BGCI’s Technical Review 2021: The susceptibility of botanic gardens, and their responses, to natural and man-made disasters

This technical review examines the nature, frequency, and impacts of natural and man-made disasters in botanic gardens over recent years. We reached out to Anne Ashby Damon at Jardín Etnobiológico de las Selvas del Soconusco (JESS), one of the case studies of the review, to learn about their progress.

“Despite the high winds and heavy damage that we suffered during the hurricane in 2017, we went on to be selected to represent Chiapas in the newly formed national Network of Ethnobiological Gardens, which has contributed to increased visibility and impact for our garden, on both local and national levels.

However, as has happened for just about everyone, the COVID-19 pandemic then once again set us back and in the short term we have been unable to receive visits, work with community groups, or offer workshops.”

What was the garden’s biggest win of 2021?

“The loss (and removal of most; some were left where they fell) of so many trees and the corrective pruning of the trees left standing but damaged, opened up many unplanned spaces and permitted us to use those spaces to diversify and increase the plant collections. Some of the fallen trees were exotic and repeated, and the storm effectively permitted us to remove them without guilt and without worrying about being the cause of the gaps while new trees grew! Fallen trees blocked or destroyed paths so we now have new ones. One of the destroyed paths we now consider as a respectful “tomb” for our fallen Vaitairea lundelli, Fabaceae (Zope negro). We are also planting that area with more showy species.

Those same clearings were also beneficial because we observed the appearance of pioneer species, mainly bird and bat dispersed species, but they may also have developed from latent seeds. Plants from the families Dioscoreaceae and Piperaceae were particularly evident, as were various species of lianas which are underrepresented in tropical Mexican plant collections. We purposefully left one fairly large area and several small ones completely without maintenance for a couple of years, to see what appeared. We now have evidence that natural recovery is definitely possible, and not just for common, weedy, resistant species. We now have in our garden previously unrepresented species with ethnobotanical significance such as Virola guatemalensis, Myristicaceae (Cacao volador) and Colubrina arborescens, Rhamnaceae (Coshte), including one considered as threatened, Sapium macrocarpum (chonte lechón). We had space to plant another tree registered in the NOM-ECOL-059-2010, Astronium graveolens, Anacardiaceae (Rón rón), which germinated and started growing in an unsuitable space and has been transplanted. This experience is something that we have documented and can teach, or share, with school children, farmers, and society in general.”

Can you give us a brief overview of the garden’s missions and goals going forward into 2022?

“We continue to increase plant collections and the representation of the vegetation of the coastal plain of the Soconusco region. This goes hand in hand with tracing historical and cultural interactions and occasionally finding reports of new, modern uses (although not always justified and nowadays those uses can be based on false or misunderstood information present on internet).

We are seeking to define a strategy for the sustainable management of the JESS with particular emphasis on water resources and possible solar panels. Development of the JESS began in 1993, and from the start erosion control was major necessity due to heavy seasonal rains. Control was partially achieved by incorporating terraces into the design of the garden and avoiding soil compaction. Last year, with the financial help of the Ethnobiological Garden Network, we bought a significant number of large stones and have literally filled the garden with terraces optimized by using analysis of contours. We hope that improving soil conservation will protect our trees. Other tactics to improve soil conservation have been the use of mulch, ground cover (using shade tolerant native species), periodic loosening of compacted soil, and replanting of the areas left devastated by the storm.”

The BGCI Technical Review mentions that the clearance of vegetation after the hurricane in 2017 brought opportunities to expand the living collections with a greater representation of local plant diversity, has this been achieved, and are there any updates on these plans?

• Collection of Dioscoraceae planted in large clay pots forming a new exhibition area.
• Recovery of the orchid collection using confiscated plants and a few from collecting trips (but there are now very few orchids left in ecosystem fragments of agroecosystems).
• In the areas we left to natural regeneration, several species new to the JESS have appeared but are yet to be identified.
• We have carried out a few collecting trips and plan to do more.
• This year we will be host to a taxonomist (postdoc. grant) who will contribute with collecting trips, identification and an illustrated catalogue of our plants. A major emphasis will be lianas.
• We also plan to professionalize the nursery and carry out formal experiments to study propagation techniques for a range of species and publish protocols and manuals.

Were you able to carry out the planned series of training workshops? If so, what was their impact?

“Due to the pandemic, and maybe a certain inertia common amongst our local government officials, we did not manage to attract the attention of the local government or the electricity commission to take part in the tree climbing and pruning workshop. Instead, our invited, expert arborist offered the workshop to our students. We will have to find better mechanisms to reach and convince sectors of the community who would benefit from understanding tree management for aesthetics, production, and security.”

What has been the impact of the restoration work in the garden on local residents?

“As such, our restoration work has probably not affected local residents. We did remove all dangerous branches, including any overhanging the neighbours’ houses or gardens. We have, however, acquired an extension to the garden of a further 1.5 hectares of land which is partially conserved except for the harvesting of a few large trees about 10 years ago. This will affect local residents because they will now not be able to enter this bit of land to collect wood for cooking etc. We plan to use this plot as a buffer zone around the managed area of the garden, and to study the process of seed dispersal and ecosystem regeneration with a Ph.D. student.
We have also made various videos, and offer the Diplomado de Horticultura para la Conservación de Plantas Nativas, wherein various subject relevant to disaster management are presented and discussed.”

What we have learned as a result of the disaster in 2017 will be forever present in our workshops, academic courses, community projects, and applied and further improved upon, within the JESS.

In the technical review, it is mentioned that developing an institutional disaster management plan was a priority for the garden – do you feel that there has been progress in the development of this over the past year?

“It is clear that it is extremely unlikely that our institution will ever contemplate a disaster management plan that includes the two botanical gardens (the other one is in Quintana Roo). In the event of an emergency the major problem is money freely and rapidly available to hire personal to deal quickly with damaged and fallen trees and to remove all the rubbish. For example, we lost most of our orchid collection because the orchids ended up underneath fallen trees and structures, in the dark and with excessive humidity (end of July – rainy season). It took far too long to recover them and many rotted. Apart from direct help form our institution, we also need a permanent and well justified relationship with local government which so far has evaded us, as unfortunately, local politicians are in office mostly for personal reasons and have no real interest in serving the community. We received a small amount generated by a colleague within our institution, and tools and another small amount from a local friend. The rest we paid for ourselves.

One may think of volunteers, but the magnitude of a disaster, and the potential dangers and complications suggest that this may not be the best idea.

Internally however, within the JESS, we will be saving seeds, compiling protocols for the germination and development of many of our native plants, and maintaining a data base including details of collection sites if we need to collect replacement specimens.

We need to improve the management of pathogens that attack damaged, stressed plants that then have to pass time in dark and humid conditions. We have, however, learned a considerable amount about the management of trees in these circumstances. We also plan to reinforce community links where we can exchange plants and ensure that rare and over exploited species are represented in various sites; the strategy also contemplates a community nursery.”

Regarding progress with the disaster management plan, is there any specific support you feel would be beneficial to progress with the plan? If so, what specific support would the garden need?

As mentioned above, ideally our institution should maintain a disaster relief fund and also local government would be motivated, even obliged to contribute. In both cases, we have to bear in mind that available budgets depend upon higher government and the national priorities of the moment, and we should consider participation in policy making commissions.

We need recommendations as to where to request donations for disaster management, for example some kind of crowd funding.

We would suggest international collaboration for the generation of a series of modules, combining tips and experiences relating to the management of plant collections in the event of fire, floods, hurricanes, war, atypical freezing temperatures, earthquakes etc.

A particularly important aspect would be the local storage of seeds and maybe the development of techniques for the storage of saplings and other young plants in a state of reversible, delayed development. And from there perhaps an international fund could be set up to help finance any necessary infrastructure.

Another aspect to be considered would be the identification of the major threats in each area, and the morphological and/or physical characteristics that the plants in question would need to survive them, and where necessary begin a program for each species to select for or generate resilience.

What has been the most important lesson learnt this year for the garden?

“For a garden such as ours, seeking to represent local plants (and also human culture and fauna), we realized that with interest, commitment, and the necessary knowledge of local conditions and local plants, living collections can be recovered, and can be done to a certain degree by facilitating natural regeneration processes.

Above all, we conclude that it is of vital importance to maintain a disaster fund to cover the immediate costs of paying personally, but this may depend upon national politics and priorities, which could be influenced by simply informing governments of the importance and vulnerability of our plant collections.”