Botanical Gardens and How They Help The Environment

Wondering how you can preserve the flora and fauna of the world? While planting trees definitely helps, governments across the world are looking at other solutions – like building botanical gardens – to help preserve nature.

What is a Botanical Garden?

A botanical garden is also known as a botanic garden. This is a place where plants are kept specifically for scientific research. The plants come with information which is maintained in a database showing when and where each plant was acquired.

The plants are labelled according to nomenclature and any change noticed is recorded. The base color of the plants is white while those labelled red means that they are threatened. Players like Agron can help organizations know which plants to pick or how to ensure plants are grown correctly.

Each label contains vital information such as:

• The code of the year the plant was acquired.

• Nomenclature. This includes the scientific family name and the species name.

• The country from which the plant originates.

• The collector's number.

A botanical garden holds different types of plants according to variety and their origin. Some gardens take the form of a greenhouse or a park depending on the varieties.

The first botanical garden was started in Italy in the 16th and 17th century in the University of Pisa. Luca Ghini, the first creator of this physics garden used them purely for medicinal studies.

The emergence of the conservation movements which have emerged during the last three decades has led to an increase in botanical gardens. Currently, there are 1,775 botanical gardens and arboreta in 148 countries. Once the Oman garden located in Muscat is completed it will be the biggest botanic garden in the world.

How Do Botanic Gardens Help Conserve the Environment?

Botanical gardens have proven to be the best hope for saving endangered species. Ex-situ conservation has proven to be the best method used to save endangered plants.

Ex-situ conservation is a technique of all levels of biological diversity. This means taking plants or animals which are considered to be a threatened species and removing them from the threatened habitat. They are then placed in a new location or habitat which might be a wild area or under the care of human beings.

A study found that botanical gardens help to protect about 40% of endangered species. One out of five plants which are about to become extinct have been conserved in botanic gardens.

The botanical garden in Malaysia is one of the world's hotspots in dealing with threatened flora. The area is covered by 92 hectares making it one of the biggest botanic gardens.

Currently, this garden holds over 700 species of flowering local plants and those from other parts of the world. The research center aims to advocate the growth of plants for human benefits.

How Botanical Gardens Can Help Preserve Nature

Botanic gardens are also taking action on how they are responding to climate change. They are responding in various ways: modified planting schemes, climate change research, public education and reducing carbon emissions.

Climate change has proven to be the worst enemy for some plants. This has led to some specific plant species migrating.

Scientists have decided to help in plants migration. The plants are internationally transferred to areas where climate change is occurring at a slower rate. However, assisted migration has also had its better share of challenges. There have been problems raised in terms of judicial, ecological, ethical and economical challenges.

The Missouri Botanical Garden in Madagascar is attempting to restore the surrounding ecosystem. This involves reducing pressure in areas where there is degradation. This means selecting new seedlings from onsite nurseries and planting them in specific areas. Pioneer trees are used to provide the perfect environment for the germination of other species.

Botanic gardens have been used to address environmental issues. Scientists are pushing to bring back a balanced ecosystem. Global warming has taken root in the world and is leading to the extinction of both animals and plants.

Knowledge gained from these botanical gardens is useful in various areas: horticulture, plant taxonomy, ethnobotany, biodiversity and conservation biology. Restoring a balanced ecosystem is the global aim of many scientists and biologists.

Current botanical projects are already in progress to save extinction of plants and restoring a balanced ecosystem. The Rio De Janeiro Botanic garden is one of the global hotspots in the world. The aim of the garden is to restore the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. They are restoring forests with various species of trees, bushes, lianas, herbs and epiphytes. The main aim of botanical gardens is to ensure plant conservation and education. They are truly taking steps to protect biodiversity and the ecosystem.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes