Convention on Biological Diversity

Tony Avent Tony@plantdelights.com
Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:26:49 PDT
Boyce;

Let me ask a few questions if I might based on your comments below

"At the same time, staff with responsibility for building and maintaining
genetic diversity within our collections continue to collect plants.  The
plants we bring back are evaluated for a number of years before they make it
into the general collections in an effort to avoid bringing invasive plants
into the USA. The role of botanic gardens and arboreta as biological arks
can not be overstated.  *Ex situ* collections are the 'last best hope' when
all else fails."

Why is ex situ collections the last best hope?  From a purely logical point of view, shouldn't this be the first line of hope...not the last.  It's easier, faster, and from a statistical analysis, greatly increases the chance of survivability. Nowhere in your note did you ever mention plant distribution...only plant hoarding.  Is this because the Chicago Botanic Garden doesn't adhere to the importance of widespread distribution of germplasm?  As Dick Lighty so eloquently pointed out in the Plant Exploration Symposium at CBG, things like the overhyped invasive issue serves only to justify a lack of effort on the part of botanic gardens to distribute plants they have collected.  Over the last 50 years, it would be interesting to know how many plants CBG has collected in the wild, how many of those are still alive, and how many have been widely distributed. Perhaps I simply don't know of the wide distribution efforts made by most botanical gardens. Please share that information 
 with the group so we can see the error of our views...thanks!

Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina  27603  USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website  http://www.plantdelights.com/
phone 919 772-4794
fax  919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent
-----Original Message-----
From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Boyce Tankersley
Sent: Friday, September 09, 2011 3:49 PM
To: Pacific Bulb Society
Subject: Re: [pbs] Convention on Biological Diversity

At the same time, staff with responsibility for building and maintaining
genetic diversity within our collections continue to collect plants.  The
plants we bring back are evaluated for a number of years before they make it
into the general collections in an effort to avoid bringing invasive plants
into the USA. The role of botanic gardens and arboreta as biological arks
can not be overstated.  *Ex situ* collections are the 'last best hope' when
all else fails.

CBG's approach to the CBD has been developed over many years based upon
experiences overseas and is a reflection of the current state of affairs -
if we want to collect in these countries we have to obey their laws.  Their
laws, in most cases, are based on one or more interpretations of the CBD.
 So the voluntary aspect (USA hasn't signed) is not really voluntary once we
start to work beyond the USA. I believe there are meetings where scientists
and governments discuss changes/improvements to the CBD so there is hope
that some of the less effective aspects will be modified.

Each botanic garden or arboretum, within the confines of national and
international law, is free to adopt the approach(s) that best fits what they
think is important.  Perspectives within the botanic garden community differ
widely as you can imagine with 450 institutions in the USA and 2,300
Worldwide.

It has been heartening to read the comments related to the importance so
many on the Pacific Bulb Society listserve place on conservation of rare and
endangered bulbs and the efforts taken at your own expense to do whatever
you can. After reading through the posts, I think we all realize none of us
really have all of the answers yet, but with so many enthusiastic, dedicated
and intelligent people working towards the same goal there is hope.

Many thanks,

Boyce Tankersley
Director of Living Plant Documentation
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022

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