Re: your mail
Michael (IFMJC@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU)
Fri, 01 Oct 1993 08:48:58 -0700 (MST)
On Fri, 1 Oct 93 08:30:23 -0700 Bob Beer said:
>> Ah, but the big problem with division as a conservation measure is
>> that you loose the gene pool. As Barry pointed out earlier, plants
>> grown in cultivation will be artificially "selected" for genes that
>> allow the species to live in cultivation. So even propagating plants
>> by seed in cultivation can not protect the gene pool (unless the
>> plants are cultivated "outdoors" in a habitat similar to the one they
>> came from), and a good sample size is
> needed.
>
>
>I should have said "genetic diversity." In other words, there is one
>more clone around the area than there was before. So what is the point
>- the plants should be left there? Of course, dividing a plant spreads
>only one clone, but now there are more people with one more thing to
>fertilize their other S. oreophilas with.
>
Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that division was a "bad thing". It is
a perfectly good way to propagate plants, and by propagating and spreading
them, more people get 'em. That reduces the pressure to collect.
Unfortunately, from a conservation/ecological standpoint, a species is not
"saved" from extinction/depletion by cultivation -- unless very stringent
guidlines are followed (significant sample size, grown similar to habitat
etc...) and this would not be a fun way for most people to grow plants as a
hobby.
-Michael