A recording of the webinar jointly hosted by the Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) Collections and Records Management group (BCARM), with speakers from the Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) and the Australian Seed Bank Partnership (ASBP) is now available.
Key takeaways and further information:
Bob Makinson gave an introduction to Myrtle Rust and talked about how Myrtle Rust kills, including its devastating impact on Native Guava (Rhodomyrtus psidioides). He talked through scenarios for different species, including management options, and the long term vision for identification and breeding of resistant genotypes. More info: Myrtle Rust information hub; and Extra slides with key facts, details of host species, and references
Amelia Martyn Yenson shared a new video on the collaborative action providing hope in the face of rapid decline and outlined key project activities to secure collections of Native Guava. Hear about collection of germplasm to preserve genetic variation, propagation of Native Guava collections, and planting of collections in botanic gardens of all scales. Peter Gould and the volunteers of Lismore Rainforest Botanic Garden walked us through their Native Guava collection. Zoe Knapp talked about the benefits of the project including hands-on experience for staff using digital technology, the ability to use living collections for research and education, and the importance of sharing information and using an agreed approach to establish collections. More info: Safe Custody for Native Guava
Bradley Desmond (Acting National Coordinator, Australian Seed Bank Partnership) outlined preliminary results of last year’s stocktake of Myrtaceae collections. The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens (CHABG) and BGANZ undertook the first country-wide stocktake of Myrtaceae insurance populations, with thanks to the 29 facilities and their staff who shared data. Many facilities are actively monitoring for Myrtle Rust, and respondents shared whether Myrtle Rust had been observed nearby (within 5km). Existing collections of wild sourced species include both whole plants (>13000 accessions) and seed (>8000 accessions). Many priority species identified in the National Action Plan are already established ex situ, with gaps identified to guide future collections. Stay tuned for the final report, via the CHABG website (chabg.org.au) and BGANZ (bganz.org.au).
We’d like to thank our partners for their generous support and commitment to the future of the Native Guava:
- NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE).
- Queensland Departments of Environment and Science and Agriculture and Fisheries.
- Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (ABGMA -Science Education & Conservation Division and the Horticulture Management Division).
- Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah.
- Australian National Botanic Gardens.
- Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden.
- Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens.
- Research Centre for Ecosystem Resilience, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.
This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government.