Global Strategy For Plant Conservation Research Articles

Community regeneration based on the distribution and population structure of Syringa fauriei H. Lév. (Oleaceae), a rare and endemic plant in Korea

To meet the specific targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation of 2020 (GSPC-2020), data of species traits for each plant species are investigated. This study investigated a Korean endemic plant (Syringa fauriei H. Lev.) in terms of its current distribution across the southern-central regions of the Korean peninsula, vegetative conditions in natural habitats, distributional characteristics, and population structure. Syringa fauriei was located at the river borders, where vegetative conditions were either limestone and non-limestone zones. The upstream limestone zones offered suitable areas for the distribution of S. fauriei and were epicenters of their distribution. The mature individuals produced seeds. The population structure displayed a stable, reverse J-shape, consisting of an abundance of seedlings and young plants with a few fertile plants that supplied the seeds for population growth; this was termed the ‘ecological founder effect’. In the limestone zones, the S. fauriei community formed on the borders of streams with water flow, implying that the cycle of community generation, growth, and extinction was repeated according to the stream disturbance dynamics. For S. fauriei conservation, naturality of stream environments should be maintained.

WFO-IDs: Unique Identifiers for All Known Plants Managed by the World Flora Online

The World Flora Online (WFO) project (Borsch et al. 2020) was initiated in 2012 in response to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation*1, "To create an online flora of all known plants by 2020" (Wyse Jackson and Kennedy 2009). A WFO Consortium of over 40 international institutions has been formed. The World Flora Online Public Portal*2 is built upon a taxonomic backbone of plant taxonomic data that integrates the International Plant Name Index (IPNI)*3, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)*4, Tropicos*5, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 4*6, Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG I 2016), supplemented by the Global Compositae Checklist*7, Solanaceae Source*8, and others. To facilitate the ongoing curation of the WFO backbone, identifiers called WFO-IDs have been created for each of the over 1.59 million names included in WFO. WFO-IDs are comprehensive for all known plants, both vascular and non-vascular except algae. IPNI-IDs are limited to vascular plants and do not give the current taxonomic status of the name. WFO-IDs also cover invalid designations, i.e., some effectively published “names” like orthographic variants that have been used in taxonomic literature, so that their invalid status is made explicit. WFO IDs follow FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Relationships between WFO-IDs are also recorded by the WFO Taxonomic Backbone, including synonymy and homonymy, and are accessible via the WFO Portal. WFO is continuously updating the taxonomic backbone by engagement of new plant Taxonomic Expert Networks (TENs) focused on selected plant groups. WFO also includes over 500,000 descriptive data items gathered from digital floras and monographs, and other sources. Descriptive data can be text descriptions, images, geographic distributions, identification keys, phylogenetic trees, threat status, lifeform or habitat. Descriptive data records are all assigned a WFO-ID, if they are new to WFO, by a name matching process with the WFO Taxonomic Backbone. A new tool called Rhakhis (Hyam et al. 2022), developed at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, is used to manage the WFO Taxonomic Backbone data and includes APIs to access the versioned backbone data. This presentation will review the origins and history of WFO-IDs and how they are being used for the World Flora Online.

Global shortfalls in threat assessments for endemic flora by country

Societal Impact StatementPlants are fundamental to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are key to human livelihoods. To protect plant diversity, systematic approaches to conservation assessment are needed. Many nations have legislation or other policy instruments that seek to protect biodiversity (including plants), and species‐level assessments are essential for identifying the most threatened species that require special and immediate protection measures. Some plants occur in only one place (for instance, a single country) and here we have estimated how many of these ‘endemic’ species have had their threats assessed in each country or close country‐equivalent worldwide. We show that the level of assessment completion is only weakly related to the income of countries or the likely level of threat that species face.Summary The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation ambitiously called for an assessment of the conservation status of all recognised plant taxa by 2020. This target was not met in the short term. Nevertheless, the need for conservation assessments remains urgent as plants go extinct and face increasing threats from human impacts on the biosphere. Here, the completeness of threat assessments for endemic flora in 179 countries or their close equivalents was assessed. To do so, distribution information from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants was combined with assessments collated in the ThreatSearch database. The completeness of assessments was expected to be associated with the objective affluence of countries (measured using inequality‐adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)) and/or the exposure of their plant species to threats associated with human impacts (measured using Global Human Modification index (GHM)). The number of endemic species per country was also hypothesised to influence the completion of assessments. Overall, 58% of all country‐based endemic species examined have no conservation assessment (127,643 species). Countries' progress toward the completion of threat assessments for endemic plants could not be confidently predicted by IHDI, GHM or the richness of endemic plant flora. The shortfall in threat assessments identified here restricts national regulation of actions which imperil plant species, with particular consequences for endemic plant species subject to local laws. Some nations with high IHDI scores (i.e. wealthier nations) are not systematically assessing extinction risk in their endemic species. Scarce funding should be directed to global hotspots of endemism with few available resources for assessment.

Using stored seeds for plant translocation: The seed bank perspective

Billions of seeds from wild species are currently stored in hundreds of conservation seed banks around the world. Plant translocation from these seeds is a key conservation priority and one of the targets of the UN's Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. How these seeds are used for plant translocation and what obstacles seed banks encounter has not been investigated. To explore this issue, we circulated a questionnaire across international networks, complemented with a literature review on plant translocation from stored seeds. We received responses from 104 seed banks in 34 countries. Just over 70 % had previously used their collections for plant translocation, with a median of 12 translocations per seed bank. The main limitations for translocation were identified as “funding” and “resources”, with a lack of seeds and expertise also mentioned as obstacles. Only 11 seed banks had no constraints on their ability to carry out plant translocation. With 96 % of respondents indicating they would like to carry out future plant translocations, there is a willingness by seed banks to use their collections more extensively, but a lack of funding and resource availability is limiting the full potential for translocation activities. The literature review identified 12 articles which specified that seed bank stored seeds were used for plant translocation, suggesting that plant translocations from ex situ seeds are rarely published in the scientific literature. Our results indicate that if nations are to achieve their international conservation targets, funding and resources for the use of banked seeds should be prioritised.

Ex situ conservation of threatened higher plants in Chinese botanical gardens

Ex situ conservation of botanical gardens is one of the important approaches to protect threatened plants. Through 52 investigated botanical gardens which had the major function of ex situ conservation, we analyzed the status and problems of ex situ conservation of China’s threatened higher plants based on the Threatened Species List of China’s Higher Plants, and proposed some suggestions for botanical gardens’ future development. During the investigation, we found that 1754 threatened species preserved in 52 botanical gardens, including 252 Critically Endangered (CR) species, 589 Endangered (EN) species and 913 Vulnerable (VU) species. These botanical gardens had protected over 45 % of known China’s threatened species, and reached about 60 % of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) Target 8. However, we also revealed that botanical gardens had low coverage of threatened species, especially bryophytes and pteridophyte. About 78 % of ex situ conservation threatened species were existed in less than 5 botanical gardens. Distribution of ex situ conservation of threatened species was inconsistent with their natural habitat. Furthermore, botanical gardens did not have enough capacity to cope with the crisis of species extinction. Therefore, we suggest that botanical gardens should strengthen information management, increase the proportion of threatened species, attach great importance to the threatened species with few collections and low safety, and make a positive and reasonable response to the threat status of plants.

Distribution and conservation of vanilla crop wild relatives: the value of local community engagement for biodiversity research

Natural vanilla is a high-value crop with demand increasing globally. Crop wild relatives (CWR) represent valuable agrobiodiversity and are prioritized in the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Vanilla species are naturally rare with historically infrequent botanical collections. Despite their importance as CWR, fewer than 10% of Vanilla species have been evaluated for the IUCN Red List. Colombia is a diversity center for Vanilla species, yet many remote regions are lacking detailed floristic characterization. We show that the participation of rural communities in scientific endeavor enhances capacity to register biodiversity. We report two Vanilla species in the under-explored region of the Serranía de las Quinchas in the mid–Magdalena River valley in Colombia, including the first report for Colombia of Vanilla karen-christianae. For this, and the second species, Vanilla dressleri, we present descriptions with photographic botanical illustrations, updated distribution maps, and preliminary conservation status assessment. Both species are of elevated conservation concern, categorized as Endangered – EN: B2a,b(ii,iii,iv,v) following IUCN criteria. Within Colombia, all recorded occurrences for both species fall outside protected areas. Vanilla crop wild relatives in Colombia have urgent conservation needs. The Serranía de las Quinchas is a priority for further botanical exploration for Vanilla, as well as other protected areas with appropriate habitat. In situ conservation should be complemented with ex situ actions. Community participation in biodiversity research is recommended in this and other remote regions as an integral step towards enhancing biodiversity research and community-based conservation.

The World Flora Online: Summary and Status

The World Flora Online (WFO) project was initiated in 2012 in response to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation – "To create an online flora of all known plants by 2020" (CBD 2010, Wyse Jackson 2013). A WFO Consortium of 50 international institutions and growing has been formed (see Wyse Jackson and Miller (2015) for a historical overview). The World Flora Online Public Portal (www.worldfloraonline.org) was relaunched in July, 2022. It is populated with a taxonomic backbone of plant taxonomic data, which integrates the International Plant Name Index (IPNI), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP, Govaerts et al. 2022), Tropicos, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV (A.P.G. 2016), Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (Schüttpelz 2016) and others supplemented, inter alia, by the Global Compositae Checklist and Solanaceae Source. The WFO taxonomic backbone aims at covering all “effectively published” (Turland 2018) plant names that are in use or found in taxonomic literature and to integrate them into a modern phylogeny-based system of classification (Borsch et al. 2020). To facilitate the ongoing curation of the WFO backbone, identifiers, called WFO-IDs, have been created for 1.4 million names, including both vascular and non-vascular plants. WFO IDs are also cross-referenced to IPNI and WCVP identifiers as well as to the name IDs used in the source databases. WFO is updating the taxonomic backbone by engagement of new plant Taxonomic Expert Networks (TENs) focused on selected plant groups (for an example see Korotkova, this symposium), thus contributing to a transparent and inclusive reorganisation of the taxonomic research community. WFO also includes by now over 600,000 “content” data items gathered from digital floras and monographs, and other sources like International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat assessments and the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) Global Tree Assessment. Content data can be text descriptions, images, geographic distributions, identification keys, phylogenetic trees, as well as atomized trait data like threat status, lifeform or habitat of a taxon. Over 30 digital descriptive datasets have been received from sources such as Flora of Brazil, Flora of South Africa, Flora of China, Flora of North America, Flora of Thailand and many others. WFO aims at clearly showing the original sources to give credit to the authors, both for backbone and content data. Extensive work is required to match the names associated with the submitted descriptions to the names and WFO-IDs in the World Flora Online taxonomic backbone and then merging the descriptive data elements into the WFO Portal. Numerous techniques have been adopted and created to accomplish the data cleaning, standardization and transformation required before descriptive data can be integrated. Among the new tools created is a system called Rhakhis developed at Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (Hyam et al. 2022). Rhakhis is used to manage the WFO taxonomic backbone data including ingestion, editing and export and includes APIs to access the versioned backbone data. This presentation will focus on the current state and plans for the future of the World Flora Online.

STRENGTHENING POLICY OF EX-SITU BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT CONSERVATION PREVENTING BIODIVERSITY LOSS IN CIBINONG SCIENCE CENTER BOTANICAL GARDEN

The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) as international system for biodiversity conservation stated that all botanical garden should conserve endangered biodiversity. In this context, the IUCN publish the IUCN’s Red List every year; in the year 2021 for example only around 35,765 species or 28% out of 75% conserved in ex-situ conservation or botanical garden. Indonesia has been developed further the notion through Presidential Decree No. 93/2011 that accommodated Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Target 8 stated that at least 75 per cent of threatened plant species in ex- situ collections, preferably in the country of origin, and at least 20 percent available for recovery and restoration programs. From previous study, two out of six botanical gardens managed by the Government implemented the Target varied. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate others including The Cibinong Science Center Botanical Garden (CSCBG). The study used qualitative method combined with policy approach through interview and observation with Miles and Hubermen approach for analysis. The result shows that the Gardens has not accommodated the policy yet, however the Garden has introduced technology with more than 6.000 species equipped with barcode. The collection is mainly Indonesia tropical plants specifically flora at lowland. Therefore, to strengthening policy of ex-situ conservation in the CSBG needs further policies: (a) coordination among and within related actors, (b) integration of biodiversity conservation into socio-economic sectors, (c) adequacy and sufficiency of funds, and (d) governance and stakeholder participation.

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

AbstractThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.

How Can India Leverage Its Botanic Gardens for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Wild Food Plant Resources through the Implementation of a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation?

Wild food plants (WFPs) are consumed by the indigenous communities in various parts of the world for food, nutrition, and medicinal purposes. They are usually collected from the wild and sometimes grown in the vicinity of the forests and the dwellings of the indigenous people in a way such that they are not far from their natural habitats. WFPs are important for the food and nutritional requirements of the indigenous communities. The WFPs are seasonal and collected from the wild whenever they are available. Therefore, the food menu of the tribal co mmunities changes with the seasons. A number of studies have demonstrated various WFPs consumed by indigenous communities including India. The results show that an enormous diversity of WFPs is consumed by the indigenous people of India. However, a few studies also suggest that the consumption of WFPs among the indigenous communities is declining along with the dwindling of traditional ethnobotanical knowledge linked to the collection, processing, cooking, storage, and limited cultivation of WFPs. India can leverage the network of its botanic gardens for the conservation of its wild food plant resources, the traditional and indigenous knowledge linked to it, and its popularization among the citizens within the framework of Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). This article provided an overview of the need to focus on WFPs, limitations of current studies, and role of botanic gardens in the conservation of wild food plants through the implementation of GSPC. This article further provided a framework for the role of botanic gardens in the popularization of WFPs, increasing the awareness about their importance, documentation, and preservation of the traditional knowledge linked to various aspects of WFPs within the GPSC framework.

Challenges, Solutions, and Workflows Developed for the Taxonomic Backbone of the World Flora Online.

The World Flora Online (WFO) is the collaborative, international initiative to achieve Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC): "An online flora of all known plants." WFO provides an open-access, web-based compendium of the world’s plant species, which builds upon existing knowledge and published floras, checklists and revisions but will also require the collection and generation of new information on poorly known groups and unexplored regions (Borsch et al. 2020). The construction of the WFO Taxonomic Backbone is central to the entire WFO as it determines the accessibility of additional content data and at the same time, represents a taxonomic opinion on the circumscription of those taxa. The Plant List v.1.1 (TPL 2013) was the starting point for the backbone, as this was the most comprehensive resource covering all plants available. We have since curated the higher taxonomy of the backbone, based on the following published community-derived classifications: the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV 2016), the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group (PPG I 2016), Bryophytes (Buck et al. 2008), and Hornworts & Liverworts (Söderström et al. 2016). The WFO presents a community-supported consensus classification with the aim of being the authoritative global source of information on the world's plant diversity. The backbone is actively curated by our Taxonomic Expert Networks (TEN), consisting of specialists of taxonomic groups, ideally at the Family or Order level. There are currently 37 approved TENs, involving more than 280 specialists, working with the WFO. There are small TENs like the Begonia Resource Center and the Meconopsis Group (with five specialists), medium TENs like Ericaceae and Zingiberaceae Resource Centers or SolanaceaSource.org (around 15 experts), and larger TENs like Caryophyllales.org and the Legume Phylogeny Working Group, with more than 80 specialists involved. When we do not have taxonomic oversight, the World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP 2019) has been used to update those families from the TPL 2013 classification. Full credit and acknowledgement given to the original sources is a key requirement of this collaborative project, allowing users to refer to the primary data. For example, an association with the original content is kept through the local identifiers used by the taxonomic content providers as a link to their own resources. A key requirement for the WFO Taxonomic Backbone is that every name should have a globally unique identifier that is maintained, ideally forever. After considering several options, the WFO Technology Working Group recommended that the WFO Council establish a WFO Identifier (WFO-ID), a 10-digit number with a “wfo-” prefix, aimed at establishing a resolvable identifier for all existing plant names, which will not only be used in the context of WFO but can be universally used to reference plant names. Management of the WFO Taxonomic Backbone has been a challenge as TPL v1.1 was derived from multiple taxonomic datasets, which led to duplication of records. For that reason, names can be excluded from the public portal by the WFO Taxonomic Working Group or the TENs, but not deleted. A WFO-ID is not deleted nor reused after it has been excluded from the WFO Taxonomic Backbone. Keeping these allows for better matching when assigning WFO-IDs to data derived from content providers. Nevertheless, this implies certain considerations for new names and duplications. New names are added to the WFO Taxonomic Backbone via nomenclators like the International Plants Name Index (IPNI, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew et al. 2021) for Angiosperms, and Tropicos (Missouri Botanical Garden 2021) for Bryophytes, as well as harvesting endemic and infraspecific names from Flora providers when providing descriptive content. New names are passed to the TEN to make a judgement on their taxonomic status. When TENs provide a new authoritative taxonomic list for their group, we first produce a Name Matching report to ensure no names are missed. Several issues come from managing and maintaining taxonomic lists, but the process of curating an ever-growing integrated resource leads to an increase in the challenges we face with homonyms, non-standard author abbreviations, orthographic variants and duplicate names when Name Matching. The eMonocot database application, provided by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, (Santarsiero et al. 2013) and subsequently adapted by the Missouri Botanical Garden to provide the underlying functionality for WFO's current toolset, has also proven itself to be a challenging component to update. In this presentation, we will share our hands-on experience, technical solutions and workflows creating and maintaining the WFO Taxonomic Backbone.

Maximizing genetic representation in seed collections from populations of self and cross-pollinated banana wild relatives

BackgroundConservation of plant genetic resources, including the wild relatives of crops, plays an important and well recognised role in addressing some of the key challenges faced by humanity and the planet including ending hunger and biodiversity loss. However, the genetic diversity and representativeness of ex situ collections, especially that contained in seed collections, is often unknown. This limits meaningful assessments against conservation targets, impairs targeting of future collecting and limits their use.We assessed genetic representation of seed collections compared to source populations for three wild relatives of bananas and plantains. Focal species and sampling regions were M. acuminata subsp. banksii (Papua New Guinea), M. balbisiana (Viet Nam) and M. maclayi s.l. (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea). We sequenced 445 samples using suites of 16–20 existing and newly developed taxon-specific polymorphic microsatellite markers. Samples of each species were from five populations in a region; 15 leaf samples from different individuals and 16 seed samples from one infructescence (‘bunch’) were analysed for each population.ResultsAllelic richness of seeds compared to populations was 51, 81 and 93% (M. acuminata, M. balbisiana and M. maclayi respectively). Seed samples represented all common alleles in populations but omitted some rarer alleles. The number of collections required to achieve the 70% target of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation was species dependent, relating to mating systems. Musa acuminata populations had low heterozygosity and diversity, indicating self-fertilization; many bunches were needed (> 15) to represent regional alleles to 70%; over 90% of the alleles from a bunch are included in only two seeds. Musa maclayi was characteristically cross-fertilizing; only three bunches were needed to represent regional alleles; within a bunch, 16 seeds represent alleles. Musa balbisiana, considered cross-fertilized, had low genetic diversity; seeds of four bunches are needed to represent regional alleles; only two seeds represent alleles in a bunch.ConclusionsWe demonstrate empirical measurement of representation of genetic material in seeds collections in ex situ conservation towards conservation targets. Species mating systems profoundly affected genetic representation in seed collections and therefore should be a primary consideration to maximize genetic representation. Results are applicable to sampling strategies for other wild species.

Diversity of higher plants in China

AbstractThe Species Catalogue of China: Volume 1: Plants (SCCP) is a new, comprehensive, hardcopy inventory of Chinese higher plants that combines several datasets and references to recent taxonomic treatments. The database, with all attached additional information, is freely accessible via the internet (http://www.sp2000.org.cn/) and on CD‐ROM, and will be updated yearly. It includes bryophytes (157 families, 599 genera, and 3167 specific and infraspecific taxa), lycophytes and ferns (41 families, 181 genera, and 2336 specific and infraspecific taxa), gymnosperms (10 families, 45 genera, and 311 specific and infraspecific taxa), and angiosperms (270 families, 3227 genera, and 35 873 specific and infraspecific taxa); in total 478 families, 4052 genera, and 41 687 specific and infraspecific taxa. Several other important statistics can also be drawn from the database, such as the distribution pattern of the four major groups of higher plants, as well as number of endemic and naturalized or cultivated genera/taxa. Entries in SCCP are also compared with Flora of China, and Flora reipublicae popularis Sinicae at the genus level. The SCCP will not only be a useful reference for floristic or biodiversity studies in China, but will also serve as a key resource to direct action and monitor progress. It is intended to be a useful resource for achieving Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).

Ex situ conservation in botanical gardens – challenges and scientific potential preserving plant biodiversity

In the Anthropocene, the world’s plant diversity is threatened with extinction and the erosion of the genetic diversity of natural populations. According to the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, two out of five of the ~350,000 known vascular plant species are at risk of extinction. Despite the considerable toolkit of biodiversity conservation practices, usually it is hard to choose the best option to stop biodiversity loss. Ex situ conservation has seen massive development due to radical losses of natural ecosystems, and its incrementing necessity has been underscored by Target 8 of the 2011-2020 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. As we crossed the finish line of this strategy in 2020, a review of the accumulated knowledge on the ex situ living collections has become particularly important. Despite the increasing attention received by ex situ conservation, studies on the sustainability, quality, and usability of the plant material prior to establishing the garden collections are few, leaving major gaps unfilled in terms of best ex situ conservation practices. Here we present an overview of the results and experiences in ex situ conservation focusing on living plant collections, with the aim of guiding conservation practitioners towards the most efficient working methods. We evaluate the future needs and perspectives of this conservation technique, based on case studies on both woody and herb species. Possible conservation applications and priorities suggested for future works are summarized.

Coussapoa curranii: an endemic species of the Atlantic Forest, rare and threatened in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Abstract Recent in situ samplings and analysis of herbarium material revealed new occurrences of Coussapoa curranii (Urticaceae). In this study, an updated distribution map is given for the species in the Brazil. Nevertheless, due to the low representativeness of individuals in forestry surveys, and its natural occurrence in environments under threat of degradation, it is necessary to categorize this species as Critically Threatened (CR) according to IUCN criteria. Also, as a result of this study and in compliance with Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the species is being grown in the Parque Botânico do Ecomuseu Ilha Grande. This park is located in the area of its most recent record of natural occurrence, Parque Estadual da Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PROGRESS IMPLEMENTATION OF TARGET 9 OF GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR PLANT CONSERVATION CONDUCTED BY INDONESIAN BOTANIC GARDEN NETWORK

Plant have been cultivated for a long time, they have been selected and bred by our ancestors for their nutritional qualities, flavor, productivity, storage ability and other valued traits. Crop Wild Relative (CWR) are often neglected because they have not been used for domestication. However, world population growth together with the potentially adverse impact of climate change on agricultural production, calls for greater action to ensure global food security.  Indonesian Botanic Garden already ratified Convention on Biodiversity (CBD). One of the programs is the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). The GSPC vision is to stop the plant diversity loss through five objectives and 16 targets for plant conservation to be achieved by 2020. The study was to identify the implementation of target 9 of GSPC by Indonesian Botanic Garden Network. The result showed that there are four reason Indonesian Botanic Garden has participated in target 9 of GSPC, We also provided success stories from other botanic garden to encourage Indonesian Botanic Garden to conserve more Indonesian Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) whilst facilitating their use in crop improvement. 

El papel del Jardín Botánico Francisco Javier Clavijero (Xalapa, Veracruz, México) en la conservación de la flora mexicana

Antecedentes y Objetivos: Hay aproximadamente 3000 jardines botánicos en el mundo. Estas instituciones cultivan aproximadamente seis millones de especies de plantas, lo que representa alrededor de 100,000 taxones en cultivo. Los jardines botánicos hacen una contribución importante a la conservación ex situ con un número significativo de especies de plantas amenazadas representadas en sus colecciones. Para mostrar la contribución del Jardín Botánico Francisco Javier Clavijero (JBC) a la conservación de la flora mexicana nos planteamos las siguientes preguntas: 1) ¿Cómo se conserva actualmente la diversidad vegetal en el JBC?, 2) ¿Qué tan bien se está desempeñando el jardín con respecto a la Estrategia Global para la Conservación de Plantas (GSPC) y la Estrategia Mexicana para la Conservación Vegetal (MSPC)?, y 3) ¿Cómo ha contribuido la colección científica del jardín a la creación de conocimiento (descripción de especies nuevas)?Métodos: Utilizamos datos de la colección científica de JBC almacenados en BG-BASE. Recopilamos información sobre nombres de especies, endemismos, estatus de conservación por políticas nacionales e internacionales y datos de campo asociados a cada especie.Resultados clave: Encontramos que 12% de toda la colección se encuentra bajo alguna categoría de riesgo según leyes internacionales y mexicanas. Las familias de plantas con especies más amenazadas fueron Zamiaceae, Orchidaceae, Arecaceae y Asparagaceae. También encontramos que Ostrya mexicana, Tapirira mexicana, Oreopanax capitatus, O. echinops y O. xalapensis son especies altamente amenazadas representativas del bosque nuboso actualmente en la colección.Conclusiones: La conservación y utilidad científica de la colección del JBC se refleja en la calidad de datos asociados a cada especie. Además, se ha utilizado para la descripción de 24 nuevas especies de plantas. Teniendo un número significativo de especies amenazadas en su colección ex situ, el JBC contribuye a la implementación de la GSPC, particularmente al objetivo ocho, así como a la implementación de la MSPC.

Сохранение видов растений Красной книги России ex situ в ботанических садах

Russian botanical gardens are actively involved in the conservation of rare and endangered plants. They pay special attention to the species included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. At present, 377 species of higher plants are cultivated in living collections of botanical gardens out of 514 species presented in the Red Book of Russia, which is 73%. Thus, the Russian Federation has practically met the requirement of goal 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. The vast majority of rare plant species are represented by samples in the collections of many botanical gardens and the reliability of their protection under cultural conditions is beyond doubt. In the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an in vitro collection of rare and endangered plants is preserved, including 82 species, which is 17.3% of the total number of angiosperms included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. As a result of many years of research, the features of the cultivation and preservation of ex situ plants belonging to different families have been revealed. The main methodological aspects at the stages of obtaining a sterile culture, micropropagation proper and long-term deposition are reflected. The compositions of nutrient media and cultivation factors were optimized for slowed growth of explants of the studied cultures and preservation of their viability. Keywords: RARE AND ENDANGERED PLANT SPECIES, RED BOOK OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, EX SITU CONSERVATION, LONG-TERM IN VITRO CONSERVATION

World Flora Online: Placing taxonomists at the heart of a definitive and comprehensive global resource on the world's plants

AbstractIt is time to synthesize the knowledge that has been generated through more than 260 years of botanical exploration, taxonomic and, more recently, phylogenetic research throughout the world. The adoption of an updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) in 2011 provided the essential impetus for the development of the World Flora Online (WFO) project. The project represents an international, coordinated effort by the botanical community to achieve GSPC Target 1, an electronic Flora of all plants. It will be a first‐ever unique and authoritative global source of information on the world's plant diversity, compiled, curated, moderated and updated by an expert and specialist‐based community (Taxonomic Expert Networks – “TENs” – covering a taxonomic group such as family or order) and actively managed by those who have compiled and contributed the data it includes. Full credit and acknowledgement will be given to the original sources, allowing users to refer back to the primary data. A strength of the project is that it is led and endorsed by a global consortium of more than 40 leading botanical institutions worldwide. A first milestone for producing the World Flora Online is to be accomplished by the end of 2020, but the WFO Consortium is committed to continuing the WFO programme beyond 2020 when it will develop its full impact as the authoritative source of information on the world's plant biodiversity.

An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Aberdare Ranges Forest, a part of Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot.

The Aberdare Ranges Forest, located in the Central highlands of Kenya, is an isolated volcanic mountain in the East African Rift Valley with unique flora. Despite its refugial importance to rare and endemic plant species, the diversity of plants in the Aberdare Ranges Forest remains poorly understood. The checklist presented here is a collation of data obtained from multiple floristic surveys and from herbarium specimen collections from the forest. A total of 1260 vascular plants taxa representing 136 families, 613 genera, 67 subspecies and 63 varieties are documented. The ferns comprised 84 species, lycophytes seven, gymnosperms six and angiosperms were 1163 taxa. This represents 17.9% of the Kenyan taxa, 1.7% of the African taxa and 0.3% of all the vascular plants known in the world. A total of 18 taxa were endemic and 14 taxa were found to be threatened globally. The life form, voucher specimen(s), habitat and distribution range of each taxon and a brief analysis of taxa diversity is presented in this checklist. This is the first comprehensive inventory of vascular plants in the entire Aberdare Ranges, providing a solid basis for more sustainable management and improved conservation of this montane forest. The checklist is also an important contribution to the world checklist of plants required by the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.