Today we are losing plant diversity at an unprecedented rate leading to a concerning decrease in the ecosystem, this is mainly a result of destructive human activities. Humans are the primary contributors to the destruction of the ecosystem because of engaging in vicious activities without being honest with their environmental concerns, some of these destructive activities include but not limited to include urbanization, poor forestry practices, over-harvesting, land-use changes, global environmental changes and use of exotic species. 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 . To ensure survival and protection of endangered plant species, universities, research institutions, and private entities have turned on botanic gardens which plays a central role in protection and conservation of these plant species both for human and research purpose. There are a variety of reasons why plant botanic gardens have become popular today to learn more continue reading the article.
One thing is the benefits of botanical gardens to human, today there is an estimated 2500 plants botanical gardens in the world with more than 6 millions accessions of living plants which is about one-quarter of vascular plant species on earth, therefore, these plant botanical gardens plays a central role in ex-situ conservation and exploration of the global plant diversity.
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 vital role of plant botanic conservation is in the understanding of the threatened plant species, this is made possible by the huge presence of plant species in the botanic garden, botanic garden conservation contribute to the protection, maintenance, and support of threatened plant species mainly through ex-situ conservation which is mainly conservation of biological diversity from their natural habitat. Those are some of the main reasons why botanical gardens are emerging today, other important reasons include the desire to spread awareness to the public about threatened plant species and the importance of protecting the earth’s plant covers.