To conserve biodiversity, multiple approaches can be taken on the ground. This mini-symposium (Panel, Flash-talks & Posters) represents experts who focus on complementary aspects of conservation and reforestation; threat assessment, seed collecting and banking from wild trees, collective action and civic engagement, the roles of public gardens in conserving genetic resources, developing genetic resistance to pests to conserve biodiversity, and the importance of conserving genetic diversity in the face of pests and climate change.

Seed is the unit by which biodiversity is propagated, and therefore, protected. There is ever increasing pollination disruption with shifting local climate conditions and more fragmented and degraded native ecosystems. As forests and genetic diversity are lost, so are mother trees for seed collection, in a time when people want to greatly scale reforestation efforts. In addition to potential declines in seed crops, global trade, biodiversity loss, and fragmentation increase the threat of emergent insect and pathogen outbreaks, resulting in local or range-wide extinction of iconic tree species. Therefore, there is a global need for threat assessments, seed collection and banking of native tree species.

In the context of the above challenges and solutions, public gardens and arboreta are critical to the resilience of forests and society. In addition to acting as living collections, seed sources, and refugia of tree species, public gardens serve as biodiversity hotspots in cities, and meeting places for public and volunteer conservation efforts and outreach. As sentinels, trees in public gardens can be used to proactively detect emergent disease threats. Through collective action, exchange of information, public engagement, and local expert knowledge, “think global, act local” could be applied to aid proactive efforts to protect forest biodiversity from the next major pests across the world. Local experts and civic ecologists can accomplish this by collecting seed and observing trees in native environments, plantations, public gardens, and urban forests.

Breeding or human-directed genetic improvement presents a practical solution for restoration of species that are impacted by emergent pest epidemics, climate change, or other threats. The utility of breeding to protect biodiversity also depends on the prior establishments of seed banks and other germplasm resources. It is critical to generate a prior understanding of the diversity of populations of tree species valued for their ecological, horticultural, or economic and commercial characteristics, the observed or potential effects of threats to those populations, and the role diversity could play in recovery of species.

• Plant health research in South African botanical gardens: Current status and future directions
  Speaker: Felipe Balocchi
• Searching for Tolerance to Laurel Wilt Disease in Avocado Germplasm from Diverse Sources
  Speaker: Romina Gazis
• Community engagement to accelerate research and learning about the dieback of western redcedar
  Speaker: Joseph Hulbert
• Monitoring nucleated seed orchards and diagnostics for failure: improving propagation efforts for American beech
  Speaker: Tara Bal
• Genomics to the rescue: adaptive potential of keystone species provides crucial information for ecosystem service management under global change
  Speaker: Ilga Porth

• Quantifying Genetic Variation in Threatened Ash Species: Insights from Ex situ Collections
  Speaker: Melissa Lehrer
• Global Tree Assessment – identification of threats to the world’s trees
  Speaker: Malin Rivers

• The need for seeds: A call to increase global seed banking efforts
  Speaker: Jill Wagner
• Agroforestry: conserving tree species diversity while reducing insect pest threats to farming
  Speaker: Alice Muchugi, CIFOR-ICRAF
• Proactive Planning for Seed Needs in Reforestation: Challenges and Opportunities to Strengthen the Tree-Seed Supply Chain In the Western United States
  Speaker: Matthew Aghai
• Resilience of British woodland trees: Kew’s research on genetic resistance, local adaptation, diversity and seed banking
  Speaker: Richard Buggs
• Audience questions and panel discussions