Abstract
Botanic gardens play major roles in plant conservation globally. Since the 1980s, the number of botanic gardens worldwide and their involvement in integrating ex situ and in situ plant conservation has increased significantly, with a growing focus on understanding, documenting, and capturing genetic diversity in their living collections. This article outlines why genetic diversity is important for conservation, and explores how botanic gardens can establish and expand the use of molecular techniques to support their plant conservation efforts.
Highlights
It is difficult to define closely what is a “botanic garden,” since they arise from a great diversity of origins and encapsulate many different functions
Increased focus on formulation of shared policies, priority setting, coordination of plant conservation action between botanic gardens at national and international levels, capacity building, plant collection documentation systems, and drawing many more botanic gardens into the plant conservation community has had a profound impact on the effectiveness of botanic garden work in plant conservation
The growth in the networks of botanic gardens at all levels, promoting plant conservation as a primary “cause” for all botanic gardens has ensured that many botanic gardens have become champions and excellent practitioners in the field
Summary
J. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by 73.233.108.119 on 05/21/19. Re-use and distribution is strictly not permitted, except for Open Access articles. Botanic gardens play major roles in plant conservation globally. Since the 1980s, the number of botanic gardens worldwide and their involvement in integrating ex situ and in situ plant conservation has increased significantly, with a growing focus on understanding, documenting, and capturing genetic diversity in their living collections. This article outlines why genetic diversity is important for conservation, and explores how botanic gardens can establish and expand the use of molecular techniques to support their plant conservation efforts. Keywords : Botanic Gardens; Conservation; Plants; Genetics; Living Collections
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