacteria, andanimals. Fungi are also of greateconomic importance, having bothpositive and negative effects on humanactivities. They have been domesticated


Author: Gregory M. Mueller

PROGRESS IN CONSERVING FUNGI:ENGAGEMENT AND RED LISTING

Fungal conservation is only

now receiving much

attention. So it is not

surprising fungi have rarely

been included in broader

conservation discussions,

policy decisions, or land

management plans. But this

is changing, and botanic

gardens and their scientists

are playing key roles in

these advances.

ARTICLE

Agaricus pattersoniae Vulnerable C2a(i) Boletopsis nothofagi Endangered B2ab(ii,iii,v);D

Bridgeoporus nobilissimus Critically EndangeredA2c; C2a(i)

Corinarius osloensis Endangered C2a(i)

Destuntzia rubra Critically Endangered C2a(i) Hydnellum mirabile Vulnerable A2c+3c+4c

Hygrocybe flavifolia Endangered C2a(i) Leptonia carnea Vulnerable C2a(i)

for use in the brewing, baking, industrialfermentation, pharmaceutical, andbiotechnical industries, and otherspecies are cultivated or collected foruse as food. At the same time, fungicause damage worth many millions ofdollars each year through food spoilage,destruction or degradation of materialsused by humans, and diseases of plantsand animals, including humans.Because of the diversity and abundanceof fungi, and the vital roles they play inboth natural and altered ecosystems aswell as human-related activities, fungineed to be included in considerations of biodiversity conservation, land-useplanning and management, and relatedsubjects.

Need for actionSpecies of fungi are not immune to thethreats that put animal and plant speciesat risk, i.e., habitat loss, loss ofsymbiotic hosts, pollution, overexploitation, and climate change. Yetfungal conservation is not yet commonlydiscussed, considered, or acted upon bythe conservation community, and theconservation status of the vast majorityof fungal species has not beenassessed. As recently as 2013, onlythree species of fungi, one mushroomand two lichens, were included on theIUCN Red List. Efforts over the lastseveral years have increased thisnumber to 34 (IUCN Red List of

Threatened Species. Version 2016-3www.iucnredlist.org). But with anestimated 5 million fungal species(Blackwell, 2011), the process ofassessing the conservation status offungal species is just beginning.

The low number of fungi on the Red Listis in part due to a perception by somemycologists and other scientists thatspecies of fungi are intractable torigorous assessment due to their hightaxonomic and morphological diversity,predominantly cryptic lifeforms, andpaucity of taxonomic, distribution andecological data (Dahlberg and Mueller,2011). But significant progress has, andcontinues to be made in generating thedata needed to undertake rigorousconservation assessments.

Fieldwork over the past 50 years,including recent DNA basedenvironmental sampling, together withmajor advances in our understanding offungal biology is providing theinformation needed for makingassessments. The mycological andconservation community is increasinglyfocusing on fungal conservation issues.New computer-based tools andinitiatives are making data available,generating new information, andengaging more people in the effort.Botanic gardens, and their scientists,have been key to this work.

ProgressFungal conservation is a relatively newfocus for both the mycological andconservation community. Yet, majorstrides are being made. The elevation ofFungi to an independent area of focuswith five discrete Specialist Groups bythe IUCN Species Survival Commissionin 2009 was an important advance(botanic garden scientists chair two ofthese specialist groups and all of thegroups include garden scientists). IUCNmembers passed an important resolutionduring the World Conservation Congressin 2012 calling for:

“… all of the component parts

of IUCN … and the conservation

movement more generally, to

place much greater emphasis

and priority on the conservation

of fungi …

”(Mueller and Dahlberg, 2013).

There are now national and regionalfungal conservation committeesthroughout most of the world. The International Society for FungalConservation was formed in August2010 (Minter, 2013). Symposia on fungalconservation are becoming regular


The Global Fungal Red List Initiative is acommunity-based project. The Initiatives web sitehttp://iucn.ekoo.se/ is were species are nominated,data are entered and commented upon. Data on thissite form the starting point for assessments madeduring red list workshops.

Tricholoma acerbum Critically VulnerableA2c+3c+4c

Tricholoma borgsjoense A2c+3c+4c

Buellia asterella Critically Endangered A4c Sarcosoma globosum Near Threatened

events at national and regionalmycological conferences and have alsobeen held at broader conservationevents. Protocols and assumptions forglobally red listing various groups offungi have been developed (Dahlbergand Mueller, 2011), and there has been a series of red list workshops where theconservation status of a number of fungiwere assessed and proposed forinclusion on the IUCN Red List. But much work remains to be done.

Several initiatives spearheaded bybotanic gardens are critical to this work.

New and expanded initiatives

Collection digitizationKnowing the distribution of a species isa critical first set of data needed formaking an assessment. Botanic gardenshouse an important component of theworld’s curated fungal collections. RBG Kew, RBG Edinburgh, New YorkBotanical Garden, RBG Melbourne,Denver Botanic Garden, KomarovBotanical institute, National NaturalHistory Museum, Paris with the Jardindes Plantes, Kunming Institute of Botany(CAS), Institute of Ecology, Xalapa withthe Jardín Botánico Francisco JavierClavijero, and the Cuban NationalBotanic Garden are some examples ofbotanic gardens that house large andcritically important mycologicalcollections.

Ongoing efforts to digitize thesecollections are making the invaluableinformation contained in these materialsbroadly available. Digitization initiativeshave moved beyond serving informationfrom single institutions to creating portalswhere data across multiple institutionscan be seamlessly searched. One of thenewest and most comprehensive of thesesites is the Mycological Collections Portalhttp://mycoportal.org/portal/index.php.The Mycoportal serves data on fungalcollections housed in US herbaria, andincreasingly, from collaboratinginternational herbaria. ImportantlyMycoportal is more than just a web site -it provides web access technologies toaid taxonomists, field biologists,ecologists, educators, and citizen

scientists in the study of fungal diversity.New York Botanical Garden has been alead institution on the development andcoordination of this initiative, whichincludes a consortium of universities,botanical gardens, museums, andagencies, along with contributions fromthe citizen science community.

Citizen Science InitiativesNon-professionally employed mycologistsand other citizen scientists are increasinglyengaged in documenting the diversity anddistribution of fungi. Naturalists havealways played an important role in theseefforts, but new web based technologieshave greatly increased the numbers ofpeople participating, and their ability tohave impact.

Collaborative websites like MushroomObserver http://mushroomobserver.org/and iNaturalist http://www.inaturalist.org/have dramatically increased the numberof georeferenced observations, greatlyenhancing our knowledge of fungaldistributions. These sites have alsoengaged a much larger group of peoplewho continue to participate as theyreceive positive feedback on theirpostings by having their images identified.

In addition to these sites, severalinnovative initiatives have been developedto coordinate the enthusiasm andknowledge of the public to systematicallyobtain data on the distribution and rarityof targeted fungal species.

Fungimap is housed at RBG Melbournehttps://fungimap.org.au/ . It is a non-profit, nation-wide, citizen-scienceorganization dedicated to furthering theconservation and knowledge of Australian

BGCI • 2016 • BGjournal32

The Mycological Collections Portal is an example of the new web-based tools that are available to serve thefungal diversity and conservation community.

1st Fungal Red List Workshop. The initial global red listing workshop was held in Sweden in Spring 2014. Fiveadditional workshops have been held as part of the Global Fungal Red List Initiative. Over 75 mycologistsfrom the Americas, Europe, and Asia have participated in these events.

fungi. Fungimap maintains the NationalAustralian Fungimap Database (NAFD)that contains over 100,000 records and6,500 images of fungi from over 700contributors nationwide. The majoractivity of Fungimap is a community-based mapping initiative. Through its coreof volunteers, Fungimap is developingdetailed distribution maps of 125 targetedspecies of Australian fungi.

The Lost and Found Fungi Project is afive-year volunteer/citizen-science basedfungal conservation project coordinatedat RBG Kew http://fungi.myspecies.info/content/lost-found-fungi-project. Theproject focuses on fungi that have beenrarely recorded from the UK, and iscoordinating targeted surveys toestablish whether they are still there, andif so whether they are genuinely rare ormerely under-reported.

Global Fungal Red List InitiativeThe combined data available throughthese collections digitization and citizenscience initiatives coupled with ourgrowing understanding of fungal biologyprovide the fungal conservationcommunity with a previouslyunattainable wealth of information tocarry out red list assessments.

With the realization that data are nowavailable to enable conservationassessments of fungi, there was a needto coordinate the growing awarenessand interest in fungal conservation, andto provide a program for interestedmycologists to contribute toconservation efforts. To this end, the fiveIUCN SSC Fungal Specialist Groups,with the collaboration of the IUCN SSCoffice and Red List Unit and funding

from the Mohamed bin Zayed SpeciesConservation Fund, developed theGlobal Fungal Red List Initiativehttp://iucn.ekoo.se/en/iucn/. Additionalfunding for this initiative has recentlybeen provided through the IUCN –ToyotaMotor Company Partnership. Theinitiative’s goal is to assess a globalrepresentation of fungi from all majortaxonomic groups for publication in theIUCN Red List. Importantly, the resultsof this initiative will highlight that fungiare in need of conservation, and thatthey can be, and need to be, part of thebroader conservation agenda.

The initiative is working to raise theawareness of fungal conservation amongmycologists, the conservation community,policy makers, and the general public. It serves as forum to educate, inspire, andengage the mycological community. Inthe process, it is identifying knowledgegaps that impede fungal red listing and isworking to integrate fungi into generalconservation initiatives and open upfunding opportunities to address listedfungal species.

Conclusion

Many challenges remain before fungibecome fully integrated into conservationinitiatives nationally and globally. Gaps inour knowledge of fungal diversity,distribution, phenology, and responses tothreats will continue to pose significantchallenges to fungal conservationinitiatives for the foreseeable future, butwe now have sufficient knowledge on anincreasing number of species to enablefungi and mycologists to play a larger rolein regional, national, and global fungalconservation activities.

References

, Blackwell, M. 2011. The Fungi: 1, 2, 3 … 5.1 million species? AmericanJournal of Botany 96: 426-438.

, Dahlberg A. and G.M. Mueller. 2011.Applying IUCN red-listing criteria forassessing and reporting on theconservation status of fungal species.Fungal Ecology 4: 147-162.

, Lange, L. 2014. The importance offungi and mycology for addressingmajor global challenges. IMA 2014Dec; 5(2): 463–471.

, Minter, D. 2013. Third internationalcongress on fungal conservation.Inoculum 64: 4.

, Mueller, G.M. and G.F. Bills. 2004.Introduction. Pages 1-4 in Mueller,G.M., G.F. Bills, and M.S. Foster, eds.Biodiversity of Fungi: Inventory andMonitoring Methods. Elsevier. 777 pp.

, Mueller, G.M. and A. Dahlberg. 2013.The Global Fungal Red List Initiative.Inoculum 64: 1-3.

, Palm, M.E. and I.H. Chapela. 1997.Mycology in SustainableDevelopment: Expanding Concepts,Vanishing Borders. ParkwayPublishers, Boone, NC. 306 pp.

Gregory M. Mueller, Chief Scientist and NegauneeFoundation. Vice President forScience, Chicago Botanic Garden. Chair, IUCN SSC Mushroom, Bracket,and Puffball Specialist Group


Continent Chytrid, Cup-fungi, Lichens Mushrooms, Rusts and Species CountriesZygomycete Truffles and Brackets and Smuts Total Total

Downy Mildew Allies Puffballsand Slime Mould

Europe 5 32 48 114 8 207 44Asia 2 23 24 59 7 115 42Africa 0 8 11 17 5 41 25Oceania 1 4 4 12 7 28 4North America 4 25 74 101 4 208 20South America 0 10 4 33 2 49 11Global 5 56 122 213 23 419 146

Status of Global Fungal Red List Initiative. Nearly 200 users from 54 countries have contributed data to the Global Fungal Red List Initiative.

Number of species by continent and fungal groups


IUCN Red List of ThreatenedSpecies

www.iucnredlist.org

Up-to-date conservation assessmentsare available on the IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species website. Searchescan be conducted by species, family,region, etc., and full assessments areavailable providing completedocumentation and explanation ofconservation status. The IUCN Red Listwebsite also contains information aboutthe IUCN Red List Categories andCriteria and training materials forundertaking Red List assessments.All new assessments and reassessmentson the IUCN Red List use the 2001 IUCNRed List Categories and Criteria. Version3.1. In 2012 the second edition of thispublication was released. The IUCN Red List Categories andCriteria. Version 3.1 is available inEnglish, Français, Español. And can bedownloaded at: http://bit.ly/gtc_ref_10

IUCN Specialist Groups

The IUCN Species Survival Commission(SSC) is a science-based network ofmore than 10,000 volunteer experts fromalmost every country of the world. Manyof these volunteers participate in IUCN’sspecialist groups, which for plants includethe Global Trees Specialist Group, thePalm Specialist Group, the ConiferSpecialist Group and the Medicinal PlantSpecialist Group. These networks ofglobal experts volunteer their time andexpertise to build a scientific andpractical foundation for the conservationof specific groups or types of species.More information and contact details forall IUCN SSC Plants and Fungi Groups isavailable at: https://www.iucn.org/ssc-groups/plants-fungi

National/regional red lists

www.nationalredlist.org

Regional and national Red Lists providecountries with key information aboutspecies status within their borders,which can be used directly for nationalconservation and planning policiessupporting effective protection ofbiodiversity. To date, over 26 regions(encompassing multiple countries), 113countries and 45 sub-national entitieshave developed Red Lists. The NationalRed List project aims to develop anactive global network of countries andindividuals working on National RedLists. Through this centralised onlinehub, Red Listers around the world areable to learn from each other’sexperiences in both conducting RedLists and in using them for conservationplanning and priority setting. This sitecontains local, national and regional RedLists from around the world as well asany resulting conservation Action Plans.

RESOURCES

ARTICLE

How to red list a tree specieshttp://globaltrees.org/resources/brief-10-how-to-red-list-a-tree-species

The Global Trees Campaign supportsconservation practitioners around theworld to develop the skills andtechniques needed for threatened treeconservation. To support this aim, theGTC is publishing a series of briefs fornon-specialists providing guidance onthe basic skills required for tree speciesconservation.

These briefs are aimed at people whoalready have some experience inconservation, but who have limitedexperience or knowledge about botany,forestry or horticulture.

“How to Red List a Tree Species” is aguidance document aimed at individualsworking in plant conservation who areinterested in undertaking a red listconservation assessment of one or moretree species. As well as providingbackground information about redlisting, it proposes a number of keysteps to be followed to ensure the redlist assessment is completed correctly.

Conserving the World’s MostThreatened TreesA global survey of ex situ collections


Red lists produced by BGCI and partners

www.bgci.org/plant-conservation/redlisting/

BGCI’s Red List programme works with partners to assess theconservation status of the world’s plant species. By assemblingand disseminating comprehensive information on plant speciesand their status in the wild, we help to inform and prioritiseconservation efforts.

BGCI is a lead provider of plant conservation assessments to theIUCN Red List of Threatened Species. BGCI also hosts theSecretariat of the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group (GTSG)and has in the last decade, conducted nearly 4,000 conservationassessments of selected taxonomic and regional groups of trees.BGCI is also coordinating the Global Tree Assessment whichaims to provide conservation assessments of all trees by 2020 tosupport global monitoring of forest biodiversity.

Red lists available to download from BGCI include:

• The Red List of Magnoliaceae – revised and extended(including ex situ survey) (2016)

• The Red List of Betulaceae (2014)• The Red List of Rhododendrons (2011)• The Red List of Trees of Central Asia (2009):

(also available in Russian): • The Red List of Maples (2009)• The Red List of Oaks (2007) • The regional Red List of montane tree species of the

tropical Andes (2014)• The Red List of Mexican Cloud Forest (2011)

BGCI ex situ surveys

www.bgci.org/plant-conservation/exsitu/

BGCI’s ex situ survey programme builds on the work of RedListing to assess whether threatened species are represented inthe world’s ex situ collections. This information allows forprioritisation of conservation action. An ex situ survey oftenfollows the publication of a taxonomically focused Red Listallowing the identification of those threatened species which arenot represented in a collection or appear in few collections. Thesespecies then form the basis of prioritised conservation actions.

More extensive ex situ surveys are also undertaken by BGCI. Forexample, the Global Survey of Ex situ Conifer Collections gatheredinformation about the quality of the collections to determine theirsuitability for use in recovery and restoration programmes.

Global Survey of Ex situEbony Collections

10:19 Page 2 10/01/2017 10:06 Page 2 A 10/01/2017 09:49 Page 2 10/01/2017 10:11 Page 2

The following ex situ survey reports are available todownload from BGCI:

• Global Survey of Ex situ Ebony Collections (2016) • Conserving the World’s most threatened trees –

a global survey of ex situ collections (2015)• Global ex situ survey of Betulaceae collections (2015)• Global ex situ survey of Conifer collections (2014)• Global ex situ survey of Magnoliaceae collections

(2010)• Global ex situ survey of Maple collections (2010)• Global ex situ survey of Oak collections (2009)• Global ex situ survey of Rhododendron collections

(2012)• Global ex situ survey of Zelkova collections (2010)

BGCI • 2017 • BGjournal • Vol 14 (1) • 3636

PlantSearch

BGCI’s PlantSearch database is the onlyglobal database of plant species in thecollections of botanic gardens and similarorganizations. In addition to data fromhundreds of living plant collections aroundthe world, PlantSearch includes taxon-level data from gene and seed banks, aswell as cryopreserved and tissue culturecollections. PlantSearch can be searchedby scientific name, conservation status, orother criteria such as medicinal plants andcrop wild relative species, and connectsto other databases such as Tropicos, IPNI,Google Images, CITES Appendices andmany more. PlantSearch contains over1.3 million records, related to over115,000 plant species.

www.bgci.org/plant_search.php

GardenSearch

BGCI’s GardenSearch database is theonly global source of information on theworld’s botanical institutions. In additionto thousands of botanic gardens andarboreta, GardenSearch includes geneand seed banks, network organizations,and zoos. Whether you are looking forcollaborators, botanical resources orexpertise, or simply want to visit agarden, GardenSearch will connect youto the right garden. GardenSearch canbe searched by country or keyword tofind relevant institutions. Narrow yoursearch to BGCI members only or ArbNetaccredited institutions - or define yoursearch using the GardenSearchAdvanced Search to identify gardens withspecific facilities, conservation, research,or education programs.

www.bgci.org/garden_search.php

ThreatSearch

ThreatSearch is the most comprehensivedatabase of conservation assessmentsof plants. It contains over 242,000conservation assessments, representingover 150,000 taxa. ThreatSearch listsglobal, regional and nationalconservation assessments for plants,from a variety of sources. Together withour two main collaborators - the NationalRed List (www.nationalredlist.org) andthe Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew(www.kew.org) - currently availableconservation assessments have beenassessed into a single list ofconservation assessments for plants. New conservation assessments, as wellas adding older non-digital sources willcontinue to be added.

www.bgci.org/threat_search.php

GlobalTreeSearch

BGCI will soon launch theGlobalTreeSearch database, a completelist of the world’s tree species (around60,000 species) and their country leveldistributions. GlobalTreeSearch willprovide a valuable resource to botanicgardens as well as other stakeholdersincluding international and nationalforestry bodies, land managers andconservation practitioners. Thissearchable tree list will also provide thebackbone for the Global TreeAssessment.

www.bgci.org/globaltreesearch

BGCI’s databases

Membership benefits include

BGCI’s directory of botanic gardens, GardenSearch, lists2,500 botanic gardens that conserve a third of knownplant diversity and attract 500 million visitors a year.

BGCI is a leadership and catalyst organisation that worksto promote botanic gardens as a professional community,share knowledge and skills and mobilise funding for plantconservation.

• BGCI’s publications, including ourjournals, BGjournal and Roots

• Botanic garden technical support andadvisory services

• Major discounts on registration feesfor BGCI Congresses

• Access to advanced collections dataanalysis services

• Eligibility for BGCI project funding• Eligibility for subsidized BGCI trainingcourses

• Eligibility for BGCI’s conservationaccreditation scheme

JOIN THE WORLD’S LARGESTPLANT CONSERVATION NETWORK

For 30 years Botanic Gardens Conservation International hasrepresented the botanic garden and arboretum community.

Journal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Volume 13 • Number 2 • July 2016

Restoring damagedecosystems:The role of botanic gardensand the Ecological Restoration Alliance

New features in this issue:

• Talking plants: an interview with a plantconservation champion

• Plant hunting tales fromSouth Africa

• Featured gardens: focus on Malawi

Volume 13 • Number 2 • September 2016

Botanic Gardens Conservation International Education Review

Volunteers for publicengagementVolunteers - invaluable or of limited value?

Voluteers - botanical guardiansSupporting scientists as volunteers

• Eligibility for BGCI twinning/mentoring scheme

• Eligibility for BGCI prizes and awards• Use of the BGCI website to promoteyour events and news

• Use of BGCI’s logo and name• A membership pack, including a Certificate of membership

Botanic Gardens Conservation International

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

Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5953 Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5956E-mail: [email protected]: www.bgci.org

Printed on 100% recycled paper ISSN 1811-8712

Botanic gardens and society:visions for the future

How can we conserve and use plants tomeet the big environmental challenges ofthe 21st Century – food, water,energy, health, climate change &loss of biodiversity?

Come to the GlobalBotanic GardensCongress in Genevaon June 26th-30th 2017

Jardins botaniques et société :visions pour le futur

Comment conserver et utiliser les plantespour répondre aux grandes questions

environnementales du 21e siècle– nourriture, eau, énergie, santé,

changements climatiques etperte de biodiversité ?

Rendez-vous au Congrès Mondial desJardins Botaniques

à Genèvedu 26 au 30 juin 2017

www.6gbgc.org

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