We are losing the world plant cover at an increasingly worrying rate which is reducing the ecosystem this is mainly as a result of devastating human activities putting some plant species at risk of extinction. The reduced plant cover we are facing in the world to is hugely contributed by our ferocious activities such as over-harvesting and over-exploitation, use of exotic plant specious, land-use change, urbanization, environmental pollution and other activities that are not environmentally conscious. Plant plays an integral role in humans, they are the source of oxygen, food, medicine and home to millions of animal species, therefore, we need to develop reliable methods of conserving them particularly the endangered plant species . Given the importance of plants to humans and high risks of some species becoming extinct both public and private institutions have stepped up their conservation measures which have contributed to the emergence of many botanic conservation gardens, these gardens play a key role in the protection of endangered plant species, provide data for scientific research, promote awareness and also of human purposes. Plant botanic gardens have many roles besides protection of endangered plant species and for scientific studies to learn more keep reading the article.
One of the reasons for having plant botanical gardens is to increase the world plant species biodiversity in an attempt to counter the plant cover lose that is contributed by vicious human activities and climate change, today there are over 2500 botanical gardens with over 6 million accessions of living plant, this is equivalent to a quarter of the world plant species which contribute greatly to the conservation of endangered species and diversification of plant species.
Plant botanical gardens are at the heart of many branches of scientific research, this is because they provide a variety of species from which scientists can get valuable information by collecting data that can help them understand things such as phonological indications due to climate change, plant-animal interactions, plant physiology of variety of species many more data that can help them devise improved species or new farming tactics. Because of the variety of species plant botanic conservation have it make them a good location for many researchers to study plant functional characteristics such as trade-offs between species traits and plant performance.
The other important function of botanical gardens is to protect, maintain and support endangered plant species, this normally happens in ex situ conservation which means taking conservation of biological diversity from their natural habitat, furthermore, plant botanic conservation contribute to a great understanding of threatened plant species. Those are some major roles of plant botanic conservation gardens, however, they are also involved in spreading awareness to the public about threatened plant species and the importance of protecting the earth’s plant cover.