One of the key goals of most botanic gardens is to conserve the rarest and most threatened species in their living collections. However, many gardens encounter challenges in achieving this goal, such as limited space and a changing environment.
At the Arboretum and Botanical Garden at Cal State Fullerton, Greg Pongetti, living collections curator, said that they are actively focused on research and innovation that will bolster their conservation efforts.
“Gardens need to develop collections of conservation value and not just add ‘any old plant,’” said Pongetti.
Pongetti said that restrictions on plant collecting have also changed significantly over the past century with many wild plants being “off limits” to living collection curators for fear of endangering these rare plants in their native habitat.
He said that conservationists also have to consider climate change and other destructive factors, which inhibit plants’ ability to adapt and survive and greatly increases chances of extinction. Further, botanic gardens that attempt to cultivate rare plants from other regions may not be able to support them because of the effects of climate change. Some experts have posited that about 40% of the world’s rare plants are in danger of extinction.
“Here at the arboretum, we are actively involved in this research,” said Pongetti. “We participate in Botanic Gardens Conservation International PlantSearch and the Global Conservation Consortia. These provide a database of all the plants in collections throughout the world. In fact, the information from PlantSearch is referenced in an assessment tool used by our climate team to predict how our collection will be affected by environmental changes.”
Sharing plants with other botanical gardens is also important, Pongetti said.
“Gardens can propagate the plants exponentially, lessening the risk of extinction,” he said. “The golden barrel cactus is a good example. It went from being listed as very rare and threatened in the wild to thriving. Now you can buy them at Home Depot.”
Pongetti also notes that cultivating these plants helps decrease collecting pressures and poaching in the wild. He also recommends building more botanic gardens, particularly in regions where they do not exist.