Botanic gardens and plant pathogens: a risk-based approach at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Introduced and emerging plant diseases as a result of live plant movements are increasingly recognised as a global environmental and economic threat. This presents a fundamental challenge to botanic gardens and other ex situ plant conservation organisations: how to continue this important work while recognising and mitigating the plant health risks. The approach taken by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is presented as a case study, showing how we have reduced ecological and evolutionary opportunities for pests in ex situ conservation and are monitoring the success of these efforts. We have developed protocols in quarantine and horticultural practice, expanded visitor engagement and public education, and taken a precautionary approach towards plant distribution supported by in-house diagnostics and working closely with statutory authorities. We hope that by sharing activities as well as difficulties, botanic gardens can acknowledge and address the new biosecurity landscape

Prisoners as citizens, big society and the rehabilitation revolution : truly revolutionary?

Given the government's commitment to localism, social inclusion and transfer of power from politicians to communities embodied by the Big Society agenda, we question whether these principles have been adequately translated within 'Payments by Results' and the supposed 'Rehabilitation Revolution' Green Paper. Of all the communities in our diverse society, offenders should specifically be included to encourage them to become more responsible citizens and, therefore, participate fully in creating a more responsible society? However, accessing offender voices in the prison setting can often prove challenging, as will be discussed. The authors have been involved in using qualitative methodologies in evaluations of predominately voluntary sector arts and media projects with prison communities since 2005. With these data, this article explores opportunities for encouraging citizenship status in the prison community. Prisoners engaging with these projects report significant impacts of their engagement, including increases in their feelings of self worth, hope and belief in their own personal capacity to alter the way they behave

Scaling up from greenhouse resistance to fitness in the field for a host of an emerging forest disease.

Forest systems are increasingly threatened by emergent, exotic diseases, yet management strategies for forest trees may be hindered by long generation times and scant background knowledge. We tested whether nursery disease resistance and growth traits have predictive value for the conservation of Notholithocarpus densiflorus, the host most susceptible to sudden oak death. We established three experimental populations to assess nursery growth and resistance to Phytophthora ramorum, and correlations between nursery-derived breeding values with seedling survival in a field disease trial. Estimates of nursery traits' heritability were low to moderate, with lowest estimates for resistance traits. Within the field trial, survival likelihood was increased in larger seedlings and decreased with the development of disease symptoms. The seed-parent family wide likelihood of survival was likewise correlated with family predictors for size and resistance to disease in 2nd year laboratory assays, though not resistance in 1st year leaf assays. We identified traits and seedling families with increased survivorship in planted tanoaks, and a framework to further identify seed parents favored for restoration. The additive genetic variation and seedling disease dynamics we describe hold promise to refine current disease models and expand the understanding of evolutionary dynamics of emergent infectious diseases in highly susceptible hosts

Guest Essay Global hosts and global pathogens: a perspective

Plant species are assailed by a remarkable diversity of pathogens, and these and other pests pose a serious direct risk to collections in botanic gardens as well as a potential source of pathogen escape. The high diversity of species in gardens combined with low population numbers minimises the likelihood of disease spread of specialist pathogens, but importation of novel pathogens is a constant concern. In parallel with natural systems, there is little data on pathogen loads in botanic gardens, on what accession policies minimise these and if such loads are likely to differ by country of origin or plant life form. Nevertheless, commonsense measures such as prohibiting the importation of plants in soil, shifting to seed and in vitro propagation, and inspection and quarantine on receiving and transferring plants should be implemented.This edition of Sibbaldia explores a variety of directions for improving our ability to develop strategies for dealing not just with pathogen threats, but with a more rational approach to pests and to microbial interactions that are a natural part of a plant’s heritage

Isolation and Purification of Bacterial Species from Rhizosphere of Native Plant Ceanothus velutinus (Snowbrush)

Due to the ever-changing climate, plants face stressors that limit their growth. Therefore it is vital to find new ways to protect plants from biotic and abiotic stressors such as pathogen infection, drought, heavy metal poisoning, and salinity. With an increasing population, limiting the effects of stress on plant growth and development for agriculture is vital. One approach to this is focusing on beneficial plant-microbe interaction, such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). These bacteria are found in the rhizosphere- the soil that is attached to the roots of a plant. Various PGPRs share a symbiotic relationship with plants and help plants cope with stresses. The purpose of this study is to isolate rhizospheric bacteria off Ceanothus velutinus (snowbrush), a plant native to the Intermountain West region of North America. This plant thrives in dry and harsh conditions. The rhizosphere soil of the snowbrush plant was collected from the Tony Grove Region of Logan, Utah. Samples were diluted and cultured using the spread plate method. Unique colonies were isolated and purified by streak plate technique. The isolated colonies were tested for Gram staining, catalase activity, and morphological characteristics. Ten randomly selected bacterial species were sequenced for 16s rRNA and identified by BLAST against the 16s rRNA database at NCBI. Many of the isolated colonies belonged to the genus Streptomyces, which aids in nutrient absorption, antibiotic production, and antioxidant activity. Other identified bacterial species included Terrabacter spp., aiding in nutrient mineralization. We are working on isolating more bacteria species from the rhizosphere of snowbrush, identifying and validating their functions.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/fsrs2020/1097/thumbnail.jp

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Increasing the voluntary and community sector’s involvement in Integrated Offender Management(IOM)

As part of an undertaking to increase voluntary and community sector (VCS) involvement in service delivery, the Home Office set up an initiative to provide small grants to VCS organisations to work with IOM partnerships. The Home Office commissioned an evaluation of the initiative which aimed to: explore the strengths and weaknesses of the funding model; identify perceived barriers and facilitators to voluntary and community sector involvement in IOM; explore how the Home Office might best work with the VCS to encourage and support their capacity to work in partnership with statutory agencies; and identify any implications for the delivery of future similar projects

Process evaluation of Derbyshire Intensive Alternatives to Custody Pilot

The aim of this study was to critically assess the implementation and development of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody (IAC) pilot in Derbyshire. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Penal Policy paper (May 2007) outlined the government’s intention to develop higher intensity community orders as an alternative to short-term custody. The IAC Order was subsequently developed and piloted, first in Derbyshire and then in six other areas.* The pilots were centrally funded until March 2011

Investigating the prisoner finance gap across four prisons in the North East

Within the underpinning context of reducing re-offending of released prisoners, the Prisoner Finance Gap (PFG) has been identified as an issue that is likely to present a significant barrier to the effective resettlement of offenders. The Hallam Centre for Community Justice at Sheffield Hallam University was therefore commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions to conduct an investigation into the PFG within four prisons in the North East: Her Majesty’s Prison HMP Durham, HMP Acklington, Her Majesty’s Young Offenders Institution HMYOI Castington and HMP Low Newton. The research was conducted between April 2009 and May 2010 and included a literature review, semi-structured interviews with strategic and policy stakeholders, staff from prison, probation, voluntary sector agencies and Jobcentre Plus, 51 prisoners and 21 ex-prisoners, and an online survey