The Morton Arboretum’s Oak Conservation Efforts in Latin America

Audrey Denvir, Silvia Alvarez Clare, and Murphy Westwood

Published May 2019 in International Oaks No. 30: 317–324

Abstract

The mission of the Global Tree Conservation Program at The Morton Arboretum is to save trees from extinction through global collaborations. In order to achieve this goal, five strategies are implemented: (1) identifying and prioritizing threatened species, (2) protecting threatened trees in the wild (in-situ conservation), (3) strengthening the conservation value of living collections (ex-situ conservation), (4) catalyzing the global network of experts, and (5) building capacity and awareness to advance tree conservation. The integrated in-situ and ex-situ research and conservation of the endangered oak, Quercus brandegeei, is a good example of one of our projects that employs all five of these strategies.

Keywords

integrated conservation, ex-situ conservation, in-situ conservation, Mexican oaks, threatened species

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