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Botanic Gardens as Communicators of Plant Diversity and Conservation

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Abstract

This paper presents a unique survey on the role of botanic gardens as educational institutions that communicate plant diversity and conservation. An online survey was created to evaluate the present strategies developed by botanic gardens from all over the world to their visiting public. Dependent on their resources, either human, financial or both, all of them look for the accomplishment of Global Strategy for Plant Conservation’ target 14, promoting education on plants and awareness on human impacts in plant diversity loss. However, an educational group/department is more common in botanic gardens owned by the central government compared to the private, non-profit botanic gardens. The diversity of activities on plant diversity and conservation is influenced by the size and the number of staff in the garden. Only half of the surveyed botanic gardens have rooms exclusively assigned for educational activities and even less have garden spots for the same purpose. Online resources are particularly restricted to North America and Oceania botanic gardens. Although climate change is a brand new subject that could attract public to the garden, the most part of the gardens address biodiversity and plant identification as major themes of communication. Besides species label information and interpretation panels, self-guided visits, guided visits or activities/workshops are the common offers for public attraction. School visitors are still less than half of the total visitors and cover children from 6 to 13 years-old. These follow more guided visits and activities while general public choose self-guided visits.

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Abbreviations

BGCI:

Botanic Gardens Conservation International

CBD:

Convention on Biological Diversity

GSPC:

Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

GPPC:

Global Partnership for Plant Conservation

IUCN:

International Union of World Conservation Union (previously called the International Union for Conservation of Nature)

UN:

United Nations

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AcknowledgEments

Gisela Gaio-Oliveira acknowledges support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/65886/2009).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botanic Garden from the National Museum of Natural History and Science, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Gisela Gaio-Oliveira & Maria Amélia Martins-Loução

  2. Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande C2. Piso 5, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Gisela Gaio-Oliveira & Maria Amélia Martins-Loução

  3. Ciência Viva – Agência Nacional para a Cultura Científica e Tecnológica, Lisbon, Portugal

    Gisela Gaio-Oliveira

  4. Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa - Laboratório Associado, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana Delicado

Authors
  1. Gisela Gaio-Oliveira
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  2. Ana Delicado
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  3. Maria Amélia Martins-Loução
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Amélia Martins-Loução.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

List of the selected questions used in this manuscript:

Botanic Garden Details

Name of the botanic garden

Year of foundation

What is the botanic garden status?

Private

Private non-profit

Central government

Local government

University

How many people were working in the botanic garden in 2009?

Does the botanic garden have volunteers?

Yes

No

If you replied “yes” to the previous question, how many volunteers collaborated with the botanic garden in 2009?

Botanic Garden General Features

What is the approximate size of the botanic garden’s main features?

Total botanic garden

Class (if applied)

Arboretum (if applied)

Exhibition greenhouse(s) (if applied)

Research greenhouse(s) (if applied)

Nursery (if applied)

What is the total number of plant species present in the botanic garden?

Are all the plant species accessible to the public?

Yes

No

If not, which is the percentage of plant species not accessible to the public?

Is it possible to find throughout the botanic garden any placards/boards with educational information, other than taxonomic data?

Yes

No

Botanic Garden Educational Features

Does the botanic garden have an educational group/department?

Yes

No

If you replied “yes” to the previous question, how many people were working at the educational group/department in 2009 (excluding volunteers)?

Does the botanic garden have rooms exclusively assigned for educational activities?

Yes

No

Does the botanic garden possess any garden spots exclusively assigned for hands-on activities?

Yes

No

To which types of public are the hands-on garden spots reserved? (if applied)?

Kindergarden/Pre-primary (ISCED 0)

Elementary school (ISCED 1) (1–6 years of schooling)

Basic education (ISCED 2) (7–9 years of schooling)

Secondary education (ISCED 3) (10–12 years of schooling)

Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4)

Tertiary/higher education (ISCED 5 and 6)

General public

Senior public (over 65 years-old)

Does the botanic garden make available to the public hard copies/printed educational material?

Yes

No

Does the botanic garden make available to the public online educational material?

Yes

No

Botanic Garden Educational Activities

What was the total number of visitors of the botanic garden in 2009:

School visitors

General public

Considering the number of school visitors in 2009, how many performed:

Self-guided visits

Guided/exploration tours by garden personnel

Workshops

Considering the number of school visitors performing guided/exploration tours in 2009, how were they distributed by educational levels?

Kindergarden/Pre-primary (ISCED 0)

Elementary school (ISCED 1) (1–6 years of schooling)

Basic education (ISCED 2) (7–9 years of schooling)

Secondary education (ISCED 3) (10–12 years of schooling)

Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4)

Tertiary/higher education (ISCED 5 and 6)

Considering the number of school visitors performing workshops in 2009, how were they distributed by educational levels?

Kindergarden/Pre-primary (ISCED 0)

Elementary school (ISCED 1) (1–6 years of schooling)

Basic education (ISCED 2) (7–9 years of schooling)

Secondary education (ISCED 3) (10–12 years of schooling)

Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4)

Tertiary/higher education (ISCED 5 and 6)

Which discussion themes were made available to students during visits/activities offered by the botanic garden in 2009?

Biodiversity

Climate change

Pollution

Organic farming

Ethnobotany

Recycling

Endangered species

Plant identification

Others

Considering the general public that visited the garden in 2009, how many performed:

Self-guided visits

Guided/exploration tours by garden personnel

Workshops

Which discussion themes were made available to the general public during visits/activities offered by the botanic garden in 2009?

Biodiversity

Climate change

Pollution

Organic farming

Ethnobotany

Recycling

Endangered species

Others

Did the botanic garden organise any conferences during 2009?

Yes

No

If you replied “yes” to the previous question, which was the target audience of the conferences?

Kindergarden/Pre-primary (ISCED 0)

Elementary school (ISCED 1) (1–6 years of schooling)

Basic education (ISCED 2) (7–9 years of schooling)

Secondary education (ISCED 3) (10–12 years of schooling)

Post-secondary non tertiary education (ISCED 4)

Tertiary/higher education (ISCED 5 and 6)

General public

Which themes were discussed in the conferences? (if applied)

Biodiversity

Climate change

Pollution

Organic farming

Ethnobotany

Recycling

Endangered species

Others

Did the botanic garden perform any complementary/further education courses in 2009?

Yes

No

If you replied “yes” to the previous question, which was the target audience of the courses?

General public

Teachers/educators

Politicians

Decision makers

Journalists

Others

Which themes were discussed during the courses? (if applied)

Biodiversity

Climate change

Pollution

Organic farming

Ethnobotany

Recycling

Endangered species

Others

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Gaio-Oliveira, G., Delicado, A. & Martins-Loução, M.A. Botanic Gardens as Communicators of Plant Diversity and Conservation. Bot. Rev. 83, 282–302 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-017-9186-1

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