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A plant nutrition strategy for ex-situ conservation based on “Ecological Similarity”

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Abstract

This paper reviewed a large scale conservation work of rare and endangered plants currently conducted in main botanical gardens in China, and the existed, predictable and neglected problems on plant growth and reproduction in ex-situ conservation process. Considered the status quo in plant ex conservation, a nutritional strategy on the plant conservation was proposed based on ‘Ecological Similarity’. Its main idea was that the ex-situ conservation plants coming from natural ecosystem were compulsively allocated in the agro-ecosystems and would return to natural ecosystem ultimately. Therefore, research on plant nutrition of the ex-situ conservation plants should neither just pursue yield and quality as that in agro-ecosystems nor merely stay on intrinsic natures without human intervening. We should give attentions to both of their attributes as in natural ecosystems and in agro-ecosystems, i.e., taking full advantage of plant nutritional measures as in agro-ecosystems to solve actual survival problems of the ex-conservation plants, and ensuring the final goal of returning to nature and playing its ecological role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China, 430074

    Kai-yuan Wan, Fang Chen, Yong Tao, Shu-sen Chen & Guo-shi Zhang

  2. The Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, 100049

    Kai-yuan Wan & Yong Tao

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  1. Kai-yuan Wan
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  2. Fang Chen
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  3. Yong Tao
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  4. Shu-sen Chen
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Correspondence to Fang Chen.

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Project Foundation: The work was supported by National Key Technology R & D Program, China (2008BADA4B08, 2007BAD87B09), and the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI-Hubei 200501).

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Wan, Ky., Chen, F., Tao, Y. et al. A plant nutrition strategy for ex-situ conservation based on “Ecological Similarity”. Journal of Forestry Research 19, 329–334 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-008-0060-1

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