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Quantifying Endangerment Value: a Promising Tool to Support Curation Decisions

ABSTRACT — 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.

Broadening Student Perceptions of Science through Participatory Data Collection & Research Education Partnerships: A Case Study in California’s Central Valley

We present results from the first year of a three-year extramurally funded project involving a partnership between an ethnically diverse urban high school and professional research botanists. The goals are to provide students exposure to real-world science, broaden interest in scientific fields of study, and increase floristic data and herbarium specimen collections in under-sampled areas of Solano County, California.

Clarifying the Conservation Status of Northern California Black Walnut (Juglans hindsii) Using Microsatellite Markers

The conservation status of the northern California black walnut (Juglans hindsii (Jeps.) Jeps. ex R. E. Sm.) has been a source of considerable confusion and controversy. Although not currently legally protected by either Federal or State Endangered Species Acts, this species is given conservation status by the California Native Plant Society and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and some California counties require mitigation for removal of individuals of this species, especially older trees. Despite the current widespread distribution in northern California and southern Oregon of trees that match J. hindsii morphologically, there are only three or four sites where the species is known to have occurred prior to extensive settlement of California by Europeans in the mid-19th century.

Future Directions for CNPS Rare Plant Program

As summarized in this issue of Fremontia, over the past four-and-ahalf decades the CNPS Rare Plant Program (RPP) has raised the bar nationally in rare plant conservation, and we celebrate these accomplishments. Moving forward, however, the RPP will be challenged to fulfill its mission amid the overwhelming pace and scale of threats to California’s native plants. We discuss some obstacles and opportunities that lie ahead, and outline several expanding roles and potential new directions for the program.

Story of Pallid Manzanita and the Maritime Chaparral Community: Status of Pallid Manzanita

The entire California Floristic Province is a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot and manzanita species are one of the best California examples of this exemplary diversity. Our wonderful Golden State is endowed with the most manzanita diversity of any geopolitical area, and Arctostaphylos is the largest genus in the Heath Family (Ericaceae) in North America. Nearly all currently recognized manzanita taxa occur in cismontane California (including Baja). Amazingly, 54 percent (59 taxa) of Californian manzanitas are considered rare according to the California Native Plant Society.

Recognizing a New Species of Silene (Caryophyllaceae) from California: A Splitter's Game?

Silene krantzii T.R. Stoughton is a new species endemic to higher elevation, alpine habitats in the San Bernadino Mountains, San Bernadino County, California. The new species appears to be abundant in locations where it has been observed, but is narrowly restricted in overall distribution, presumably due to the limited availability of suitable habitat.