An international group of researchers says that biodiversity conservation and scientific research are not benefiting from the vast knowledge about the world’s plants held by botanic gardens, because of fragmented data systems and a lack of standardisation.
In a new report led by Professor Samuel Brockington from the Department of Plant Sciences, Cambridge and published in the journal 'Nature Plants', researchers based at more than 50 botanic gardens and living plant collections warn that a patchwork of incompatible, or even absent, data systems is undermining global science and conservation at a critical moment.
They call for a unified and equitable global data system for living collections to transform how the world’s botanic gardens manage and share information. This would enable them to work together as a ‘meta-collection’ to strengthen scientific research and conservation efforts.
Climate change, invasive species, habitat loss and increased global movement of plant material all require rapid access to high-quality, trusted information about living plants. Achieving this depends on a shared culture of open, accurate, and affordable data - allowing living collections of all sizes, particularly in the Global South where much of the world’s biodiversity is located, to participate on equal terms.
Professor Brockington, Head of the Department's Evolution and Diversity group and Curator of Cambridge University Botanic Garden, led the work together with researchers at Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
He said: “The digital infrastructure needed to manage, share, and safeguard living plant diversity wasn’t designed to operate at a global scale.”
He added: “We’ve built an extraordinary global network of living plant collections, but we’re trying to run twenty-first-century conservation with data systems that are fragmented, fragile, and in many cases inaccessible to scientists and conservationists working where most biodiversity originates. We urgently need a shared data system so the people managing collections can work together as a coordinated whole.”
Thaís Hidalgo de Almeida, Curator of Living Collections, Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro and a co-author of the report, said: “Having an integrated and equitable global data ecosystem would greatly help us address urgent conservation needs in biodiversity-rich countries like Brazil, making our work faster, more collaborative, and more effective.”
Scientific research in many areas depends on accurate, well-documented living plant material. As climate change accelerates extinction risk, living plant collections are increasingly used to support species and ecosystem restoration, and climate-adapted urban planting.
Yet many collections remain undigitised, and those that are often rely on incompatible systems shaped by institutional or commercial priorities rather than shared standards. As a result, vital information on threatened species, climate resilience, provenance, and legal status cannot be shared efficiently between institutions or across borders.
“In healthcare, fragmented and proprietary data systems are recognised as a serious risk and the focus of major public investment,” said Brockington. “In plant conservation, we face the same problem, but without treating the data as critical public infrastructure.”
At least 105,634 plant species - representing around one third of all plant species in the world - are grown in the world’s 3,500 botanic gardens. As much as 40% of the world’s plant diversity is at elevated risk of extinction and these living collections form a critical safety net against that.
Organisations like Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have already established the foundations of a better data system but the researchers say coordinated, considered investment is now needed to create a long-lasting and trusted resource.
Paul Smith, Secretary-General, BGCI and a co-author of the report, said: “In an era of accelerating biodiversity loss, harnessing the full conservation potential of living collections requires a step-change in how collections data are documented, standardised and connected through a global data ecosystem. This publication, supported by more than fifty gardens worldwide sets the stage for achieving that transformation.”
Last year, Brockington announced his previous report showing how living collections metadata could be used to give global insights into the acquisition and conservation of the world’s plant diversity.
Read also:
- What happens after this paper matters much more than the paper itself - LinkedIn article by Professor Brockington setting out a call for action to rethink the strategic value of living collections data, invest in shared, community-led data infrastructure and ensure trust, transparency and good governance sit at the heart of any future global data ecosystem.
References:
- Brockington, S.F. et al: ‘High-performance living plant collections require a globally integrated data ecosystem to meet twenty-first-century challenges.’ Nature Plants, Jan 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41477-025-02192-6
- Cano, A. et al: ‘Insights from a century of data reveal global trends in ex situ living plant collections.’ Nature Ecology and Evolution, Jan 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02633-z
Image:Liquidambar styraciflua at Cambridge University Botanic Garden in full autumn colours. Curators across the world have built an extraordinary global network of living plant collections. But they warn that a patchwork of incompatible, or even absent, data systems about these collections is undermining global science and conservation at a critical moment. Credit: University of Cambridge
Adapted from an article originally published on the University of Cambridge research news pages.