On this World Soil Day, it’s a great time to remember that the soil is incredibly important to plants for their survival and growth. It is the source of the water needed to photosynthesise carbohydrates and the nutrients needed to build cells for growth and reproduction. Soil composition affects both water and nutrient availability.…
When I read about the Bonn Challenge, I was excited by the scale of what it sets out to achieve – to restore 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 – AND by the way it seeks to do it – to restore landscapes’ ecological functionality and the well-being benefits they provide to…
Earlier this year a trip to the Scottish Isle of Arran to see its endemic Sorbus species led to an exciting discovery. We have 38 endemic Sorbus species, some would consider them microspecies, here in the British Isles. All but two of them were recently assessed, as part of the European Red List of…
‘The Red List of Acer: revised and extended’, published in September 2020 by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), gives the conservation status of all 158 maple or Acer species. Maples (scientific name Acer) are iconic trees. They are hugely popular as ornamentals in parks, gardens and open spaces, with varied shapes and attractive leaf…
It was spring 2017. I was in the middle of my master’s programme and was rapidly running out of time to find the perfect thesis research project. My ideas had ranged from the unrealistic—a canopy camera trapping project in Ecuador, to the extreme—abseiling down Saint Lucia’s Petit Piton mountain to investigate a threatened juniper…
Even giant trees begin their life as humble seeds. Seeds – perfectly adapted packages containing all the requirements to kick-start a plant’s journey in the world – can be fussy. Although many will simply spring to life days after being sown, others are not so cooperative. For some species, including the critically endangered Perrier’s…
The Red List of Dry Forest Trees of Madagascar reveals that more than half of the dry forest tree species in Madagascar are threatened with extinction. The dry forest, concentrated in the west and the south of the island, is one of Madagascar’s unique ecosystems and covers over 20% of the country. Exploitation and…
Australian eucalypts include an astounding 822 species across three Genera (Eucalytpus, Corymbia and Angophora). This includes 723 species of Eucalytpus spp., the third largest tree genus in the world! In a recent collaboration between The National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Threatened Species Recovery Hub, The Australian Government and Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand…
In the next instalment of our interview series we meet another dedicated conservationist working with GTC to save the world’s most threatened trees from extinction. Introducing Pablo Hoffmann and Elivelton Gurski. Pablo is a founding member and the Executive Director of Sociedade Chauá, a tree conservation NGO based in southern Brazil. Elivelton grew up next…
The Global Trees Campaign (GTC) was launched in 1999 to take action for the world’s most threatened tree species, following the publication of The World List of Threatened Trees (Oldfield, et al. 1998). Over the past 20 years, our ability to identify conservation priorities, as well as deliver targeted conservation action where it is…
Dalam seri seri wawancara berikutnya, kami bertemu dengan ahli konservasi yang berdedikasi yang bekerja dengan GTC untuk menyelamatkan pohon yang paling terancam di dunia dari kepunahan. Ibu Cici Viviani adalah Koordinator Program Herbarium dan Reboisasi di Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) di Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. Ibu Cici memimpin kontribusi OFI untuk proyek GTC ‘Securing the…
In the next installment of our interview series we meet another dedicated conservationist working with GTC to save the world’s most threatened trees from extinction. Introducing Ibu Cici Viviani, Coordinator of the Herbarium and Reforestation Program at Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Ibu Cici heads OFI’s contribution to the GTC project…