Strategies for conserving plants through (re) introduction

Abstract

Gardeners know how hard it is to keep a plant alive and thriving in a world where everything seems to like killing plants. Restoration ecologists know the difficulties associated with restoring and maintaining diversity into degraded sites. Biogeographers understand the challenges associated with predicting how changing climates will impact the future distributions of species. Putting these together, and we see the challenge facing plant conservation in the twentyfirst century. Increasing the resiliency of biodiversity by augmenting populations of rare plants with new populations planted in anticipation of changing climates is a logical process for conservation. Yet this is management strategy is characterized by limited success. Our empirical legacy of re-establishing plant populations is not strong. Our scientific justification for choosing relocation sites is plagued with high structural uncertainty. Our capacity to predict the impacts of selecting a subset of genotypes for relocation leaves is low. This poor prognosis for translocation is perhaps the best argument for maintaining strong in situ conservation within historic distributions combined with strong ex situ programs as a backstop. Understanding that the challenge of maintaining plant diversity through the twenty-first century will only become more difficult through time, the driving question is can we do better? If we are to succeed, we must do better, because failure in this endeavor will be coupled with extinction in the wild. The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC) does not often engage in the production of books, but when it does, it does so in a thoughtful, provocative and productive manner. In 2012, the CPC, along with the Society for Restoration Ecology, once again teamed up with Island Press to produce this edited volume on plant reintroductions, with an emphasis on changing climates. On three previous occasions, the CPC has sponsored an edited volume that became the definitive text for plant conservation issues of that time (Genetics and Conservation of Rare Plants; Falk DA, Holsinger KE (eds) (1991); Restoring Diversity: Strategies for Reintroduction of Endangered Plants; Falk DA, Millar CI, Olwell M (eds), (1996); Ex Situ Conservation, Guerrant EO, Jr, Havens K, Maunder M (eds) (2004)). Each of these landmark books is notable for a common feature: a detailed, prescriptive appendix that defining best management practice approaches to the topic on hand. This feature has been carried forward to Plant Reintroductions in a Changing Climate for one of the most useful components of the book for both practitioners and scientists. These best practice guidelines provide critical information for the researcher who wants to contribute to practice. The Appendix provides a detailed list of how one would go about a conservation translocation that considers future climate, linking the decisions and the scientific uncertainties to guide the researcher toward actionable science. If scientists M. W. Schwartz (&) John Muir Institute of the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA e-mail: mwschwartz@ucdavis.edu