London, UK – The Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens), Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), and the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) are pleased to announce 14 grants to botanic gardens and arboreta in nine countries to collect and conserve plant diversity. The GGI-Gardens Awards Program supports activities to preserve Earth’s genomic biodiversity of plants through sampling of living collections maintained at botanic gardens around the world.
The awardees will collect genome-quality plant tissue samples from their living plant collections and preserve them in a network of publicly accessible biorepositories. Both dried and frozen samples will be preserved. Priority was given to awardees that can collect unique families and genera of vascular plants not yet represented in partner biorepositories.
“This is an exciting opportunity for botanic gardens and our partnership that comes at a critical time for biodiversity genomics.” Dr. Morgan Gostel, Director of GGI-Gardens added. “The collections that will result from this work will foster connections between the genomics community and botanic gardens in an important way and provide countless opportunities for collaboration at the cutting edge of conservation and research.”
“BGCI is thrilled to be able to support botanic gardens in their efforts to preserve and understand plant diversity,” said Dr. Paul Smith, Secretary General of BGCI. “We are grateful for the collaboration with GGI-Gardens and the United States Botanic Garden, which enables the success of this program.”
“This important collaboration will help ensure critical plant genomic information is preserved for future research,” said Saharah Moon Chapotin, Executive Director of USBG “As plants across the globe face continued threats like climate change and loss of habitat, finding new ways to preserve plant diversity is key.”
A review committee of individuals representing BGCI-US, GGI-Gardens, and USBG evaluated applications from institutions located in 19 countries on institutional capacity, collection scope and genomic novelty, best practices, policies and biodiversity standards, efficiency, and broader conservation impacts.
The 14 grants, totalling nearly USD 60,000, were made possible by GGI-Gardens and the USBG, and administered through BGCI’s Global Botanic Garden Fund. Grant recipients will carry out activities and finalise projects by the end of 2021. More information on the projects implemented through the GGI-Gardens Awards Program will be provided throughout the year ahead.
The recipients of the 2020/2021 GGI-Gardens Awards Program grants are:
| Institution (Alphabetical) |
Country |
| Atlanta Botanical Garden |
United States |
| Core Facility Botanical Garden, University of Vienna |
Austria |
| Desert Botanical Garden |
United States |
| Inala Jurassic Garden |
Australia |
| Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro |
Brazil |
| Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute |
India |
| Kunming Botanical Garden |
China |
| Montgomery Botanical Center |
United States |
| Northwestern University Ecological Park & Botanic Gardens (NUEBG) |
Philippines |
| Royal Botanic Garden |
Jordan |
| San Diego Botanic Garden |
United States |
| The Huntington |
United States |
| Tooro Botanical Gardens |
Uganda |
| Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences |
China |
For more information, visit the GGI-Gardens Awards Program website.
URL: https://www.bgci.org/news-events/14-botanic-gardens-awarded-grant-to-preserve-global-plant-biodiversity/
