The Center for Plant Conservation is a leader, bringing plant conservation practitioners together to share expertise and advancing the science-based best practices in plant conservation. In this capacity, the staff at CPC had a fruitful year built on the strength of the network.

Network-wide Collaboration Informs Plant Reintroduction

Led by Matthew A. Albrecht, an important CPC network-wide collaboration entitled, “Effects of life history and reproduction on recruitment time lags in reintroductions of rare plants” is slated for publication in the prestigious journal Conservation Biology. This study, which features unusually well‐monitored and long‐term (4 ‐ 28 years) reintroductions of 27 rare plant species by CPC participating institutions, shows that the time it takes for the next generation to emerge at a reintroduction site varies across the life history of the endangered plant. The expectation that a reintroduced population is only successful when the next generation appears means that evaluators may need to be patient, especially for long-lived species that are slow to reach reproductive maturity. We suggest that benchmarks of success in 1, 3 , 5 and 10 years after installation will differ across various plant life histories. This work highlights the good plant conservation that CPC participating institutions have done for decades. It is wonderful to see it showcased on this world-stage. See the manuscript.

Release of CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival – November

After years of collaborative work, drawing on the wide and varied expertise of the CPC network, the updated guidelines were finalized and electronically published in November. In the years since the last update, advances in research have led to an increased understanding of best practices in a variety of areas, from seed storage to reintroduction. CPC Vice President of Conservation and Science, Joyce Maschinski, led the effort to update and consolidate the practices into one comprehensive document, but the number of coauthors spans the network. Over the next year, CPC will print copies of the guidelines, make the tenants of the guidelines accessible in multi-media formats, and generally spread the word about the practices that help people save plants.