Curatorial Practices for Botanical Gardens

This breakthrough handbook for botanical garden and arboretum curators (and curators in training) has now been expanded and updated fifteen years after the last edition was published.

The new edition includes up-to-date information and methods for the preservation and conservation of plants and their use in both ex-situ and in-situ conservation programs, habitat restorations, and conservation research. There are expanded and updated sections on plant acquisitions and field collecting that conform to the Convention on Biological Diversity protocols. New technologies for documenting plant collections are described including reviews of the most common software programs to streamline this process. Recommendations for plant preservation – caring for collections – have been updated with expanded information on basic horticulture practice, sustainable techniques, special applications for conservation collections, and examples of preservation plans. There is an entirely new section on collections research and applications with several chapters on the latest conservation practices, technologies, and programs involving collections. All of the basic and essential information for collections management contained within the first edition, including specific recommendations and examples, has been expanded and updated with recommendations on new technologies and procedures to assist and guide curators in their critical roles as plant collection developers, managers, and programmers.

What is an important resource for public garden professionals and students has now become even more essential.

Acknowledgments

PART I: The Curatorial Program
1. Introduction: Museums, Public Gardens, and Collections
2. Governing Collections: Policies, Plans, and Manuals
3. Building Collections
4. Documenting Collections
5. Preserving Collections
6. Collections and Public Programs

PART II: Collections Research and Applications
7. Research in Museums and Botanical Gardens
8. Research and Curatorial Practice
9. Conservation
10. Ex Situ Collections
11. Species Recovery Programs and Ecological Restoration
12. New Plant Introduction Programs and Part II Epilogue

Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Bibliography
Index