http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/ Fairchild Conservation Blog Blog Content Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:04:15 GMT Tue, 15 May 2012 13:07:38 GMT http://www.illumanet.com/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/332/read/Dear-Hillary/ By Jennifer Possley We are one woman short for a few days, as Hillary takes it easy, recovering from a bout of stomach problems. This blog is for you, Hillary, to show you what you missed today! This morning, I went with Dr. Hong Liu to Huangjing Cave, to collect demographic data on orchids in more of Hong's study plots. We were accompanied by a Yachang Orchid Preserve ranger named Mr. Li, and an Institute of Botany student named Wuying Lin. This was my favorite study site, I think. They're all... Conservation Blog Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:04:15 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/332/read/Dear-Hillary/ Dear Hillary http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/330/read/Now-for-something-corny/ By Jennifer Possley Today I am blogging about corn. Corn is a big industry around Yachang Orchid Preserve. In our hikes to and from field sites, we spend at least half the time walking through corn fields. Corn is a cash crop in Leye County, thus it is the main source of income for many families. The interface between farmland and orchid preserve is not always clear; corn fields have a tendency to creep inwards from the preserve edge. Identifying those responsible for deforestation can be... Conservation Blog Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:05:53 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/330/read/Now-for-something-corny/ Now for something corny http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/329/read/Childrens-Day-in-Huaping/ By Hillary Burgess, Fairchild Living Collection Manager It has been raining since the middle of last night (monsoon might be the right word) and our sampling sites are too slick to access, so today is a day for data entry. It also happens to be Children's Day in Huaping. Schoolchildren get the day off and there are activities and programs for them. We were startled by an elaborate mid-day display of fireworks next to the Forestry Department headquarters where we are working. This slower day is... Conservation Blog Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:13:23 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/329/read/Childrens-Day-in-Huaping/ Children's Day in Huaping http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/328/read/Cliffhanging-Orchids-and-People/ By Hong Liu PhD. We shifted our gear to do a population census of selected orchids in Yachang yesterday. We recorded survival status and sizes of plants that I tagged two years ago. To find the randomly established census plots are trekking up and down some steep slopes and cliffs with the target orchid species. These data will allow me to assess the initial impacts of the once-in-one-hundred-year drought the region suffered earlier this year. Jennifer and Hillary have been a great help in this... Conservation Blog Mon, 31 May 2010 13:33:00 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/328/read/Cliffhanging-Orchids-and-People/ Cliffhanging Orchids and People http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/327/read/Its-Getting-Hot-in-Here/ This species of Eulophia is a saprophitic orchid--a plant that does not perform photosynthesis. Instead it relies completely on associated fungi for food. By Hillary Burgess and Jennifer Possley Today was our first day of field work. We worked with Dr. Hong Liu and two graduate students from Beijing Forestry University to set up a pilot climate chamber in Yachang Preserve. The day began with a trip to Leye to find PVC pipe. We wondered if it would be available in such a small and remote city,... Conservation Blog Sat, 29 May 2010 11:17:17 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/327/read/Its-Getting-Hot-in-Here/ It's Getting Hot in Here http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/325/read/Miami-plants-in-Yachang/ By Jennifer Possley Over the past few days, Hillary and I have been enjoying our hikes through Yachang Orchid Preserve. Ecologically, the preserve has much in common with Miami's natural areas. Both are at similar latitudes, and both are considered to be subtropical. In addition, both have a karst limestone substrate-- though the substrate in Yachang is definitely more dramatic! But because of these similarities, Miami and Yachang share many of the same plant genera and species. Scroll down to... Conservation Blog Sat, 29 May 2010 02:14:27 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/325/read/Miami-plants-in-Yachang/ Miami plants in Yachang http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/322/read/First-Days-in-Yachang/ By Hillary Burgess, Fairchild Living Collection Manager Karst hills surround Leye. After a couple of days in transit we've arrived in Leye, just outside of Yachang Orchid Preserve. We are staying here for a few days as we accompany Richard Stone of Science Magazine on a tour through the preserve. He is interested in writing an article about Yachang and is spending a few days exploring and learning about the orchids here, as well as the people and projects in place to protect them. As tag alongs,... Conservation Blog Wed, 26 May 2010 06:44:07 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/322/read/First-Days-in-Yachang/ First Days in Yachang http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/321/read/Behind-the-Scenes-at-Beijing-Botanical-Garden/ By Jennifer Possley, Field Biologist Today was our whirlwind tour of botanic gardens in Beijing. Dr. Yi-Bo Luo of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences kindly dedicated his entire Saturday to showing Hong, Hillary and myself around the 400-hectare Beijing Botanical Garden. To begin our tour, we met Dr. Luo at his office at the Chinese Academy of Science. He was our free pass for the day; when we walked across the street to the botanical garden, his presence enabled us to sail past... Conservation Blog Sun, 23 May 2010 02:18:39 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/321/read/Behind-the-Scenes-at-Beijing-Botanical-Garden/ Behind the Scenes at Beijing Botanical Garden http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/320/read/Arrival-in-Beijing/ By Hillary Burgess, Fairchild Living Collection Manager Dr. Hong Liu, her son Eugene, Jennifer Possley, and I arrived in Beijing yesterday evening. We are staying for a couple of days near Beijing University to facilitate meeting some of Hong's research collaborators prior to our departure to Guangxi and the Yachang Orchid Preserve. Today we ate lunch with Dr. Chen Zhang-Liang, the Vice Governor of Guangxi, Richard Stone, Asia - Pacific editor for Science Magazine, Senior Vice Dean... Conservation Blog Sat, 22 May 2010 00:46:22 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/320/read/Arrival-in-Beijing/ Arrival in Beijing http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/314/read/Eagle-Scout-project-removes-unwanted-invasive-plants/ By Evan Hacker (Boy Scout Troop #457) On Saturday, April 17th, 2010 my Eagle Scout project took place at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the University of Miami's Smathers Four Fillies Farm Preserve from 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m. Over 70 volunteers contributed 295 hours of their time to help remove non-native invasive species such as Oyster plant (Tradescantia spathacea) and Jacquinia (Bonellia macrocarpa). At one of the removal sites, "the island", we used handsaws and... Conservation Blog Wed, 05 May 2010 18:42:26 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/314/read/Eagle-Scout-project-removes-unwanted-invasive-plants/ Eagle Scout project removes unwanted invasive plants http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/285/read/Weed-removal-efforts-DO-pay-off/ If you have ever owned a garden, volunteered in one, or particpated in a volunteer work day, you may be an experienced weed-puller. As you yanked weed after weed, did you wonder whether the sweat, sore muscles, and dirty jeans were all for nought? Maybe you thought "This is impossible!!!" Well the Fairchild Conservation Team can attest that as long as the project area is retreated for several seasons, weed eradication IS possible, and native vegetation DOES recover. Persistence pays off. Our... Conservation Blog Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:03:11 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/285/read/Weed-removal-efforts-DO-pay-off/ Weed removal efforts DO pay off! http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/279/read/Fairchild-Researchers-Assist-in-the-Hunt-for-Monsters/ by Sam Wright On January 11th 2010, Fairchild biologists Lisa Krueger, Jennifer Possley, and myself assisted ECISMA (Everglades Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area) with surveys for the North African rock python (Python sebae). In contrast to its Burmese cousin that now number over 150,000 in the Everglades, the North African rock python is considered to be a more recent introduction, confined to a much smaller area in West Miami-Dade. Information gathered from the surveys will assist... Conservation Blog Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:24:38 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/279/read/Fairchild-Researchers-Assist-in-the-Hunt-for-Monsters/ Fairchild Researchers Assist in the Hunt for Monsters http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/275/read/Spreading-the-Word/ Six years ago I had come to St John's to give a department seminar at Memorial University about Fairchild's South Florida Conservation Program. Today, the number of graduate students doing conservation research is thriving at the university. For the second time I had a chance to teach a course to a cross-disciplinary group of students. Today I discussed three of our rare species and asked students to develop conservation recommendations under a constrained budget. They had a lively... Conservation Blog Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:23:21 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/275/read/Spreading-the-Word/ Spreading the Word http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/274/read/Serving-on-Graduate-Student-Committees/ As one of my roles as conservation ecologist at Fairchild, I serve on committees of graduate students in the Miami area and in other parts of the world. This service is really a two-way exchange, as I can learn a great deal from the students with whom I work and I hope they can learn something from my experience too. I've come to St. John's Canada, to serve on the dissertation committee of a doctoral student, who has been studying at Memorial University. (Nighttime temperatures are... Conservation Blog Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:18:36 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/274/read/Serving-on-Graduate-Student-Committees/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/273/read/The-Sea-is-Rising/ One of the serious growing threats to biodiversity of coastal species is sea level rise. Fortunately, many scientists are taking proactive measures to address this serious concern. Dr. Reed Noss of University of Central Florida and the Florida Institute for Conservation Science organized a cross-disciplinary Sea Level Rise Workshop from Jan 18-20, 2010 at Archbold Biological Station. I was invited to discuss the work Fairchild has done with the Key Tree Cactus in the Florida Keys. Joining me... Conservation Blog Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:35:49 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/273/read/The-Sea-is-Rising/ The Sea is Rising http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/241/read/Thinking-of-Fairchild/ Fairchild's South Florida Conservation team starred in today's presentation. They may not even realize it - that they are in my thoughts even when I'm not with them, but they definitely are. Their work exemplifies some great plant conservation, so I feature them frequently in my course lectures, case studies, and activities. I was able to show many of the tricks that the team uses to keep organized and to keep research relevant to our land manager partners. Jennifer... Conservation Blog Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:53:58 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/241/read/Thinking-of-Fairchild/ Thinking of Fairchild http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/240/read/Fairchilds-Experience-with-Reintroductions-Helps-Others/ One of the things I enjoy about teaching this Applied Plant Conservation Workshop is that the participants share the wealth of their experience with rare plant species and freely discuss their questions and issues with the class. Today I discussed in situ conservation - rare plant reintroductions. Twenty years ago this was a controversial practice and many attempted reintroductions were unsuccessful. But as the science and practice of reintroduction has grown, the success rate has... Conservation Blog Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:33:31 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/240/read/Fairchilds-Experience-with-Reintroductions-Helps-Others/ Fairchild’s Experience with Reintroductions Helps Others http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/239/read/Teaching-Plant-Conservation-Techniques/ I write these words from Berkeley California, where I've come to teach two modules of the week-long course in Applied Plant Conservation offered by the Center for Plant Conservation. Over the past few years, I've taught parts of this course in Phoenix, Hawaii and Denver. This time our venue is the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden. Some of the folks in the class work for federal agencies, including the Dept of Defense, the National Park Service, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. There are also... Conservation Blog Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:39:10 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/239/read/Teaching-Plant-Conservation-Techniques/ Teaching Plant Conservation Techniques http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/213/read/Reflection-and-Evaluation/ Many of the presentations asked, "How are we doing?" Several gave accounts of successes and lessons learned. Reflection and evaluation is part of what I've been doing in the past year regarding our rare plant reintroductions. It's what my presentation was about - a review of the reintroductions we have done, what factors have contributed to success, and how these relate to the possible need to move plants in the face of climate change. There is a nice synergy that... Conservation Blog Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:06:39 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/213/read/Reflection-and-Evaluation/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/212/read/Fairchild-Gets-Recognized/ Now in Perth for the Society of Ecological Restoration Meetings, I'm having a chance to re-connect with old & new conservation colleagues. There was a plenary session all day, which began with a welcome to country - a review of the conservation/ restoration arena in Australia. This was followed by a presentation by David Claudie, Kaanju Traditional Owner of the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation. He explained the structure of indigenous governance and land management on Kuuku... Conservation Blog Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:05:35 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/212/read/Fairchild-Gets-Recognized/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/211/read/Kangaroos/ Mira & I flew in late late on Friday night to Perth, then rented a car to drive south of here. Perth resembles San Diego a bit and the area south resembles the wine country - sort of - except there are huge forests of eucalyptus trees with parrots, parakeets and kangaroos. We went wandering south to see those big forests. We found ourselves outside of a town called Nannup. Since the sun would be setting soon, I decided to try to see if we could stay at some cottages near a river. The road wound... Conservation Blog Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:23:40 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/211/read/Kangaroos/ Kangaroos http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/210/read/Random-and-Surprising-Snippets-From-Talks/ I gave my oral presentation today about our introduction of crenulate leadplant to suitable habitat outside of its known historic range. The talk went well, but I was asked perhaps the most difficult question related to any plant introduction, "How will this plant affect other members of the community?" This is one of the biggest criticisms of any attempts to move plants for conservation - that we do not know how they will behave in novel habitats. The answer was that I... Conservation Blog Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:12:27 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/210/read/Random-and-Surprising-Snippets-From-Talks/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/209/read/Limitations-and-Connections/ Today I saw a thought-provoking talk about the efficacy of restoration projects. Margaret Palmer recounted that restoration projects have increased significantly in the last 20 yrs in the U.S. In her review of published studies, she examined whether stream restoration projects were actually improving biodiversity and found that in the majority of cases they had not. Similarly, wetland restoration projects had not improved biodiversity. This led Palmer to ask what was the problem with these... Conservation Blog Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:57:27 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/209/read/Limitations-and-Connections/ Limitations and Connections http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/208/read/Maintaining-Optimism/ There are times when it is difficult to maintain optimism in the conservation business. Today I spent the morning hearing many accounts of how climate change will shrink endangered habitats and expand the distribution of weedy species. The researchers focused on the accuracy of their models. Truly the models are only as good or accurate as the data that feeds them. It was interesting to see how pollen and fossil records have helped build accounts of past refugia during ice ages and it was a good... Conservation Blog Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:29:03 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/208/read/Maintaining-Optimism/ Maintaining Optimism http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/207/read/INTECOL-and-the-Role-of-Ecologists/ G'day from Brisbane! I've come here to attend and give an oral presentation at the 10th International Congress of Ecology or INTECOL. The theme of this conference is Ecology in a Changing Climate: Two hemispheres - One world. Hundreds of ecologists from 60 different countries are in attendance giving oral and poster presentations throughout the week. As the conference theme suggests, many of the presentations are about climate change, but there are also general ecology talks... Conservation Blog Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:32:39 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/207/read/INTECOL-and-the-Role-of-Ecologists/ INTECOL and the Role of Ecologists http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/194/read/Perspectives-on-Endangered-and-Invasive-Species/ At the Ecological Society of America Meeting, I spoke about our research on the Key Tree Cactus in a session about Climate Change and Plants. As climate change is a rising concern, there were many studies underway to test experimentally the impact of elevated carbon dioxide on plant growth. In contrast, our work on the Key Tree Cactus documented the decline of this species in the lower Florida Keys. Increased soil salinity was associated with plants that have died and with populations that have... Conservation Blog Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:31:04 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/194/read/Perspectives-on-Endangered-and-Invasive-Species/ Perspectives on Endangered and Invasive Species http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/188/read/Never-Give-Up/ It's been good to see several friends here at the Ecological Society of America Meeting. I was particularly surprised to see Yasemin, a Turkish woman, who attended a CPC workshop in which I taught about 3 years ago. She has just finished her doctorate and is here at the meetings to look out for grant and job opportunities. When she talks about her academic life and the state of plant conservation in Turkey, it is clear that conservation science is just beginning in the country. There are... Conservation Blog Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:27:02 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/188/read/Never-Give-Up/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/187/read/Assisted-Migration/ Great things about attending a scientific conference are the quick condensed information exchange and the conversations that ensue with colleagues. Often I can learn things very quickly in this context, as I may attend 20-25 oral presentations each day. It's a bit of a brain fry, but well worth it. From these presentations stimulating discussions arise. At lunch, I had an inspiring conversation with colleagues Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, Gordon Fox and Jessica Gurevich - all top notch... Conservation Blog Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:46:26 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/187/read/Assisted-Migration/ http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/186/read/Me-the-Ecological-Society-and-the-Holy-Ghost/ Albuquerque - The excitement is palpable as the Ecological Society of America meetings open. I'm looking forward to listening to stimulating talks and reconnecting with friends. While here, I took the opportunity to visit an old endangered species friend of mine, the Holy Ghost Ipomopsis. Believed to be a newly arisen species, this species is known from a single canyon in northern New Mexico. I tracked its population there for about 12 years, often with my daughter Mira in tow. I... Conservation Blog Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:44:29 GMT http://www.fairchildgarden.org/centerfortropicalplantconservation/Conservation-Blog/id/186/read/Me-the-Ecological-Society-and-the-Holy-Ghost/ Me, the Ecological Society and the Holy Ghost