conservational significance of botanical gardens

2
104 Biological Conservation inevitable that we cannot return to the world of yesteryear, and probably in the biosphere less and less will remain natural any more. Consequently, accepting perforce the unnatural, we should make the best of it with all the diligence at our command. What may prove to be the first real step in the right direction on a global basis was recently taken at the UNESCO etc. 'Intergovernmental Conference of Experts on the Scientific Basis for Rational Use and Conservation of the Resources of the Biosphere', when the delegates of more than sixty nations and observers from many leading international agencies (particularly IUCN) decided inter alia to ask the United Nations General Assembly to consider urgently the advisability of a Universal Declaration on the Protection and Betterment of the Human Environment (see Conferences and Meetings, later in this issue). Admittedly this is largely anthropocentric and not in the line of purist conservation; but with Man and Nature where they now are, it should still be possible to take care of the fundamental needs of both together. N.P. EDITORIAL Conservational Significance of Botanical Gardens Of the many uses of botanical gardens and their ancillary research establishments, the conservational ones are surely among the most important--at least potentially for the future as human population- pressures increase and, with them, disturbance and degradation of the biosphere. For even as zoological gardens are inter alia the repositories of disappearing and 'threatened' animal taxa, and may be their sole safeguard against extinction, so are botanical gardens and some other preserved tracts valuable refugia for the often no less dangerously (but commonly less 'vocally') threatened plants which it should be our active concern to preserve in the living state. For such preservation, albeit in an artificial or anyway man-made environment, the important pre- requisites are (1) to recognize which taxa are seriously threatened with extinction, (2) to acquire sufficient knowledge of their habitat requirements and con- ditions for propagation to be able to satisfy these within the confines of a botanical garden or, if necessary, greenhouse, and (3) to bring these en- dangered plants into effective cultivation or anyway 'captivity' in good time. It is a happy circumstance that IUCN have now prevailed upon Dr Ronald Melville to work along some of these lines at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, England, and especially to prepare a Red Data Book of threatened plants. By instructing potential cultivaters in the necessary 'arts', botanical gardens can moreover relieve the pres- sure on those wild species of plants which are threatened by being too much sought after by commercial collectors--or by local inhabitants on behalf of dealers--through engendering their cultivation in nurseries instead of decimation of the wild popula- tions. For who among the admiring public will worry about whether his Edelweiss comes directly from an alpine peak provided it is really Leontopodium alpinum! And again in various regions the same principles should hold good for many attractive bulbous Mono- cotyledons and other plants that, alarmingly, are sought and collected for export by commercial enter- prises which themselves would surely do better in the long run through properly organized cultivation or, possibly, semi-cultivation. So the wild remnants could be left alone--soon, one would hope, to recover something like their former numbers. In preserving special species and strains of known origin, generation after generation, in botanical gardens, it is important to keep them pure, avoid- ing any hybridization, etc. This may require special protective measures and is notably necessary for research purposes or when economic aspects are being furthered--for example by distribution to distant lands for cultivation for industrial or medicinal purposes. For besides their normal seed exchange of novelties and rarities, and perpetuating the desired plants under controlled conditions when necessary, botanical gardens can perform a valuable function by distributing suitable strains of economic plants, after adequate trials, to areas that are agroclimatically analogous. This effectively extends their function of sheltering threatened or other taxa, and was exempli- fied (without adequate trials) by Kew's pioneering consignment of Hevea brasiliensis to Malaya in H. N. Ridley's day. The maintenance in pure form of primi- tive strains of known provenance can also be of im- portance in the elucidation of the origins of cultivated plants: this, too, is conservation sensu latissimo. And then there is the matter of threatened eco-

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Page 1: Conservational significance of botanical gardens

104 Biological Conservation

inevitable that we cannot return to the world of yesteryear, and probably in the biosphere less and less will remain natural any more. Consequently, accepting perforce the unnatural, we should make the best of it with all the diligence at our command.

What may prove to be the first real step in the right direction on a global basis was recently taken at the UNESCO etc. 'Intergovernmental Conference of Experts on the Scientific Basis for Rational Use and Conservation of the Resources of the Biosphere', when the delegates of more than sixty nations and

observers from many leading international agencies (particularly IUCN) decided inter alia to ask the United Nations General Assembly to consider urgently the advisability of a Universal Declaration on the Protection and Betterment of the Human Environment (see Conferences and Meetings, later in this issue). Admittedly this is largely anthropocentric and not in the line of purist conservation; but with Man and Nature where they now are, it should still be possible to take care of the fundamental needs of both together. N.P.

EDITORIAL

Conservational Significance of Botanical Gardens

Of the many uses of botanical gardens and their ancillary research establishments, the conservational ones are surely among the most important--a t least potentially for the future as human population- pressures increase and, with them, disturbance and degradation of the biosphere. For even as zoological gardens are inter alia the repositories of disappearing and 'threatened' animal taxa, and may be their sole safeguard against extinction, so are botanical gardens and some other preserved tracts valuable refugia for the often no less dangerously (but commonly less 'vocally') threatened plants which it should be our active concern to preserve in the living state.

For such preservation, albeit in an artificial or anyway man-made environment, the important pre- requisites are (1) to recognize which taxa are seriously threatened with extinction, (2) to acquire sufficient knowledge of their habitat requirements and con- ditions for propagation to be able to satisfy these within the confines of a botanical garden or, if necessary, greenhouse, and (3) to bring these en- dangered plants into effective cultivation or anyway 'captivity' in good time. It is a happy circumstance that IUCN have now prevailed upon Dr Ronald Melville to work along some of these lines at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, England, and especially to prepare a Red Data Book of threatened plants.

By instructing potential cultivaters in the necessary 'arts', botanical gardens can moreover relieve the pres- sure on those wild species of plants which are threatened by being too much sought after by commercial collectors--or by local inhabitants on behalf of dealers--through engendering their cultivation in nurseries instead of decimation of the wild popula-

tions. For who among the admiring public will worry about whether his Edelweiss comes directly from an alpine peak provided it is really Leontopodium alpinum! And again in various regions the same principles should hold good for many attractive bulbous Mono- cotyledons and other plants that, alarmingly, are sought and collected for export by commercial enter- prises which themselves would surely do better in the long run through properly organized cultivation or, possibly, semi-cultivation. So the wild remnants could be left alone--soon, one would hope, to recover something like their former numbers.

In preserving special species and strains of known origin, generation after generation, in botanical gardens, it is important to keep them pure, avoid- ing any hybridization, etc. This may require special protective measures and is notably necessary for research purposes or when economic aspects are being furthered--for example by distribution to distant lands for cultivation for industrial or medicinal purposes. For besides their normal seed exchange of novelties and rarities, and perpetuating the desired plants under controlled conditions when necessary, botanical gardens can perform a valuable function by distributing suitable strains of economic plants, after adequate trials, to areas that are agroclimatically analogous. This effectively extends their function of sheltering threatened or other taxa, and was exempli- fied (without adequate trials) by Kew's pioneering consignment of Hevea brasiliensis to Malaya in H. N. Ridley's day. The maintenance in pure form of primi- tive strains of known provenance can also be of im- portance in the elucidation of the origins of cultivated plants: this, too, is conservation sensu latissimo.

And then there is the matter of threatened eco-

Page 2: Conservational significance of botanical gardens

Editorial 105

systems and biocoenoses, and the importance of their protection not only in strict nature reserves but also, so far as this can be done, in 'biological gardens' which combine plant with animal maintenance. When 1 first went to lbadan some years ago, to help with the planning and establishment of the University of lfe, we took over just such a garden which had been set up by enterprising elements of the old Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology. Extended at minimal cost by paths cut in the surrounding jungle, this quickly became the Biological Garden of the University of lfe, and was apt to attract many more visitors and engender far more interest than the nearby much larger and more costly, specially staffed and formal, University College Botanical Garden. In our shoe- string-operated Biological Garden we maintained the local biota in as little-disturbed and natural a state as possible, though we had special enclosures and even cages for special animals or sometimes plants when necessary. But these, too, were in natural settings, and widely appreciated as such; for inter alia they looked far healthier and happier than their counterparts in the local formal Zoological and Botanical Gardens. For obvious reasons we made it a rule to enclose exotic animals, and did our best to safeguard introduced plants--on one hand from the ravages of local

predators, human and otherwise, and, on tile other, against undue multiplication and spread. Eichhornia crassipes (Water-hyacinth) was a case in point, while the deadly Gabon Viper could obviously not be let loose, and nor could the hard-biting Baboons! Yet in all such work, and likewise in many other enterprises, the educational and other advantages of natural settings are immense, the beneficiaries ranging from small schoolchildren to venerable research biologists. To our way of thinking a biological garden should maintain--or where necessary engender--'natural" settings to the hilt of human-limited possibility. It should also maintain as wide as possible a range of local ecosystems and biocoenoses in reasonable proximity in a minimally-disturbed state, before such features become mere disappearing curiosities requir- ing extensive travel to observe.

Finally one might mention the case of special gene- banks, gene-pools, and plantations of important agricultural and horticultural strains, which are often best given homes in botanical gardens, and of possible 'mating-bureaux' for dioecious plants or other relics which become depleted of biotypes under protective monoculture conditions. For botanists, too, have their counterparts of Giant Pandas and Arabian Oryxes.

N.P.

The reception of the first issue of Biological Conservation has been extremely gratifying,

and messages from many parts of the world have indicated that the 'forum' which it

fosters is not only welcome but also widely important. Readers are therefore invited to

participate actively in this part of the Journal by submitting appropriate news items

and comments for editorial consideration, project reports and proposals for 'Conserva-

tion Around the World' being especially welcomed. As pressure on the space allowable

in the Journal is already considerable, such items should be as brief and concise as

possible, though suitable illustration is permissible. They should be terminated in the

style of the Journal with the name and designation of the author and sent either direct

to the address of the publishers, the Editor at 1249 Avusy, Geneva, Switzerland, or,

preferably, first to one of the Consulting Editors listed on the front cover.