Autumn Buttercup reintroduction project.
Plant conservation professionals aim to help rare plants avoid extinction. One available method of conservation is rare plant reintroduction or translocation; this is the process of establishing new populations in new locations.
Many gardens such as the Arboretum have engaged in such efforts for species at risk. In particular, we have had reintroduction projects with the Autumn Buttercup (Ranunculus aestivalis) and the Arizona Cliffrose (Purshia subintegra) where we grew new individual plants to re-establish into sites where they previously have been found.
Translocations are challenging and are not guaranteed to be successful, there are so many factors that have to be considered. The habitat must be similar enough to the original population to support them, additional water must be supplied especially during times of drought, and many more factors can sway whether a project is successful or not. All of these different translocation studies have been documented through our national network, the Center for Plant Conservation, but up until now have not been quantitatively compared to document what is most important for a successful reintroduction.
Joe Bellis, a researcher from CPC has just published an article in the Journal of Applied Ecology using the CPC reintroduction data set of 235 translocations.
Arizona Cliffrose reintroduction project.
Previous studies and reviews of translocation success used qualitative feedback rather
than quantitative environmental data. That is, before this study researchers only had qualitative or descriptive, non-measurable, subjective metrics of success. Now we can show quantitative, or numerical, countable, and measurable data that can support these previous perceptions of success. Basically we now have more hard evidence of what contributes the most to translocation success. It turns out that the strongest predictor of a successful translocation is how closely the new site’s climate matches the original population site’s climate. This would be considered macroclimate suitability. Local conditions of soil, water, exposure etc, or microclimate suitability, also play a large role in predicting success.
How to cite this article: Bellis, J., Albrecht, M. A., Maschinski, J., Dalrymple, S. E., Keir, M. J., Chambers, T., Possley, J., Adkins, E. D., Parsons, E. W., Kunz, M., Radcliffe, C., Coffey, E., Kaye, T. N., Peterson, C. L., David, A. S., Herron, S. A., Menges, E. S., Bell, T., Coppoletta, M., … Heineman, K. D. (2025). The relative influence of geographic and environmental factors on rare plant translocation outcomes. Journal of Applied Ecology, 00, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14855
Sheila C. Murray is Conservation Botanist at The Arboretum at Flagstaff.
