Format: ORAL

Emily Coffey 1, Jean Linsky 1 , Amy Byrne 2 , Silvia Alvarez Clare 2,5 , Vanessa Handley 3 , Dan Crowley 4,5

1 Atlanta Botanical Garden, 2 The Morton Arboretum, 3 Montgomery Botanical Center, 4 Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, UK, 5 Botanic Gardens Conservation International

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is leading a global initiative to create a cost-effective, botanic garden-driven system for conserving and managing plant diversity. This initiative involves forming consortia of experts knowledgeable in genera that pose conservation and management challenges. These consortia operate under a unified framework to meet the conservation needs of these endangered plant groups. A key strategy for the most threatened species includes establishing ex situ metacollections, networks of living collections across various locations, and managed as unified populations. These metacollections aim to conserve a broader range of genetic diversity, mitigate risk by distributing collections across multiple institutions, and lower maintenance costs. The Global Conservation Consortium (GCC) is at the forefront of promoting best practices for these metacollections through cross-sector collaborations. They have also developed new methodologies for conservation gap analysis to evaluate existing plant group collections, identify species at the highest risk, and prioritize conservation actions. The presentation will showcase case studies from the GCC on managing metacollections for Cycads, Magnolias, and Oaks. These studies will illustrate the value of data sharing amongst botanic gardens in the application of Conservation Gap Analysis, establishment of collaborative conservation orchards, and best practices for managing collections with a genetic focus. This talk will introduce the GCCs gap analysis tools, underscoring the potential for collaborative opportunities and inviting new partners to participate in the GCCs global conservation efforts.