Ex situ Flora of China

The role of living collections-based research and discovery has been a prominent feature throughout the history of evolution and advance of botanical science: such research is the core and soul of the botanical gardens. Currently, there are c. 162 Chinese botanical gardens, harboring c. 20,000 species in China. As an example of initiatives to utilize the garden cultivated flora to address plant diversity conservation and germplasm discovery for sustainable agriculture and the bio-industries, the Ex situ Flora of China project aims to catalog and document this mega-diversity of plants that are cultivated in the Chinese botanical gardens. The concept of Ex situ Flora of China is a complete new formulation of species, based on garden cultivated individuals and populations, to obtain better morphological descriptions, provide multipurpose applicability and a fundamental data service that will support national bio-strategies and bioindustries. It emphasises integrative information, accurately collected from living collections across different Chinese botanical gardens, on biology, phenology, cultivation requirements and uses of plant resources, which are normally not available from traditional Floras based on herbarium specimens. The ex situ flora should provide better information coverage for taxonomy, biological and introduction and collection data and color photos of stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seed, as well as useful information of cultivation key points and main use of each plant. In general, the Ex situ Flora of China provides more useful information than the traditional Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae. The project of Ex situ Flora of China is planned to be one of the most important initiatives of the plant diversity research platform for sustainable economic and social development in China.

南方红豆杉迁地保护小种群动态的研究

南京中山植物园于20世纪50年代引种栽培了11株南方红豆杉〔Taxus chinensis(Pilg.)Rehd. var. mairei(Lemée et Lévl.)Cheng et L.K.Fu〕。45年后,在邻近的天然林中出现了含有400余个个体的自然种群。根据这一事实作者认为,如果整体生态条件具备,也就是在生物多样性和生境多样性都很丰富的自然生境中,迁地保护的小种群可以发展成较大种群,这将使迁地保护的作用与功能得到重大发展。从保护生物学原理出发,应认真关注迁地保护的生境条件。因此,迁地保护区的设计应予以改进,还应构建人工栽培园地与自然(野生)生境混合的区域,以创造自然种群发生的必要条件。

广东省植物园植物多样性迁地保护现状及发展建议

植物多样性迁地保护评价对于植物园制定更加科学的迁地保护策略和未来发展计划至关重要。本文基于数据调查和文献资料整理,研究了广东省植物园的地理空间分布及其植物多样性迁地保护现状和存在问题,旨在为制定华南国家植物园保护策略、广东省植物园体系布局乃至我国国家植物园建设提供参考依据。结果表明:(1)广东省植物园仅分布于南亚热带常绿阔叶林地带和北热带半常绿季雨林地带,与自然植被分布存在偏差;(2)广东省植物园至少迁地保育了15,026种高等植物,隶属329科3,030属,其中我国本土野生维管植物9,068种,占我国已知本土野生维管植物物种的23%;(3)系统发育分析表明,广东省植物园活植物收集对广东本土野生维管植物多样性具较高的覆盖率,分别占广东本土野生维管植物科的95%、属的80%、物种的58%;(4)受威胁和重点保护物种分析表明,广东省植物园保育了64%的广东本土受威胁维管植物、83%的广东省分布的国家重点保护野生维管植物;(5)资源植物分析表明,广东省植物园保育了72%的广东本土野生资源维管植物,涵盖目前通用的所有用途类别,各类资源保育率均超过69%。上述结果表明,广东省植物园为植物多样性迁地保护发挥了重要作用。建议广东省植物园体系未来建设中,(1)完善区域迁地保护网络体系建设;(2)构建国家活植物收集综合保藏体系;(3)建立关键物种“苗圃栽培-人工群落-异地种植”实验体系,实施整合保护研究计划,促进植物多样性保护、科学研究和可持续利用。