Quantifying endangerment value: a promising tool to support curation decisions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2022.1970Abstract
Botanic garden collections are increasingly seeking to quantify and improve the value of their collections for science, horticulture, conservation and other uses. Quantifying the value of a collection depends on the mission of the institution. Many botanic gardens are prioritising the conservation of rare and threatened species towards preventing plant extinctions. In doing so, botanic gardens must make decisions about which plants should remain, be replaced or be added to their collections, and how to allocate staff and resources to care for individual plants, while considering funding and space limits. So, how can curators make the biggest impact towards conserving plant species? We present a promising method to quantitatively assess which plant species might be higher or lower conservation priority to an ex situ collection, using what we term ‘endangerment value’ – the value of collections for preventing plant extinction. We apply this method to four genera of high importance at The Morton Arboretum and showcase advantages of this approach as well as pitfalls. We found this method useful for priority setting, but note that the inclusion and exclusion of different data and how they are weighted impacts the ranking of priority species – an important lesson for any prioritisation method. We hope this method will inspire and help other botanic gardens to evaluate their current and future endangerment value and set priorities for maintaining and growing ex situ collections globally.
References
ANTONELLI, A., FRY, C., SMITH, R.J., SIMMONDS, M.S.J., KERSEY, P.J., PRITCHARD, H.W. ET AL. (2020). State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. doi: https://doi.org/10.34885/172
BECKMAN, E., MEYER, A., DENVIR, A., GILL, D., MAN, G., PIVORUNAS, D., SHAW, K. & WESTWOOD, M. (2019). Conservation Gap Analysis of Native U.S. Oaks. Lisle, IL: The Morton Arboretum.
BGCI PLANTSEARCH (2021). PlantSearch online database. Botanic Gardens Conservation International: Richmond, UK. Available online: www.bgci.org/plant_search.php (accessed July 2019 & June 2021).
CAVENDER, N., WESTWOOD, M., BECHTOLDT, C., DONNELLY, G., OLDFIELD, S., GARDNER, M., RAE, D. & MCNAMARA, W. (2015). Strengthening the conservation value of ex situ tree collections. Oryx, 49(3): 416–424. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605314000866
CAVENDER-BARES, J.M., NELSON, E, MEIRELES, J.E., LASKY, J.R., MITEVA, D.A., NOWAK, D.J., PEARSE, W.D., HELMUS, M.R., ZANNE, A.E., FAGAN, W.F., MIHIAR, C., MULLER, N.Z. ET AL. (2022). The hidden value of trees: quantifying the ecosystem services of tree lineages and their major threats across the contiguous US. PLOS Sustain Transform, 1(4): e0000010. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pstr.0000010
CHAMBERLAIN, S. & SZOCS, E. (2013). taxize – taxonomic search and retrieval in R. F1000Research, 2:191. Available online: https://f1000research.com/articles/2-191/v2 (accessed March 2021).
CIBRIAN-JARAMILLO, A., HIRD, A., OLEAS, N., MA, H., MEEROW, A.W., FRANCISCO-ORTEGA, J. & GRIFFITH, M.P. (2013). What is the conservation value of a plant in a botanic garden? Using indicators to improve management of ex situ collections. Botanical Review, 79(4): 559–577. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-013-9120-0
FOREST, F., MOAT, J., BALOCH, E., BRUMMITT, N.A., BACHMAN, S.P., ICKERT-BOND, S., HOLLINGSWORTH, P.M., LISTON, A., LITTLE, D.P., MATHEWS, S., RAI, H., RYDIN, C., STEVENSON, D.W., THOMAS, P. & BUERKI, S. (2018). Gymnosperms on the EDGE. Scientific Reports, 8, 6053. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24365-4
GODEFROID, S., PIAZZA, C., ROSSI, G., BUORD, S., STEVENS, A., AGURAIUJA, R., COWELL, C., WEEKLEY, C.W., VOGG, G., IRIONDO, J.M., JOHNSON, I., DIXON, B., GORDON, D., MAGNANON, S., VALENTIN, B., BJUREKE, K., KOOPMAN, R., VICENS, M., VIREVAIRE, M. & VANDERBORGHT, T. (2011). How successful are plant species reintroductions?. Biological Conservation, 144(2): 672–682. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.10.003
GRIFFITH, M.P., BARBER, G., TUCKER LIMA, J., BARROS, M., CALONJE, C., NOBLICK, L.R., CALONJE, M., MAGELLAN, T., DOSMANN, M., THIBAULT, T. & GERLOWSKI, N. (2017). Plant collection ‘half‐life:’ can botanic gardens weather the climate?. Curator: The Museum Journal, 60(4): 395–410.
GRIFFITH, M.P., MEYER, A. & GRINAGE, A. (2021). Global ex situ conservation of palms: living treasures for research and education. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4: 711414.
GRIFFITHS, K.E., BALDING, S.T., DICKIE, J.B., LEWIS, G.P., PEARCE, T.R. & GRENYER, R. (2015). Maximizing the phylogenetic diversity of seed banks. Conservation Biology, 29(2): 370–381. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12390
GUERRANT, E.O., HAVENS, K. & VITT, P. (2014). Sampling for effective ex situ plant conservation. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 175(1): 11–20. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/674131
HOBAN, S. (2019). New guidance for ex situ gene conservation: sampling realistic population systems and accounting for collection attrition. Biological Conservation, 235: 199–208.
HOBAN, S., VOLK, G., ROUTSON, K.J., WALTERS, C. & RICHARDS, C. (2018). Sampling wild species to conserve genetic diversity. In: GREENE, S., WILLIAMS, K., KHOURY, C., KANTAR, M. & MAREK, L. (eds), North American Crop Wild Relatives, vol. 1. Springer, Cham, pp. 209–228.
HOHN, T.C. (2022). Curatorial Practices for Botanical Gardens (2nd edn). Rowman & Littlefield, London.
INTEGRATED TAXONOMIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (2021). Available online: www.itis.gov (accessed June 2021). doi: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7KH0KBK
JEROME, D., BECKMAN, E., KENNY, L., WENZELL, K., KUA, C.S. & WESTWOOD, M. (2017). The Red List of US Oaks. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL.
KATTGE, J., BÖNISCH, G., DIAZ, S., LAVOREL, S., PRENTICE, I.C., LEADLEY, P., TAUTENHAHN, S., WERNER, G.D.A. ET AL. (2020). TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access. Global Change Biology, 26(1): 119–188. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14904
LARKIN, D.J., JACOBI, S.K., HIPP, A.L. & KRAMER, A.T. (2016). Keeping all the PIECES: phylogenetically informed ex situ conservation of endangered species. PLoS ONE, 11(6): e0156973. doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156973
LIU, U., BREMAN, E., COSSU, T.A. & KENNEY, S. (2018). The conservation value of germplasm stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Biodiversity and Conservation, 27(6): 1347–1386.
LOBDELL, M. (2021). Register of Magnolia cultivars. HortScience, 56(12): 1614–1675. doi: https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI16054-21
MAUNDER, M., HIGGENS, S. & CULHAM, A. (2001). The effectiveness of botanic garden collections in supporting plant conservation: a European case study. Biodiversity and Conservation, 10: 383–401. doi: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016666526878
MILLER, F. & WARE, G. (1999). Resistance of elms of the Ulmus davidiana complex to defoliation by the adult elm leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Journal of Economic Entomology, 92(5): 1147–1150.
O’DONNELL, K. & SHARROCK, S. (2018). Botanic gardens complement agricultural gene bank in collecting and conserving plant genetic diversity. Biopreserv Biobank, 16(5): 384–390. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/bio.2018.0028
OSTGAARD, H., ARSHAD, W. & PAYTON, G. (2021). Collection Value Scoring. Botanical Software – Plant Records Webinar. Available online: https://botanicalsoftware.com/2021/08/plant-records-webinar-collection-value-scoring (accessed August 2021).
OSTGAARD, H., ARSHAD, W. & PAYTON, G. (2022). Collection Value Scoring Learnings + Hortis update. Botanical Software – Plant Records Webinar. Available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt9Jq0YOZIY (accessed July 2022).
PENCE, V.C., MEYER, A., LINSKY, J., GRATZFELD, J., PRITCHARD, H.W., WESTWOOD, M. & BECKMAN BRUNS, E. (2022). Defining exceptional species – a conceptual framework to expand and advance ex situ conservation of plant diversity beyond conventional seed banking. Biological Conservation, 266. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109440
PLANTS OF THE WORLD ONLINE (2023). Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available online: www.plantsoftheworldonline.org (accessed June 2021).
POTTER, K.M., CRANE, B.S. & HARGROVE, W.W. (2017). A United States national prioritization framework for tree species vulnerability to climate change. New Forests, 48(2): 275–300. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-017-9569-5
POTTER, K.M., ESCANFERLA, M.E., JETTON, R.M., MAN, G. & CRANE, B.S. (2019). Prioritizing the conservation needs of United States tree species: evaluating vulnerability to forest insect and disease threats. Global Ecology and Conservation, 18. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00622
R CORE TEAM (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. Available online: www.R-project.org (accessed September 2022).
REDFORD, K.H., AMATO, G., BAILLIE, J., BELDOMENICO, P., BENNETT, E.L., CLUM, N., COOK, R., FONSECA, G., HEDGES, S., LAUNAY, F., LIEBERMAN, S., MACE, G.M. ET AL. (2011). What does it mean to successfully conserve a (vertebrate) species?. BioScience, 61(1): 39–48. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.1.9
RODRIGUES, A.S.L., PILGRIM, J.D., LAMOREUX, J.F., HOFFMANN, M. & BROOKS, T.M. (2006). The value of the IUCN Red List for conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 21(2): 71–76.
SCHNEIDER, F.D., FICHTMUELLER, D., GOSSNER, M.M., GÜNTSCH, A., JOCHUM, M., KÖNIG‐RIES, B., LE PROVOST, G., MANNING, P., OSTROWSKI, A., PENONE, C. & SIMONS, N.K. (2019). Toward an ecological trait‐data standard. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(12): 2006–2019. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13288
SMITH, A.B. & WILLOUGHBY, A. (2021). The Opportunistic Databases of Biodiversity Databases (ODD). Available online: www.earthskysea.org/biodiversity-data-portals (accessed June 2021).
SMITH, P. (2021). Understanding and attributing cultural heritage values to individual plants. Sibbaldia, 20: 123–138. doi: https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2021.315
SMITH, S.A. & BROWN, J.W. (2018). Constructing a broadly inclusive seed plant phylogeny. American Journal of Botany, 105(3): 302–314. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1019
STEPHENS, H.H. (2011). All in a day’s work: how museums may approach deaccessioning as a necessary collections management tool. DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law, 22: 119.
SYMES, P. & HART, C. (2021). The Climate Change Alliance: botanic garden horticulturists as agents for change. Sibbaldia, 20: 95–122. doi: https://doi.org/10.24823/Sibbaldia.2021.352
TROPICOS (2021). Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Available online: www.tropicos.org (accessed March 2021).
WESTWOOD, M., CAVENDER, N., MEYER, A. & SMITH, P. (2021). Botanic garden solutions to the plant extinction crisis. Plants People Planet, 3(1): 22–32. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10134
WINTER, M., DEVICTOR, V. & SCHWIEGER, O. (2013). Phylogenetic diversity and nature conservation: where are we?. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 28(4): 199–204. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.10.015
WORLD CHECKLIST OF VASCULAR PLANTS (2020). World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 2.0. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available online: http://wcvp.science.kew.org (accessed March 2021).
WORLD FLORA ONLINE (2019). World Flora Online, version 2019.05. Available online: www.worldfloraonline.org (accessed March 2021).
ZANNE, A., TANK, D., CORNWELL, W., EASTMAN, J.M., SMITH, S.A., FITZJOHN, R.G., MCGLINN, D.J., O’MEARA, B.C., MOLES, A.T., REICH, P.B., ROYER, D.L., SOLTIS, D.E. ET AL. (2014). Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments. Nature, 506: 89–92. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature1287
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Emily Beckman Bruns, Murphy Westwood, M. Patrick Griffith, Andrew Hipp, Matt Lobdell, Abby Meyer, Christy Rollinson, Shannon Still, Lindsey Worcester, Sean Hoban
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Please read our Open Access, Copyright and Permissions policies for more information.
