BGCI Request for Tree Collection Data by 30 July 2019


The Morton Arboretum, in collaboration with Botanic Gardens Conservation International U.S., are conducting a global ex situ collections survey of six priority tree genera: Acer, Magnolia, Malus, Quercus, Tilia, and Ulmus. These genera encompass The Morton Arboretum’s six nationally accredited collections through the Plant Collections Network.
 
DATA REQUEST
We kindly request plant records information from all gardens, public and private, with permanent tree collections of any of the above genera. This includes information on the origin of each specimen or accession. A full export (all accession fields recorded) is welcome, however please include at least these priority fields.
 
Please send us any relevant plant records information as follows:
Data requested: report (Excel or CSV) of living accessions (see list of priority fields)

Target genera: Acer, Magnolia, Malus, Quercus, Tilia, Ulmus
*Please note, members of the Plant Collections Network’s Acer, Magnolia and Quercus Multi-site Collections DO NOT need to submit data for those particular genera.
Preferred deadline: July 30, 2019
Send to: gardensearch@bgci.org

PERMISSION TO USE DATA
All data will be managed and reported responsibly. Please note, by contributing data to this study, you are agreeing to BGCI’s Data Sharing Agreement, and acknowledge that data and results will be made broadly accessible as required by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). 
 
ABOUT THIS PROJECT
This project is made possible in part with funding from the IMLS Museums For America program grant MA-30-18-0273-18, and aims to help The Morton Arboretum and the public garden community achieve a diverse set of conservation goals with their living collections, including optimizing phylogenetic and evolutionary diversity, horticultural value, genetic diversity, ecological diversity, and conservation value. Our team is grateful for critical data contributions by public gardens around the world and the American Public Gardens Association’s Plant Collections Network Accredited AcerMagnolia, and Oak Multi-site Collections. This survey meets additional goals, as collections data will guide the development of AcerOak, and Magnolia Global Conservation Consortia supported by BGCI, as well as a thesis project undertaken in partial fulfillment of an MSc in Plant Diversity at the University of Reading, UK by Mr. Dan Crowley.