The Plant Press

Abstracts from the speakers of the 21st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2024.

The 21^st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “Advancing Plant Conservation Through Horticulture,” was held on 17 May 2024. The invited speakers included botanists, horticulturalist, conservation biologists, and scientific curators. Below are the abstracts from the papers that were presented by the invited speakers.

Carlos Magdalena
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
“The many facets of botanical horticulture”

In this talk, Carlos will draw on his 20 years of experience in botanical horticulture and recount some highlights of his career. In doing so, it will become apparent that the term “botanical horticulture” encompasses far more than meets the eye. While plant cultivation in a botanic garden is at the core of most botanical horticulturists’ job description, the range of skills and activities involved in conservation surpasses this. To safeguard species in a holistic manner, the emphasis cannot and should not be solely on single species conservation, but also consider the wider context that the work is set in. This includes but is not limited to local flora, habitat restoration efforts and practices, and engagement with local partners. Carlos’ talk will challenge what you understand botanical horticulture to be and explore the interdisciplinary links in plant conservation.

Jennifer Cruse-Sanders
State Botanical Garden of Georgia
“From dwarf sumac, Rhus michauxii, to turkey beard, Xerophyllum asphodeloides (and other species in between): How conservation horticulture has helped to preserve imperiled species in the southeastern U.S.”

Globally, plant species diversity is fundamental for supporting ecosystem function, landscape resilience, and food security. And yet, plant species diversity is threatened with some of the highest rates of extinction in our world. It is imperative that conservation horticulture methods for propagation and restoration of species are not only developed widely, but are also shared generously to meet the pressing grand challenges we face. As one example, the southeastern U.S. is a global biodiversity hotspot, recognized as such for high rates of endemism and perceived threats to natural ecosystems. The state of Georgia, in the southeastern U.S., with some of the highest numbers of plant species diversity in the U.S., has more than 700 plant species that are imperiled and facing significant conservation challenges. Even more significant are diverse plants considered common species that are not tracked through conservation programs but are nearly disappearing before our eyes. This program will share highlights from our efforts to conserve rare species through horticultural interventions and our efforts to make common plants even more commonly available for essential conservation needs that anticipate a growing need in our communities.

Colin Khoury
San Diego Botanic Garden
“Distributions, conservation assessments, and conservation action for crop wild relatives”

Crop wild relatives - the wild progenitors and cousins of agricultural crops - are valuable genetic resources used by plant breeders to increase pest and disease resistance, stress tolerance, nutritional value, and other traits critical to productivity, quality, and sustainability. Many of these species are threatened in their natural habitats and are under-represented in seedbanks and other ex situ conservation repositories, limiting the portfolio of useful plant diversity that may be available to present and future generations. In this presentation, I detail efforts at local to global scales to better understand the distributions and conservation status of the wild relatives of important crops, and to take action to address conservation concerns.

Dustin Wolkis
National Tropical Botanical Garden
“Applied seed conservation biology to support seed banking”

Seed banking provides the most efficient means of ex situ plant conservation. Conventional seed banking practices involve desiccating seeds to low moisture contents and storing them at a specific temperature below freezing. However, not all species can be conserved by conventional seed banking methods. Although many species produce desiccation tolerant seeds, some cannot be dried and even some desiccation tolerant species are sensitive to long-term freezing stress. Besides problems with desiccation tolerance and short life spans in conventional storage, other challenges to the ex situ conservation of seeds include the inability to acquire seeds, and the failure of viable seeds to germinate. Collectively, species exhibiting one or more of these traits have been termed “exceptional.” The flora of the Hawaiian Islands harbors 90% vascular plant endemism, yet globally has experienced the highest number of contemporary plant extinctions. Using the Hawaiian flora as a model system this presentation will explore some of the mechanisms underlying species defined as exceptional and discuss methods in which to overcome obstacles to ex situ seed banking. The applied projects presented will be broadly relevant beyond seed science including species and land managers and to the field of conservation horticulture.

Abby Meyer
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
“Conservation horticulture capacity at botanic gardens”

Conservation horticulture refers to the skills and knowledge required to maintain plants of conservation concern in ex situ living collections. This is a fundamental and expanding area of expertise that is often and uniquely manifested through the work of botanic gardens. As we face major environmental and social crises around the world, the conservation and outreach work of botanic gardens is becoming more and more imperative. Specialists in conservation horticulture are more important than ever as the plant conservation community scales-up our collective efforts to halt species extinction. This presentation will describe the current state of conservation horticulture in botanic gardens globally and provide examples of how BGCI is working with partners to promote awareness of and capacity for this critical area of expertise.

 

Acknowledgments

The success of the Symposium was due to the significant time and efforts of the following people:

Symposium Organizing Committee: Amy Bolton, Eric Calhoun, Joy Columbus, Laurence Dorr, Rose Gulledge, Carl Johnson, Gary Krupnick, Susan Pell, Eric Schuettpelz, Warren Wagner, and Kenneth Wurdack

Symposium Support: Emir Ali, MaryAnn Apicelli, Tiara Boyd, Nancy Khan, and Sue Lutz

Symposium Sponsors: José Cuatrecasas Botanical Fund, Mellon Foundation, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Gardens, and United States Botanic Garden

Planting for the future: Conservation horticulture blossoms at symposium [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 27, No. 3, July 2024.

By Gary A. Krupnick

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) Department of Botany, the United States Botanic Garden (USBG), and the Smithsonian Gardens held the 21^st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “Advancing Plant Conservation Through Horticulture,” on May 17, 2024. The hybrid event brought together five engaging speakers who presented their research to both an in-person and a virtual audience from around the world. Scientists and horticulturalists from botanic gardens and conservation organizations spoke about how they maintain diverse and wild-collected ex situ plant collections, care for plants of concern in situ, provide plants for population augmentation and repopulation, and support conservation education and advocacy.

The symposium’s speakers participate in a panel discussion (from left): Abby Meyer, Dustin Wolkis, Colin Khoury, Jennifer Cruse-Sanders, and Carlos Magdalena. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

Eric Schuettpelz, NMNH Curator of Botany, welcomed the audience to the symposium. Rebecca Johnson, the CW Whitney Chief Scientist and Associate Director for Science at NMNH, highlighted the mission of the Smithsonian as well as the immense collections housed in the museum and especially the U.S. National Herbarium. She particularly gave praise to the work of digitizing all pressed specimens in the herbarium and the many benefits of having that data online. Susan Pell, USBG Executive Director, also provided opening remarks and gave an orientation to the USBG, including its history, a description of the living collections, their scientific research, and their scientific and conservation partnerships.

Rebecca Johnson, Associate Director for Science at NMNH (left), and Susan Pell, USBG Deputy Executive Director (right), deliver opening remarks welcoming everyone to the National Museum of Natural History. (photos by Ken Wurdack)

Save the date: 21st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium to be held on 17 May 2024

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 4, October 2023.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Department of Botany, the United States Botanic Garden, and Smithsonian Gardens will hold the 21^st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “Advancing Plant Conservation Through Horticulture,” on 17 May 2024. The focus of the Symposium will be on conservation horticulture, the application of the technical knowledge and practical expertise of growing plants (horticulture) for the advancement of plant conservation. Conservation horticulture is critical in our time of rapid global change if we are to ensure the survival of imperiled plant species. Botanic gardens and conservation organizations around the world maintain diverse and wild-collected ex situ plant collections, care for plants of conservation concern in situ, provide plants for population augmentation and repopulation, and supporting conservation education and advocacy. Many plants that are extinct or facing extinction in the wild persist in cultivation through such efforts. The 21^st Smithsonian Botanical Symposium will explore these topics and current research on the nexus of plant conservation and horticulture.

The Symposium will be a hybrid event, with invited speakers giving afternoon presentations for in-person and virtual guests in Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History, and a poster session and evening reception for in-person guests in the Conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden.

In addition, the 21^st José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany will be awarded at the Symposium to an international scholar who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. The award is named in honor of Dr. José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist who spent many years working in the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian and devoted his career to plant exploration and taxonomy in tropical South America.

Edward S. Ayensu (1935-2023)

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 3, July 2023.

Former Chair of the Department of Botany, Edward S. Ayensu, passed away on April 22, 2023. He was a distinguished scholar who dedicated his life to science and sustainable development. His contributions to the field of environmental science, biodiversity conservation, and photography are immeasurable.

Edward Ayensu at the National Museum of Natural History in 1975. (photo by Smithsonian Institution)

Ayensu joined the Smithsonian Institution as an Associate Curator of Botany in 1966 and became Chair of Botany in 1970. In 1978, the Smithsonian Office of Biological Conservation was established with Ayensu as Director. The responsibility of this office was to coordinate the various environmental conservation activities already in progress in the Institution and encourage a variety of new projects related to environmental conservation, especially within the area of staff interest. In 1978, Ayensu and Botanist Robert DeFilipps authored a Smithsonian Institution reference book entitled Endangered and Threatened Plants of the United States.

Pollinators take spotlight at the NAPPC 2022 Conference [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2023.

The 22^nd Annual International Conference of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) was held at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) on 18-20 October 2022. NAPPC's mission is to encourage the health of resident and migratory pollinating animals and the plants they service in North America. Co-hosted by Pollinator Partnership, the meeting brought together NAPPC partners in-person and virtually from throughout North America and beyond.

The NAPPC Conference included keynote speakers, member updates, research reports, and task force breakout sessions. Task Forces are cross-discipline, short-term, project-oriented groupings designed to accomplish specific tasks. Since 1997, the 170+ members of NAPPC have made advancements for pollinators, people, and the planet.

Thoughts, impressions, and observations at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (COP15), Montreal, 6-19 December 2022

From Plant Press, Vol. 26, No. 1, January 2023.

By W. John Kress

The Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal was held on 6-19 December 2022. I spent the first week physically in Montreal as an Observer at COP representing both the Earth BioGenome Project and the DSI Scientific Network, and the second week monitoring the conference virtually. Below are my notes and impression of the proceedings.

Report on first week

The contact group on digital sequence information (DSI). The group meet during the first week of COP15 in Montreal, Canada. (photo by W. John Kress)

These first days have been packed with plenaries, regional meetings, contact groups, friends of the co-chairs, summits, side events, focus groups, presentations, informal discussions, and outside protests. With over 1,800 participants representing 193 countries, the venue is bursting. It is clear that one thing is on everyone’s mind: biodiversity. The four goals of the CBD are the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of biodiversity, the equitable access and benefit sharing of biodiversity (especially genetic resources and digital sequence information), and the identification of adequate financial resources for implementation. Swirling around these four core goals are issues of climate change, protected areas, the global public good, capacity building, indigenous peoples and local communities, genetic resources, digital sequence information, business and finance, and on and on. Of course, everyone has an opinion and a position on each issue.

This first week is about information sharing, staking out positions, and building allies. Those of us who are “Observers” are primarily trying to provide the necessary information for the national delegates to make informed decisions when the hardcore negotiations take place next week. All options seem to be on the table right now with regards to many of the 20+ targets under consideration.

An expression of protest at the 15th Conference of the Parties in Montreal, Canada. (photo by W. John Kress)

I am here in Montreal representing “Academia and Research” as an Observer for the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), an international initiative aimed at generating genomic information for all species currently on Earth, about 1.8 million species. Most of my time is being spent in discussions on figuring out the best means to access genetic resources around the world, generate digital sequence information (DSI) from those samples, share the genomic data in an open and free system, and ensure that benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) flow back to the regions where those genetic resources originated. It is not clear at this point what the solution will be. From the scientific perspective, open access and multilateral regulation with free public data sharing is by far the best course of action. But many viewpoints prevail.

Hawaii Rare Plant Genetics Workshop advances conservation research [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 4, October 2022.

By Warren Wagner & Gary Krupnick

The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) co-hosted a Hawaii Rare Plant Genetics Workshop from October 2021 to March 2022, featuring 32 speakers over the course of 10 virtual sessions. From those recorded sessions, 19 presentations are now publicly available for viewing as a playlist on NMNH’s Natural History for Scientists’ YouTube channel.

The goals of the 10-day workshop were to better understand how the latest molecular research, especially in the field of genomics, can benefit the ongoing challenges in plant conservation in Hawaii, and to determine when and how to incorporate molecular techniques into species recovery and management. Discussions centered around identifying particular techniques and methods most appropriate for a variety of questions and challenges regularly faced by field biologists in preventing species extinctions. One outcome of the workshop is that the workshop organizers are developing a decision tree for when and how best to utilize molecular techniques in plant conservation practices in Hawaii, and are creating a prioritization scheme that will allow field biologists to prioritize resources in funding and carrying out the highest priority research.

The workshop was part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded collaborative project headed by Ann Sakai and Steve Weller (University of California, Irvine), Michael Moore (Oberlin College), Norm Wickett (Chicago Botanic Garden), and Warren Wagner (NMNH via National Tropical Botanical Garden) to capitalize on recent advances in molecular methods for the study of evolution and to allow for considerable enhanced detail of the evolution and conservation of Schiedea, one of the largest Hawaiian endemic lineages in the carnation family, Caryophyllaceae.

The central research goal of the funded proposal is to resolve the evolution of breeding systems in Schiedea, an extraordinarily diverse Hawaiian endemic lineage that serves as a natural laboratory of plant reproductive evolution, using a variety of field- and sequencing-based techniques. Schiedea is one of the most spectacularly diverse clades in any island plant group with respect to pollination and breeding systems, varying from insect to wind-pollinated species, hermaphroditic to dioecious breeding systems, and outcrossing to selfing mating systems.

Flowers of Schiedea have evolved a variety of ways to present nectar. Schiedea is the focal genus of an NSF-funded project employing a suite of high-throughput sequencing tools to better resolve the phylogeny and enhance understanding of trait evolution, especially related to breeding system diversity, which is among the highest exhibited in any island plant lineage. Schiedea has a unique nectary structure where each one has a shaft-like tubular extension that develops to varying extents. This nectary shaft is thin and translucent. Nectar fills the shaft and is extruded from the tip as a drop in species with elongate nectar shafts (A, S. lydgatei) or it forms in a pool on the surface of the sepal in species with recurved nectaries (B, S. verticillata). In the species likely bird pollinated the nectary is enlarged forming a nearly contiguous ring of nectariferous tissue. The abaxial margin of each nectary has a flap-like extension rather than a shaft. The black nectar produced in these species is usually copious and hexose-rich (C, S. obovata). Nectaries tend to be reduced in size in wind-pollinated species (D, S. adamantis). Figure reproduced from Wagner, et al. (2005). Images taken in the greenhouse of the University of California at Irvine; A, C, and D taken by Nobumitsu Kawakubo; B taken by W.L. Wagner.

Wings of Life: Pollinator Week 2022 [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

The week of 20-26 June 2022 was designated as Pollinator Week to mark a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator and plant populations. Pollinator Week events included plantings, seminars, and celebrations aimed at lifting up pollinators and the important conservation work being done on their behalf across the world. As a member of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) hosted a series of events to mark Pollinator Week.

On June 21, NMNH hosted a virtual discussion, “Reimagining Greenspace for Pollinators,” featuring NMNH conservation biologist Gary Krupnick, Thorne Rankin and Sally Shea (DC Natives), and Sara Via (University of Maryland Extension). During the program, participants learned how to reimagine backyards and urban spaces as working pollinator gardens that support biodiversity. The webinar has been archived and is available for viewing at https://naturalhistory.si.edu/education/after-hours/webinar-reimagining-greenspace-pollinators.

Mister G and Mrs G perform songs about pollinators and other animals during a Pollinator Celebration in Q?rius on June 23.

On June 23, NMNH partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to host a Pollinator Celebration. During the morning event, museum visitors celebrated pollinators and learned about how we are all connected to pollinators and plants. The celebration included interactive activities and a concert with Latin Grammy Award-winning musician MISTER G. Several learning stations at the event, including one hosted by Gary Krupnick, had giveaways for the visitors, such as flyers, booklets, bookmarks, and posters. The event was held in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center of NMNH.

As in year’s past, an educational pollinator poster was designed and distributed by the Pollinator Partnership and their partners (including federal agencies, non-profits, and for-profits), to promote Pollinator Week. The 2022 poster, “Wings of Life: Pollinating Butterflies and Moths,” is a celebration of fanciful, jewel-winged pollinators and the essential role they play in pollination, culture, and ecosystem services throughout North America. Butterflies and moths are found in almost every terrestrial ecosystem from deserts to tropical rainforests, and thousands of flowering plants have evolved to rely specifically on their pollination services. The beautiful artwork was drawn by Natalya Zahn, a Vermont-based illustrator and designer deeply inspired by science and nature. Krupnick served as a scientific advisor in the development of the poster.

Lost South American wildflower named “extinctus” rediscovered (but still endangered) [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

-Adapted from the Field Museum.

Scientific names get chosen for lots of reasons-- they can honor an important person, or hint at what an organism looks like or where it’s from. For a tropical wildflower first described by Smithsonian Botanist Laurence Skog and his colleague Lars Kvist in 2000, the scientific name “extinctus” was a warning. The orange wildflower had been found 15 years earlier in an Ecuadorian forest that had since been largely destroyed; Skog and Kvist suspected that by the time they named the species, it was already extinct (Syst. Bot. Monogr. 59: 1-118; 2000; https://doi.org/10.2307/25027883). But in a new paper in PhytoKeys (https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.194.79638), researchers report the first confirmed sightings of Gasteranthus extinctus in 40 years.

The bright orange flowers of the Ecuadorian cloud forest herb Gasteranthus extinctus, a species once long believed to have gone extinct. (photo by Riley Fortier)

“Extinctus was given its striking name in light of the extensive deforestation in western Ecuador,” says Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher at Chicago’s Field Museum and co-lead author of the paper. “But if you claim something's gone, then no one is really going to go out and look for it anymore. There are still a lot of important species that are still out there, even though overall, we're in this age of extinction.”

An exceptional symposium explores plants on the edge [Video]

From Plant Press, Vol. 25, No. 3, July 2022.

The 19^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, co-hosted by the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG), made a welcome return to the National Museum of Natural History’s (NMNH) Baird Auditorium on May 13, 2022, three years after the last time the event was held in person. The Symposium, “Life on the Edge: Exceptional Plants in Exceptional Places,” was a hybrid event, bringing together five engaging speakers to present their research to both in-person and virtual audiences from around the world. The invited speakers included scientists specializing in conservation, ecology, systematics, and genetics whose research explores plant adaptation and survival in extreme parts of the natural world. The speakers talked about their research on plants (and lichens) growing in exceptional environments, from the tepuis of the Guayana Shield and the steep cliffs of Hawaii to the South African Fynbos, the Mojave Desert, and even New York City. They spoke about natural history and evolution, and the challenges plants endure in the face of climate change and increasing pollution.

Susan Pell (far right) moderates a panel discussion with the symposium’s speakers: (from left) Fabián Michelangeli, Tanisha Williams, Jessica Allen, Jenna Ekwealor, and Ben Nyberg. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

Eric Schuettpelz, NMNH Chair of Botany, welcomed the audience to the symposium and Rebecca Johnson, NMNH Associate Director for Science and Chief Scientist, provided opening remarks. In her comments, Johnson talked about a project, “Life on a Sustainable Planet,” currently in development at NMNH, and she tied the project to the theme of the symposium. She described the new project as, “understanding, explaining, and amplifying the reach, relevance, and impact of the work here at the Smithsonian,” and the relevance to the tens of thousands of species 'on the edge'. Susan Pell, USBG Deputy Executive Director, also provided opening remarks and gave an orientation to the USBG, including a description of the living collections, current online and in-person programming, and their scientific and conservation partnerships.