SOUTH FLORIDA-CARIBBEAN CONNECTIONS South Florida-Caribbean Connections education for both Caribbean and US students. An official Memorandum of Understanding Partnerships between Botanic between FIU and the University of the West Indies (UWI) facilitates joint supervision of students by Gardens and Universities in a faculty at the two universities. Two students from UWI at Changing Caribbean World Mona (Tracy Commock and Keron by Javier Francisco-Ortega, Brett Jestrow & M. Patrick Griffith Campbell) are currently enrolled in this program, with major advisor Dr. Phil Rose of UWI and the first two authors as co-major advisor and uman activities the subsequent risk of introducing direct resources to them. Additional committee member, respectively. A have had a major non-native invasive species into partners are the USDA Subtropical project led by Commock concerns impact on the flora their environments. Horticulture Research Station of plant genera only found in Jamaica, and fauna of our Miami, led by Dr. Alan Meerow, for while Campbell’s research focuses on planet. Human- Regarding climate change, molecular genetic projects; and the the conservation status of Jamaican driven climate change and the Caribbean countries are facing two International Center for Tropical endemics. The baseline information immediate challenges. The first generated by these two studies will Hcurrent move to a global economy Botany (ICTB), a collaboration is sea-level rise, which is having between FIU, the National Tropical be critical to our understanding of are among the main factors an immediate impact on seashore Botanic Garden (NTBG) and the how climate change can affect the contributing to the current path habitats. Territories like the Bahamas population dynamics of individual William Cinea, Director of the Botanic Garden of Les Cayes in Haiti, provides Kampong Gardens, led by FIU’s a training at a plant systematics workshop at the Garden. towards species extinction, and the archipelago and several of the Lesser Dr. Chris Baraloto. plant species. resulting “biodiversity crisis” has Antilles and Virgin Islands sit at low had a particularly strong effect on elevations, and their very existence Florida International University has US graduate students are also Over the years, the authors have Haitian plants and animals are high island ecosystems. as political entities is threatened. A higher education and research in its a relevant part of these activities. been conducting fieldwork in the priorities for conservation. Jestrow second concern is how the species mission, and the two botanic gardens Michael Calonje, the cycad biologist Greater Antilles and Bahamas. has led two expeditions to northern The Caribbean Islands are composition of these islands will be have research as a key component at MBC, is currently pursuing Most recently, Dr. Jestrow has led Haiti, including the island of Tortue no exception to the extinction modified as global temperatures rise of their programs. In addition, a PhD in systematics and the studies of the Bahamian endemic and Môle-Saint-Nicolas, in the Coccothrinax inaguensis trend. Major concerns have arisen and species are forced to migrate to they have extensive experience in evolutionary history of the cycad palm (in northwestern corner of the country. genus Zamia through an agreement partnership with Dr. Ethan Freid During these trips, FIU botanist regarding the impact that a global higher elevations. conservation horticulture and have between FIU and MBC. Part of from the Bahamas National Trust, Dr. Alan Franck discovered a new economy and warmer temperatures established a large network of garden A botanical consortium in Miami his research involved extensive see article in this issue) and on species of cactus, and the existence will have on these insular systems. members and volunteers. The living Florida International University fieldwork in the Greater Antilles and the flora of northern Haiti (in of the enigmatic genus Tortuella was plant collections of these two gardens Historically, the islands have been (FIU) and Miami’s two largest the Bahamas under the guidance of partnership with William Cinea of confirmed. This genus, a member of a major center for trading because botanic gardens (Fairchild Tropical are unbeatable. FTBG has a large Dr. Meerow. Three students advised the Botanic Garden of Les Cayes the coffee family, is extremely rare of their central location in the Botanic Garden, or FTBG, and array of tropical plants, whereas by FIU faculty hosted at FTBG and Brígido Peguero of the National and known to exist only on Tortue. hemisphere and the development Montgomery Botanical Center, MBC has one of the most significant are working on the taxonomy of Botanic Garden of the Dominican of sugarcane as the region’s main MBC), are developing partnerships programs for cycad and palm Frangipanis and guava relatives Republic). The collected material Ex situ conservation cash crop, although the latter is to contribute to plant species conservation worldwide, based on the and on the conservation ecology of is being cultivated at FTBG and This term refers to the practice now in decline. Since the expansion conservation in the islands and to cultivation of multiple populations of Caribbean orchids (See article by MBC, with duplicates at Caribbean of preserving threatened species of of the Panama Canal, West Indies mitigate the effects of globalization endangered species. FTBG also has Haydee Borrero in this issue). botanic gardens. Similar initiatives plants in botanic gardens or seed ports have become particularly and climate change on the flora of the most extensive herbarium in the target the Critically Endangered banks. A recent ex situ conservation attractive as hubs for global trading, the West Indies. Currently, two FIU Miami metro area and a repository of Plant exploration palm Attalea crassispatha, a relative initiative, led by Dr. Griffith in and their tourist resorts are among faculty members (the first author material collected in the field. Plant exploration activities of the oil palm restricted to a few partnership with colleagues from the the most popular destinations for and Dr. Hong Liu) have formal are the basis for subsequent scattered populations in southern Bahamas National Trust, targeted holidaymakers from North America assignments and appointments at The Caribbean partners: training laboratory research, understanding Haiti. Extensive field surveys have Caribbean plants threatened by sea and Europe. One of the main results FTBG. All of our plant initiatives and capacity building conservation challenges, developing collected seeds for conservation level rise, especially the Critically of this massive movement of people are conducted in close partnership Our efforts to contribute to horticulture practices, and off site at FTBG, MBC and the Endangered Zamia lucayana. Seeds and cargo is an increase of urban with in-country botanists and botanical knowledge in the region eventually establishing living botanic gardens of Hispaniola. Plant were collected, and their progeny and agricultural development, and institutions and prioritize channeling have concentrated on graduate collections in botanic gardens. conservation biologists agree that (101 plants) are currently part of 6 Hemisphere Volume 28 Hemisphere Volume 28 7 Palm collection at the lowlands of Montgomery Botanical Center in Miami, Florida. Photo by M. Patrick Griffith. the living collections of MBC. The Feddea, restricted to the nickel- activities with the broad community identification skills among local Climate change will have that besiege them, preserving them authors have also led six plant- rich soils of regions of eastern of plant enthusiasts from the professionals and students in the an impact on us all, but it has for future generations of the peoples hunting expeditions to the Bahamas, Cuba. Extensive fieldwork led region. A great proportion of their forestry and conservation fields. potentially dire consequences for of the Caribbean and the world. Haiti, Dominican Republic, the by collaborator Ramona Oviedo findings have also been published Miami’s botanic gardens. They are island of Mona (Puerto Rico) (Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, in the brochures and magazines of The synergy from our located close to the shoreline, and Javier Francisco-Ortega is a Professor and Dominica to further in situ Cuba) located a single population Caribbean partners. Building on partnerships has led to the training it is uncertain to what extent their in the Department of Biological Sciences conservation of the Caribbean in the province of Guantanamo. the gardens’ partnership with the of nine FIU graduate students living collections can tolerate massive at Florida International University palm genus Pseudophoenix, the Subsequent DNA research showed Bahamas National Trust and the working on plant conservation saline intrusion of their aquifers. and a researcher at Fairchild Tropical research subject of FIU master’s Feddea to be a relict component of College of the Bahamas (currently and the taxonomy of West Indian Other Caribbean island gardens face Botanic Garden. student Rosa Rodríguez of the the sunflower family. University of the Bahamas), the first plants. Our team has conducted similar environmental challenges. Dominican Republic. symposium on plant conservation more than 30 plant exploration The ultimate aim of our initiatives is Brett Jestrow is Director of Collections Environmental education and biodiversity of the Bahamas expeditions