The role of The New York Botanical Garden in plant and fungal conservation

Abstract

The New York Botanical Garden has had an institutional focus on global plant and fungal conservation, both explicitly and implicitly, throughout its 125 year history of botanical research, education and publication. Research has laid the underpinnings for species and habitat conservation. Education, formal and informal, has built human capacity for understanding and saving plants and fungi. Publications, in print and online, have disseminated authoritative results and science-based recommendations for enabling the conservation of biodiversity, from the Bronx to Brazil. This paper reviews the broad conservation themes pursued by the institution over this period, providing examples of specific projects, and concludes with the latest conservation initiative launched in 2015, the creation of the Center for Conservation Strategy.