CSBR: Living Stocks: Securing a Living Collection of Rare Plants at the Montgomery Botanical Center Through the Installation of an Automatic Backup Generator System.

Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

CSBR: Living Stocks: Securing a Living Collections of Rare Plants at the Montgomery Botanical Center Through the Installation of an Automatic Backup Generator System. An award is made to the Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC) to install an automatic backup power system to secure its collections for community use. MBC living stock collections help advance scientific understanding in numerous fields in biology. The facility provides the most diverse and thoroughly documented collections of palms and cycads in the US, through its historic and ongoing plant exploration fieldwork, as well as its location in frost-free, subtropical South Florida. In addition, to their use in research and education, maintaining these collections reduces the need for field collecting, preventing the extirpation of species from their natural habitats. However, South Florida is prone to more frequent lightning and hurricane strikes and these hazards threaten the security of the collection. Loss of electrical power in Florida is highly correlated with lightning and wind, and such interruptions create dangerous conditions for tender seedlings in the greenhouse, and living stocks in cold storage. Thus, backup power for these facilities will ensure continued and increased service of this collection to researchers and to the public. MBC closely collaborates with local institutions, including some of the most diverse university communities in the US. MBC also fully leverages its living collection for education, training, broadened participation, and public understanding of science. This is accomplished through programs in service learning, paid fellowships, frequent student fieldtrips, high school internships, volunteer programs, guided tours, and frequent online and printed publications. This project will ensure continued security of the living collections for further research use. Recent improvements to MBC's living collections propagation and cryostorage environment have improved survivability, leading to greater diversity of the collection. This project will install an automatic backup generator system to ensure uninterrupted electrical power to the propagation and cyrostorage facilities. This will ensure that critical environmental systems (reverse osmosis water filtration, timed mist and irrigation, air circulation, environmental controls, and ultracold freezer systems) can function in the event of a short- to long-term power outage. This upgrade will ensure the long-term security of these living collections, and their future service to the NSF BIO-funded research community. Ensuring a stable environment for cryostorage and propagation facilities will also further increase the potential diversity of the living collections, helping to reach a broader pool of potential users. The outcomes of this project can be found on the Montgomery Botanical Center website (http://www.montgomerybotanical.org/Collection.htm).