{"id":677,"date":"2019-10-31T19:23:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T19:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carlosgarciarobledo.org\/UCONN\/?p=677"},"modified":"2019-10-31T19:24:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T19:24:01","slug":"w-john-kress-zingiberales-collection-smithsonian-is-now-at-the-university-of-connecticut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlosgarciarobledo.org\/UCONN\/index.php\/2019\/10\/31\/w-john-kress-zingiberales-collection-smithsonian-is-now-at-the-university-of-connecticut\/","title":{"rendered":"W. John Kress – Zingiberales Collection (Smithsonian) is now at the University of Connecticut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Original story published in EurekAlert!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2019 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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Over 200 species of rare ginger relatives were recently acquired and established into cultivation by staff at the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Biodiversity Education and Research Greenhouses aka The UConn Rainforest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some examples of Zingiberales at the\u00a0Biodiversity Education & Research Greenhouses<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This exceptional collection was made available to UConn by Dr. W. John Kress,<\/a> Distinguished Scientist and Curator Emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution, who has conducted “over forty years of tropical field research and plant collecting across the globe” and is one of the world’s foremost experts on this plant group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left to right: Carlos Garcia-Robledo, W. John Kress and Clint Morse at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center, Washington D.C. transporting the Zingiberales Collection to the Biodiversity Collection at the University of Connecticut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Carlos Garcia-Robledo,<\/a> former Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellow in Kress’ lab and currently an assistant professor at the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology – UConn initiated the contact between institutions to acquire this unique plant collection. Garcia-Robledo noted: “this is one of the most outstanding collection of living plants in the world. When John told me that he wanted to share his collection with UConn, I was ecstatic”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Clinton Morse, UConn’s Living Plant Collections Manager, orchestrated the acquisition of this collection over the summer months. “During my 25+ year tenure here at UConn I’ve had the good fortune to acquire a number of unique species from colleagues at the Smithsonian that helped to fill critical gaps in our collections. But the breadth of diversity and species rarity of this particular acquisition arguably make the UConn collection the most extensive living ginger collection outside of the tropics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clint Morse preparing specimens for their trip to U of Connecticut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The collection spans all 8 families of Zingiberales (a major order of charismatic plants that include bananas, gingers, cardamom, turmeric, birds of paradise and prayer plants) and includes over 2\/3 of all currently recognized genera, many of which are rarely seen in cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carlos Garcia-Robledo (left) and W. John Kress at the University of Connecticut. Now over 200 species of Zingiberales are part of our collection!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A number of the species acquired are presently new to science and \nwill be formally described, named and published in the near future by \nKress and students at UConn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collection serves as a foundation for investigations by a number\n of UConn researchers as well as a repository of living material \navailable to scientists at peer institutions. Garcia-Robledo notes “with\n the support of the National Science Foundation, National Geographic and\n Smithsonian, my research team uses Neotropical Zingiberales to \nunderstand the effects of global warming on biotic interactions. This \ncollection represents a unique opportunity to answer new questions at a \nglobal scale.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plant species are becoming extinct at an unprecedented rate. \nGarcia-Robledo notes “In the last two and a half centuries, more plant \nspecies became extinct than bird, mammal and amphibian species \ncombined”. The Zingiberales are also threatened by global environmental \nchange, Kress notes “As their native habitats are irrevocably degraded \nand altered it is imperative to keep them alive and available for \ncontinued research.”\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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