Sophia Shaw – Page 2 – My Chicago Botanic Garden

Growing the Garden

Increasing attendance at the Chicago Botanic Garden and sister institutions around the country supports my conviction that public gardens are more relevant than ever to peoples’ lives. Our living museums are uniquely positioned to meet the pressing challenges of our time—climate change, a need for improved physical and mental health, workforce training, stress, and more.

The Garden’s mission statement says it best: We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life.

As we work to fulfill our mission, we attract more and more visitors: In 2014 we welcomed 1,058,368 visitors, a 6 percent increase over our record-breaking 2013, and 52 percent more than in 2005. These numbers tell us that something very significant is happening at the Garden.

Our mission compels us to provide meaningful and joyful experiences that speak to the essential role plants play in all of our lives. We continuously work to improve the relevance of that experience and in 2014 enhanced our already-rich menu of programs and services.

PHOTO: Orchid by Zak Yasin — The 2015 Orchid Show will run February 14 through March 15. (Orchid photo by 2014 photo contest entrant, Zak Yasin)

February saw the launch of the Garden’s first month-long orchid exhibition, a stunning celebration of the world’s largest flowering plant family. The Orchid Show filled the Regenstein Center with fragrance and color, attracting 25,000 visitors seeking respite from the Chicago winter. The beauty of the tropical blooms inspired awe, and also helped visitors understand the value of plant diversity and the importance of conserving the natural habitats on which all life depends.

A newly refurbished Garden View Café opened in spring. The updated menu features the best in local and seasonal food—some of it grown through the Garden’s Windy City Harvest urban agriculture program. We’ve added a brick pizza oven and barista station, and now serve brunch all day on Sundays. Our Sprouts Meals put a healthy twist on traditional children’s favorites. The café serves up delicious, fresh meals, and also serves as a model for sustainability.

PHOTO: Breaking ground on the new Jarantoski campus, July 29, 2014. — Breaking ground on the new Jarantoski campus, July 29, 2014

In summer, the Garden broke ground for a new 151,000-square-foot outdoor nursery, the first phase of construction for the Kris Jarantoski Campus. The campus will include a new plant production facility and display garden designed by Belgian landscape architect Peter Wirtz. The facility will ensure horticultural excellence, support advanced conservation research, and expand the plant-based educational programs at the Garden. Wirtz’s innovative landscape design will unify the south end of the campus and draw visitors to a lesser-known corner of the Garden.

The North Branch Trail addition opened in early fall and makes the Garden more accessible to the roughly 80,000 to 90,000 visitors who enter by bike or foot each year. The multiuse path provides a safe, scenic route from the Braeside Metra Station in Highland Park to the Garden, and connects the North Branch Trail with the Green Bay Trail.

PHOTO: North Branch Trail addition (bike path). — The North Branch Trail addition opened this past fall.

The Garden’s expanding influence extends well beyond our Glencoe campus. In December we celebrated 20 years of helping Chicago Public Schools students succeed in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In addition to the over 30,000 students who participate annually in the Garden’s formal education programs, to date, approximately 500 students have taken part in the Garden’s Science Career Continuum programs. Nearly all participants tracked since 2006 have enrolled in college; of these, more than three-fourths majored in a STEM field, and nearly two-thirds pursued science.

A USDA NIFA (National Institute for Food and Agriculture) grant is enabling the Garden’s Windy City Harvest urban agriculture programs to mentor urban farmers in Chicago. Three years into the grant, we’ve created four incubator farms as part of the redevelopment of the former Robert Taylor Homes public housing project. Other Windy City Harvest components include a teen leadership training program and a series of professional certificates offered through the Arturo Velasquez Institute, a satellite of Richard J. Daley College, City Colleges of Chicago.

PHOTO: The Windy City Harvest’s Legends Farm at 4500 S. Dearborn Street. — The Windy City Harvest’s Legends Farm at 4500 S. Dearborn Street

In December, the White House announced the Chicago Botanic Garden’s C3I initiative as part of a sweeping new approach to climate-change education. C3I (Connecting Climate to Communities Initiative) unites 12 Midwest community organizations in an effort to engage populations underrepresented in the environmental movement.

Our scientists travel the globe, collaborating with peers worldwide to monitor, conserve, and restore critical habitats, research underutilized food crops, and mitigate the effects of climate change. The Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center opened five years ago and so far has graduated 50 master’s degree students from our plant biology and conservation science program, offered in conjunction with Northwestern University. We are looking forward to seeing the first Ph.D. candidates graduate this spring.

Look for continued growth in 2015 as the Garden continues to progress toward goals set out in its ten-year strategic plan, “Keep Growing” (2010–20). What keeps us going? We believe beautiful gardens and natural environments are fundamentally important to the mental and physical well-being of all people. We believe people live better, healthier lives when they can create, care for, and enjoy gardens. We believe the future of life on Earth depends on how well we understand, value, and protect plants, other wildlife, and the natural habitats that sustain our world. Please join us in our mission.

Spring Chorus

My favorite moment of spring is the blooming of daffodils. But this year, I am adding a new highlight: the uplifting sound of…frogs.

I have to admit, I’ve never heard such spring peeping at the Chicago Botanic Garden before. But last weekend, as I enjoyed several long walks here (including one with my sons on Mother’s Day at 6:45 a.m.!), I felt serenaded by a loud chorus of frogs and toads. (Some visitors are even mistaking the sound for chirping birds.)

Learn more about local frogs, toads, and their calls.

A northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) peers at the camera suspiciously. Photo by Benny Mazur from Toledo, Ohio (Mister Leopard Frog) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.

Working off the hypothesis that the Garden’s shoreline restoration efforts have helped increase frog and toad populations here, I turned to Garden scientists for answers.

And this is what I learned: of the Garden’s 385 acres, nearly one-quarter (81 acres) is water. More than three-fourths of the Garden’s shoreline has been restored since 1999, addressing long-standing erosion problems. Most recently, the Garden restored 1¼ miles of shoreline around the North Lake; the ten-month project was completed in summer 2012. As part of the project, we added more than 120,000 native plants—the largest perennial planting project in the Garden’s history—to stabilize shoreline soil. The sturdy plants, some with roots more than 6 feet deep, resist erosion and enhance water quality by filtering eroded soil and excess nutrients. The renovated shoreline provides an enhanced habitat for our aquatic life, which includes wood ducks, double-crested cormorants, and snapping turtles, along with bullfrogs, American toads, and other members of their croaking chorus. Build a healthy habitat and they will come!

Adding to the cacophony is an even bigger chorus than usual because of our “compressed” spring this year. Usually, the frogs emerge first, followed by the toads. This May, the frogs and toads are singing together—but not for long; come to the Garden soon if you want to hear them.

Discover the details and challenges of our restoration project.

Abloom in May, native plants and sedge create habitat, protect shorelines, and create a beautiful border around the North Lake.

Even if you miss hearing them, I encourage you to listen to the short audio clip above and think about frogs (at least for a few seconds). Sometimes, we overlook the humble frog in favor of the more romantic songbirds in spring. In popular culture, the frog tends to fare better in other parts of the world. In Japan, for instance, the frog is considered a symbol of good luck. The Japanese word for frog is kaeru, which also means “to return.”

When I hear the frogs at the Garden from now on, I will think about how their return, spring after spring, announces that they’ve come home. I am proud that our conservation actions here have given them a healthy habitat in which to thrive, and I feel grateful to the frogs for giving me a moment to reflect on the importance of the Garden’s mission: We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life.

On World Wildlife Day

On March 3, we inaugurate World Wildlife Day, designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of wild animals and plants—from ivory to ebony—worldwide. This day gives us an opportunity to reflect on the intrinsic value of all living things and remember that the well-being of humans is inextricably tied to the well-being of nature.

PHOTO: Two baby elephants playing on the savannah. — Elephants in the wild. Photo by Jonathan D. Sherman.

Botanic gardens, zoos, aquariums, and arboreta protect live plants and animals and play an important role in conserving wildlife and wild places throughout our local communities, nationally, and worldwide. More than 200 million Americans each year visit gardens, zoos, aquariums, and arboreta. This is more than all who attend NFL, NBA, and major league baseball games combined.¹ From dolphins to snow leopards, kookaburras to monarchs, oaks to asters to mosses, the living collections visitors enjoy along our paths and through our windows engage and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds. Our institutions provide protection to many thousands of rare and endangered species, some of which now exist only in our care. Our conservation biologists conduct important research and create practical, effective solutions to preserve wildlife and biodiversity throughout the world. Our intensive preK through Ph.D. education and training programs for students of all backgrounds and abilities enable the next generation of scientists, teachers, and innovators to continue our work.

PHOTO: Closeup of wetlands flower, "shooting star." — *Dodecatheon meadia* (shooting star)

Garden, zoo, aquarium, and arboretum leaders also serve as leading international resources for biodiversity conservation policy, leading conservation commissions such as those facilitated by the United Nations, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the U.S. State Department, and Department of Interior. Together, and with other nongovernmental partners as well, we strive to implement the tenets of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, build and deliver comprehensive curriculum and education in science and climate change, and implement robust wildlife conservation programs.

March 3 was chosen as the day to inaugurate World Wildlife Day because it is the anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). While CITES has not become a household acronym, 179 countries have signed on to this intergovernmental agreement to help ensure that what we buy—whether it be food, leather, musical instruments, timber, medicine, jewelry, or a vacation memento—has not cost a protected or endangered species its life. More than 35,000 species of plants and animals are protected by CITES, and these species’ continuing survival, along with the habitats where they live, are critical to the web of life on which all life—our life—depends.

PHOTO: Closeup of an orb weaver spider. — An orb weaver spider ties off a corner of its web.

We, as leaders of the living collections organizations in Chicago, urge you to celebrate World Wildlife Day with us and to join our personal and institutional efforts to promote the importance of conserving plants and animals, and the healthy habitats on which all wildlife—and we—depend. By protecting wildlife, we can ensure that the diversity of life on our planet will endure. We also ensure that the pleasures and basic needs we derive from wildlife continue in the future. These include everything from food and shelter to clean air, water, protection from the effects of floods, droughts, and pollution, as well as the joy of the living world around us.

Please visit your local garden, zoo, aquarium, or arboretum to find out more about what we are doing to preserve wildlife and get involved. Show your support for World Wildlife Day by following @WildlifeDay on Twitter and “liking” the Facebook page.

Sophia Shaw Siskel
President and CEO, Chicago Botanic Garden

Ted Beattie, President and CEO, Shedd Aquarium
Kevin Bell, President and CEO, Lincoln Park Zoo
Gerard T. Donnelly, Ph.D, President and CEO, Morton Arboretum
Stuart D. Strahl, Ph.D, President and CEO, Chicago Zoological Society (Brookfield Zoo)

[1] Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Notes from the 5th Global Botanic Gardens Congress

I’ve just touched down at home after five days in New Zealand at the 5^th Global Botanic Gardens Congress; 329 delegates from botanic gardens and arboreta from 45 countries gathered together in Dunedin, New Zealand, to learn how to strengthen our horticulture displays and plant collections, education and visitor programs, and plant conservation science. Our Chicago Botanic Garden motto is “Save the Plants, Save the Planet,” and what an amazing experience it is to spend time with people—mostly brilliant plant scientists—who share this passion and mission, and who will travel from every corner of the globe to help realize it.

Here are two particularly good slides that show some of the big-picture goals presented by Peter Wyse Jackson, Ph.D., president of the Missouri Botanical Garden and chairman of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC).

Drivers of Biodiversity Loss by Peter Wyse Jackson. — Drivers of biodiversity loss by Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson

Grand challenges for botanic gardens by Peter Wyse Jackson. — Grand challenges for botanic gardens by Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson

I had the honor of representing our garden in Chicago four times throughout the Congress, organized by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). I presented at a symposium with colleagues from England, Austria, and Jordan about botanic gardens’ role in social change; chaired a panel of compelling speakers from Jordan, Mexico, Australia, and the U.S. who shared examples of how to engage communities in conservation; was challenged by the audience at an open forum with Stephen Blackmore, Ph.D. (Edinburgh), Dr. Tim Entwistle, Ph.D. (Melbourne), and Jack Hobbs (Auckland); and delivered a plenary address. If you want to see the range of topics and gardens represented, take a look at the BGCI Congress site; the Twitter comments #BGCI2013 also give highlights.

PHOTO: Group shot standing in front of ocean. — Kayri Havens-Young, Greg Mueller, and Sophia Siskel at Larnachs Castle, Otago, New Zealand

My Chicago Botanic Garden colleagues Greg Mueller, Ph.D., and Kayri Havens-Young, Ph.D., also attended and presented their work (and we had a lot of fun, too).

Being relatively new to the field of plant conservation, I set as one of my Congress goals the memorization of international conservation acronyms. To effectively make our way in any land we need to learn to speak the language!

PHOTO: Powerpoint slide — This is a PowerPoint slide of inside-baseball acronyms from one of the presentations.

So now, after writing down and decoding (i.e., asking the nice person next to me for help or drawing on the seemingly endless patience of my colleague Greg Mueller), the acronyms I heard, I am now semifluent (in that college French kind of way). Below, I offer a plant-conservation-centered sample of what I’ve learned—hopefully this primer will be helpful as you get involved in plant conservation. If you catch a mistake, please let me know!

A superb, professional explanation of UN environmental conventions, and how botanic gardens can support international goals (and more acronyms), may be found in the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation, 2^nd edition.

CBD	Convention on Biological Diversity
COP	Conference of the Parties
SPB	Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and its 20 Aichi Targets, adopted by the COP to the CBD in Nagoya, Japan, 2010
GSPC	Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, adopted by CBD at COP 2002
GPPC	Global Partnership for Plant Conservation
CITES	Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
SBSTTA	Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice
ABS	Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing Procedures
GBO	Global Biodiversity Outlook
NBSAPS	National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans
NFP	National Focal Point
UNCED	United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio, 1992)
UNFCCC	United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Rio, 1992, updated and strengthened by Kyoto Protocol, 2005)
MDG	Millennium Development Goals (2000)
UNEP	United Nations Environmental Programme
FAO	Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
REDD	Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
REDD+	A Climate Change Mitigation Solution Related to REDD
IPBES	Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
IPCC	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IUCN	International Union for Conservation of Nature
SSC	IUCN Species Survival Commission
TEEB	The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
GBIF	Global Biodiversity Information Facility
GTI	Global Taxonomic Initiative
ISPN	International Sentinel Plant Network
IPEN	International Plant Exchange Network
EOL	Encyclopedia of Life
TDWG	Taxonomic Database Working Group (Pronounced “tadwig”— this one is my favorite because even after the group changed its name to Biodiversity Information Standards, it kept TDWG as its acronym! Keeping us on our toes.)
MSBP	Millennium Seed Bank Partnership
SOS	Seeds of Success and also Save our Species (through IUCN)
CWR	Crop Wild Relatives
GCDT	Global Crop Diversity Trust
ENSCONET	European Seed Conservation Network
NGO	Non-Governmental Organization
APGA	American Public Gardens Association
AZA	Association of Zoos & Aquariums
BGCI	Botanic Gardens Conservation International
BSA	Botanical Society of America
ERA	Ecological Restoration Alliance
GCA	Garden Clubs of America
CPC	Center for Plant Conservation
NSCA	Natural Science Collections Alliance
PCA	Plant Conservation Alliance
MIPN	Midwest Invasive Plant Network
NIPP	Northeastern Illinois Invasive Plant Partnerships
BLM	Bureau of Land Management
NSF	National Science Foundation
USFWS	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
LCC	Landscape Conservation Cooperative
USDA NIFA	United States Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture

PHOTO: Peony bush. — Peonies at Larnachs Castle, New Zealand—October!

PHOTO: Wild echium. — Echium along roadside in New Zealand

PHOTO: Rhododendron shrub. — Rhododendrons at Dunedin Botanic Garden, New Zealand

Chicago experienced its first autumn frost while we were away, but spring in the southern hemisphere was in full bloom. Enjoying the remarkable flowers and landscapes of the South Island of New Zealand only intensified our passion for plants and the joy of gardens and nature.

Thank you BGCI, colleagues, the Dunedin Botanic Garden (and Shane the amazing bus #3 driver) for your leadership, friendship, and hospitality. Until Geneva 2017!

“Should we try to roll its tongue out?”

PHOTO: Sophia Siskel holds a hawkmoth caught at night while researchers look on. — Holding a toad-sized hawkmoth lured in by our sheet and black light.

O.K., I did know what a proboscis was before my trip to New Mexico last month. But learning how to uncoil a hawkmoth’s 3-inch nectar-sucking hollow tongue while trying to calm the toad-sized insect in my hand was the biology lesson of a lifetime.

Thanks to Chicago Botanic Garden scientists Krissa Skogen, Ph.D., and Wes Glisson (who recently earned his master’s degree in plant conservation biology from the Garden/Northwestern University graduate program), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico state botanist Mike Howard, I learned about hawkmoths, the plants they pollinate, and how to collect plant cuttings for scientific study.

I also had the opportunity to meet and work beside two remarkable interns, Kate Wilkins and Elisabeth Ward, from our Conservation Land Management Internship Program (and enjoy a few absolutely perfect hours of exquisite silence in the desert at the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains on the New Mexico/Texas border).

PHOTO: Panorama of the New Mexican desert. — The exquisite silence and panorama of the New Mexican desert.

I had been asking around the Garden’s scientific staff to see whose fieldwork would fit with my summer schedule. Krissa was planning a trip to southern New Mexico to film an episode of Chris Martine’s great video web series Plants are Cool, Too. Krissa’s episode, which will air in October, highlights her work on long-distance pollinator movement, focusing on Oenothera harringtonii, an evening primrose endemic to southeastern Colorado and other closely related Oenothera species. The flowers of Oenothera harringtonii and many other evening primroses open soon after sunset and are pollinated primarily by hawkmoths. These moths feed on the nectar of Oenothera flowers, which they locate by the strong fragrance produced by the flowers. We commonly think of floral scent for its role in attracting pollinators, but it may also be used as a cue by floral and seed predators.

By studying the shape, smell, and color of Oenothera flowers, Krissa and her colleagues hope to determine what it is that attracts pollinators to these flowers. She can also determine how the plants “reward” their pollinators by studying nectar—how much flowers produce and how much sugar the nectar contains. And lastly, by collecting pollen grains from pollinators, Krissa can determine which plant species the pollinators rely on most, which brings me to catching hawkmoths and collecting pollen from their tongues.

PHOTO: Krissa gently rolls out the proboscis to show us just how long it is! — Krissa gently rolls out the proboscis to show us just how long it is!

The first night of our trip, we set out to find some hawkmoths. After visiting a couple of sites in the Organ Mountains, we found them. Above is a photograph of Dr. Krissa Skogen, Elisabeth Ward, and me holding the toad-sized moths we attracted to a blacklit white sheet held up on a PVC armature.

After sunset, the hawkmoth uses its long hollow tongue to extract the nectar from deep down within the narrow mouth of the flower. The moth’s nightly journey often covers a distance as far as 20 miles. Krissa gently rolled out the tongue to show us just how long it is!

The next day, we set out early to collect Lepidospartum quamum for our colleague Evelyn Williams, Ph.D. Evelyn, a post-doctoral researcher, has been working with Jeremie Fant, Ph.D., Kayri Havens, Ph.D., and Mike Howard on this plant since 2012 in an attempt to figure out why it is threatened with extinction in this area of New Mexico. The plant grows in a unique environment—the gypsum salt flat.

PHOTO: Tagged plant cuttings in a small bowl. — *Lepidospartum quamum* cuttings, tagged and ready to be sent for propagation in our greenhouses.

Evelyn’s previous collecting trip this spring needed to be supplemented with new cuttings. We worked all day to collect the cuttings, which we sent back to the Garden for propagation in our production greenhouses, as well as samples for genotyping in the Garden’s Harris Family Foundation Plant Genetics Laboratory.

This important work, which ultimately aids seed growers, restoration practitioners, and government agencies to select appropriate plant materials to restore diverse plant and animal communities, was funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grant as part of the Native Plant Conservation Initiative.

It’s a fact that most people are more attracted to animals than plants—and therefore more inclined to know their names and fight for their survival. Just compare the following two photographs—the Lepidospartum quamum specimen we were studying, and this lizard that darted by and immediately commanded our attention (yes, even botanists and plant-lovers are drawn to a cute face).

PHOTO: A desiccated Lepidospartum quamum plant. — What grabs your attention more? This plant …

PHOTO: A cute lizard. — …or this cute lizard?

But all life depends on plants and the healthy habitats on which they depend. When we think of fighting to save wildlife, let’s remember that wildlife includes plants! I am hopeful that by working with collaborations from gardens, zoos, government agencies, and other land-trust and conservation organizations, we can integrate plants into wildlife action plans both in the U.S. and abroad. I particularly like how this report by NatureServe summarizes this issue.

We can all point to moments in our life—when we’ve experienced something new or met someone special—when our understanding of life changes. My two days with these five scientists—at all phases of their careers—was one of these experiences I will never forget.

PHOTO: The New Mexico research team. — Thank you, Krissa, Kate, Mike, Elisabeth, and Wes!

One last note: Hawkmoths are essential to ecosystems from Venezuela to here in Chicago. My son and I watched one this afternoon drink from the hostas on our street! Below is one we filmed in the English Oak Meadow of the Chicago Botanic Garden last week.