Conservation Botany at FWBG|BRIT
Of the 5000+ species of native plants in Texas 400+ are considered vulnerable or imperiled.
As the resident Conservation Research Botanist at FWBG|BRIT, I helped develop a comprehensive research program to address the future of native plant communities in Texas. Our main objectives included:
Protect: Safeguard Texas’s plant diversity through seed banking and genetic resources
Predict: Measure and model threats to Texas’s native plant communities
Conserve: Develop strategic collaborations to conserve critical plant communities in Texas
Restore: Identify potential restoration work and community engagement opportunities
In collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, US Fish and Wildlife Services, and several conservation and research organizations across the state, we developed several basic and applied research lines to address these pressing issues in our rapidly urbanizing state.
Images from a plant salvage expedition to transplant milkweed from a prairie remnant that was scheduled for development near Flowermound, TX:
