-Katclee FRIE NDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY NEWSLETTER A. Volume 13, Number 1 Spring 1988 Conserving Endangered Plants otanical gardens worldwide are becoming in- creasingly involved in plant conservation through B cultivation of threatened species, development of educational programs, and research. Our own conserva- tion activities have expanded rapidly within the last two years. We have taken significant steps to coordinate our efforts with local, state, national and even international gardens and conservation groups. Extinction is a global problem, affecting species from many different habitats and bioregions. The Botanical Gardens living collection includes endangered species from six continents. Many of these were simply rare to begin with: their natural ranges have always been re- stricted to single islands or isolated habitats (at least within known historical records). Juania australis in the Palm Family and Dendroseris littoralis in the Sunflower family are two species known only from the tiny Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile, setting for the story of Robinson Crusoe. The Garden was able to obtain seeds of both species from botanists surveying the Island flora, and now the plants are doing well in our mild Vernal pool habitats are disappearing from the Central Valley as water is diverted for agricultural use. Shown here is the Botanic Garden vernal climate. pool. (Photo by Stephanie Kaza) Other species are rare or extinct in the wild as a result of human interference. The pine-oak forests in Chiapas, Mexico are undergoing rapid destruction like many native area includes more than 130 types of plants listed as tropical dry forests, as the local population burns the trees rare or endangered by the California Native Plant Society. to produce charcoal. For one species on the brink of Large-flowered Fiddleneck (Amsinckia grandiflora) and extinction, Magnolia sharpii, only two or three individuals Chinese Camp Brodiaea (Brodiaea pallida) exist in the still exist in the wild. Of the six specimens currently in wild only in single populations. Presidio Manzanita cultivation, three are at the U.C. Botanical Garden. (Arctostaphylos hookeri subsp. ravenii) is reduced to a Although the scale of destruction is greatest in the single plant in the wild! tropical regions of the world, we face critical problems in Ex Situ Conservation our own backyard. Within the United States, the two regions with the greatest concentration of rare and endan- The best way to preserve endangered species and to gered plants are California and Hawaii. As habitats shrink encourage recovery in the wild is to protect habitat. With due to urbanization, agriculture, grazing, inundation by careful management, threatened populations can increase reservoirs, quarrying, and poor land management, rare in size over time. In some cases, species on the verge of species become more and more rare and may face the extinction can even be reintroduced by conservationists to danger of extinction. The Botanical Gardens California new but suitable sites. Preservation of rare plants in their Page 2 University of California Berkeley Botanical Garden natural habitats is known as in situ conservation. When this is not practical, or when an additional safety net is nec- essary, ex situ or off-site conservation is the only alterna- tive. One form of ex situ conservation is cultivation of plants in botanical gardens. Another is storage of seed under carefully controlled conditions. With both methods, a major objective is to preserve as much genetic diversity as possible from the natural populations. These complex problems require carefully planned collection strategies and are an active area in conservation research. Working With Other Gardens Last year, the Botanical Garden made a major commit- ment to expand its conservation activities by joining the Center for Plant Conservation, a national consortium of 19 United States botanical gardens and arboreta, coordinated from national headquarters at the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. The Centers purpose is to conserve rare plants of the United States by building permanent, cul- tivated populations known as The National Collection of I I 2-4 percent of U.S. rare plants Endangered Plants. Each species will have a separate endowment to insure its con-tinued ex situ preservation. LI 5-10 percent The two other gardens on the West Coast that belong to Over 10 percent the Center are the Berry Botanic Garden in Portland, States with a high percentage of listed or proposed plants or candidates for Oregon, and Rancho Santa Ma Botanic Garden in Clare- listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, as summarized by the mont, California. This year our garden will add six species Center for Plant Conservation. Hawaii, not shown, has 27.2 % of the rare to the National Collection. plants; Puerto Rico, 3.5%, and Alaska, 1%. California is second only to Also during the past year, the Garden became a mem- Hawaii, with 24.2% of the rare plants in the United States. ber of the Botanical Gardens Conservation Secretariat of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Rare Plants in the United States Natural Resources. This is the worlds largest federation About two-thirds of the rare plants of the United States of governments, organizations, and individuals devoted to occur in just five states: Hawaii, California, Florida, Ore- the protection and sustainable use of the earths living gon, and Texas. Far from continental land masses, resources. The Botanic Gardens Secretariat monitors rare Hawaiis flora has evolved in isolation; over 95 percent of and endangered species in botanic gardens worldwide, its native plants are found only in Hawaii. California is also coordinates global conservation strategies, and provides considered to be an ecological and botanic island, isolated liason and training for garden technical staff. by mountains and deserts to the north, east, and south. The Gardens Education Program is working to find Thirty percent of the present 5,100 species native to the ways to use the garden as a more effective platform for state are endemics. This level of endemism is unusually communicating conservation issues to the public. This will high for a continental area and even high compared to include improved labeling of rare and endangered species, some island areas. new exhibits, and incorporation of conservation themes in Why so much diversity and specialization in California? docent-led tours. We also plan to encourage conservation The answer lies in the states wide range of physical research by providing plant materials of endangered Cali- environments and plant microhabitats. From high alpine fornia natives to laboratories in the U.C. system that spec- fell-fields to the Great Basin desert, from inland valleys to ialize in genetic analysis of plant populations. Few gardens the coastal dunes — Californias diverse topography, in the United States are affiliated with academic institu- climate, and geology provide an unusual combination of tions that include such well qualified research units as at conditions for plant growth. Plant species and genera have Berkeley. We feel the Botanical Garden can make an diversified over time to take advantage of the range of unusual contribution to conservation biology by promoting habitats, many becoming quite specialized to particular and coordinating research concerning endangered species conditions. Because these specialists are often restricted in California. to only a few localities, they are less likely to survive -Jim Affolter habitat loss, disease, or the impacts of human activity. Spring 1988 Page 3 New Grant Supports Costa Rica Connection he Botanical Garden recently strengthened connec- diverse rain forests of Costa Rica. An IBM computer tions with one of the most important gardens in system has been purchased and shipped to Costa Rica and T Central America, the Robert and Catherine Wilson three UC staff will visit the Wilson Garden later this year to Botanical Garden. The Wilson Garden, formerly known as make recommendations on existing horticultural, curato- Las Cruces, is located in southern Costa Rica near the rial, and managerial problems. They will compile existing Panamanian border, about six kilometers south of the plant records and install the computerized plant record town of San Vito de Java. It occupies approximately 350 system. They will also suggest interpretive strategies and acres, including 30 acres of developed gardens and 300 materials to enhance community use of the Wilson Garden acres of undisturbed submontane rain forest. The Garden as a public museum and educational facility. is particularly rich in monocots, especially aroids, bromeli- The Wilson Garden is operating with very limited re- ads, heliconias, orchids, palms, and gingers. The native sources and has made a special request for assistance in forest within the Garden boundaries is an oasis in a region building up their library. They are currently trying to that has largely been converted to agricultural use. The obtain the following volumes (either new or used): Palms Wilson Garden is owned and operated by the Organization of the World (Menninger), Bromeliads for Home, Garden, for Tropical Studies (OTS), a consortium of United States and Greenhouse (Rauh), Hortus III, Exotica Series IV and Costa Rican universities that maintains field stations International: Pictorial Cyclopedia of Exotic Plants, and and trains tropical biologists in Costa Rica. Tropica:Color Encyclopedia of Exotic Plants. If you would In March, 1987, Dr. James Affolter, Curator of the U.C. like to donate any of these books, or if you would like to Garden, met with Director Luis Diego Gomez to discuss make a gift to the Wilson Garden to finance book pur- management and curation of the Wilson Garden. Under a chases, please contact: joint $20,000 grant awarded by the Stanley Smith Horticul- Gail Hewson, tural Trust, UC Garden staff will act as consultants to the Director of Development Wilson Garden in designing and implementing a compu- Organization for Tropical Studies terized system for plant records.