Abstract
The conservation and recovery of rare and threatened plant species is often challenging due to the small number of propagules, plants, and populations available. Because translocation can be a complex and expensive undertaking that requires long-term commitment, practitioners around the world are still investigating the practical approaches and strategies to increase the efficacy of this conservation tool. Worldwide reviews indicate that very few translocation attempts have resulted in evidentially documented recruiting populations; however, this finding is likely to have arisen from a combination of interacting factors, including the need for species to have sufficient time and supportive environments to mature and reproduce successfully. Over the past 30 plus years, several lessons have come to light during our work in this field: select a suitable recipient site; use a large number of genetically diverse founders; promote germination and survival; provide aftercare; monitor over a long enough period to document survival and population establishment; use appropriate benchmarks to measure success; monitor plants for disease and take action to prevent disease; know that establishing a rare plant population via conservation translocation is a long-term process; conduct your translocation as an experiment and publish your results so that we can grow the science and learn from one another; and engage policymakers, practitioners, and the public in your work. We provide case studies to illustrate these lessons.
Banksia brownie Case Study: David Coates (3); Key Tree Cactus Case Study: Jennifer Possley (7); Mountain Arnica Case Study: Joyce Maschinski (1); Spiral fruited wattle Case Study: Leonie Monks (3); Seed Orchards Case Study: Rebecca Dillon (5); Long’s braya Case Study: Luise Hermanutz (9).
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Maschinski, J. et al. (2023). Rare and Threatened Plant Conservation Translocations: Lessons Learned and Future Directions. In: Florentine, S., Gibson-Roy, P., Dixon, K.W., Broadhurst, L. (eds) Ecological Restoration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25412-3_8
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