Abstract Detail

Big Data and the Conservation of North America's Flora

Edwards, Fred [1], Owell, Peggy [2].

Connecting landscape scale ecological restoration with plant conservation.

Conserving North Americas Flora will require landscape scale restoration and vegetation management. Effective landscape scale restoration and vegetation management will require land managers to be strategic and more sophisticated about the native seed sources we select and use. Individual native plant species are the basic tools for restoring and managing ecosystems, but more often than not, we have very little information about individual life history, genetics, ecological interactions and distribution information of the common species we use for restoration. Current approaches to agronomic seed production will probably not restore population genetics and coevolved ecological relationships while “local is best” native seed sourcing may no longer be appropriate with changing climate. Developing the genetically appropriate seed sources we need for restoration requires botanists to understand and use data across scales ranging from molecular genetics and population genetics to ecoregions and climate data sets. The National Seed Strategy provides a framework for integrating science with land management and a useful example of how big data from multiple scales and sources needs to be integrated into seed source decision making for ecological restoration.

Related Links:
National Seed Strategy for Restoration and Rehabilitation

1 - U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1340 Financial Blvd, Reno, NV, 89502, USA
2 - U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW, Room 2134 LM, Washington , DC, 20240, USA

Keywords:
National Seed Strategy
BLM.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY5, Big Data and the Conservation of North America's Flora
Location: Sundance 5/Omni Hotel
Date: Wednesday, June 28th, 2017
Time: 11:15 AM
Number: SY5008
Abstract ID:462
Candidate for Awards:None