Assessment of the success of the introduction of rare and endangered plant species into the Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine

• Main Author: H.N. Sholl
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: NAS of Ukraine, M.M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden 2018-05-01
• Series: Інтродукція Рослин
• Subjects: introduction success; rare and endangered species; Right-Bank of Steppe Dnieper region
• Online Access: http://plantintroduction.org/index.php/pi/article/view/21

Objective – to evaluate the results of the introduction success and to determine perspectives of conservation of rare and endangered plant species in the culture in conditions of the Right-Bank of Steppe Dnieper region. Material and methods. Object of studies were 239 plants from the collection “Rare and Endangered Species of Plants” of Kryvyi Rih Botanical Garden of the NAS of Ukraine. Assessing the introduction success, plant survival was considered when transferred to culture; habit and the size of plants in culture, intensity of fruiting, seed productivity, nature and intensity of selfrenewal, population dynamics, passing of individual development phases, resistance to diseases and pests, life expectancy in the collection. Results. The scale for assessing of introduction resistance of rare and endangered plant species has been improved. The scale includes 8 criteria, each of which in turn is estimated by 1–3 points. According to introductory resistance, four groups of species are identified: highly resistant (131 species, or 54.8 %), mediumstable (55 species, or 23.0 %), weakly resistant (43 species, or 18.0 %) and unstable (10 species, or 4.2 %). Conclusions. The overwhelming majority of rare and endangered species of the collection (186 (77.8 %)) have high and medium introductory resistance, so their introduction for the purpose of protection and conservation in culture in botanical gardens in the conditions of the Right-Bank of Steppe Dnieper region is promising. For species, which exhibit low introductory resistance, when they are transferred into culture, appropriate growth conditions, that are close to natural ones, should be created.