A Center for Biodiversity Education

Transcription

1 The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens A Center for Biodiversity Education within an expanded Dworsky Tropical Conservatory

2 paradise in danger of being lost Imagine a paradise where plants and animals are at their most abundant; where plentiful water and sunshine enable more species to thrive than anywhere else on the globe. Imagine that this paradise can provide for every need and desire of the animals within it, and the entire human race, now and into the future: oxygen and clean water; food; medicines (many of them as yet undiscovered); building and industrial materials; and much, much more. This paradise is the rainforest, a band of vegetation around the equator, that is home to nearly seven in ten of all known plant species, and some half of all species of animal. This variety is called biodiversity, and in the rainforest, biodiversity is at its highest, even though the rainforests occupy only 6% of the earth's surface. Now ask why we human beings are destroying this paradise at a rate, some say, of..each year. Slashing the vegetation and leaving scorched earth behind. Ask why we are eliminating the critical life support system that is a byproduct of the amazing ability of nature to adapt in order to survive. Plants are the basis of all life on earth, and the damage to plants is not restricted to the rainforests. Remove plants and overwork the earth, and the earth will stop yielding its riches. All over the world, development and urbanization are endangering or eliminating species altogether. In drier, subtropical arid and desert areas of the world (including the Middle East), over-farming and overgrazing are leading to desertification, which means the land can no longer be farmed. World Bank figures say that.. A massive campaign of public education and awareness raising is a critical part of an overall program to halt and reverse this destruction, for all of our sakes. The Jerusalem Botanical Garden, with its ready-made pool of botanists and educators, aims to lead in this field in Israel by creating a new Center for Biodiversity Education the first of its kind in the country - within an expanded Dworsky Tropical Conservatory.

3 Adapt or die The incredible story of plants is one of constant adaptation to changing conditions of light, water and soil; to the availability of pollen and seed dispersers, so essential for reproduction; and to the need for defense against disease and predatory attack. These adaptations, and the uses that we humans make of them, are explained to visitors to the outdoor sections of the Botanical Gardens, and will be brought to life for children when a new discovery trail currently in the planning stages - is finally implemented. The Center for Biodiversity Education at the Dworsky Tropical Conservatory will provide people of all ages and backgrounds with an unforgettable visit to two of the most extreme environments on earth the wet tropics, and the semi-arid and desert regions of the world. The idea is to immerse them in the experience of two contrasting climates, focusing their attention on the many and extraordinary ways in which plants have evolved. Plans are to expand the current tropical conservatory from 510 to 960 square meters (or from approximately 5,490 to 10,330 square feet). The new building, ten to 12 meters high, will also allow for taller plants than the current one. It will be shaped for optimal sunlight penetration..

4

5

6 Lands of Plenty Lands of Plenty (tropical wet) will occupy roughly two-thirds of the main exhibition hall, re-creating, as far as possible, the feel of a real rainforest, and generating wonder and awe in the visitors.. The landscape will include creepers and epiphytes (both adaptations to lack of light in the rainforest), with an expanded collection of orchids always popular with visitors. Varied ground cover plants will exhibit further adaptations to shade, while carnivorous plants, also highly popular, will show how some plants survive in nutritionally poor soil. Water plants will show off their beauty in the pool beneath the water sheet, while mangrove plants will display their ingenious adaptation to mud and salty water in a small, recreated delta. The rainforest will eventually lead to a clearing that will feature plants in the service and culture of humankind. The aim here is to draw the connection between tropical plants and their myriad uses. From Cola to coffee, from chocolate to chicle (the original base of chewing gum), from rubber to rattan, our lives would not be the same without them. A highlight of the exhibit will be a collection of tropical fruit trees.

7 Lands of Thirst This section will feature plants from arid and desert areas, in Israel as well as other parts of the world, such as the strangely shaped Baobab tree, the Lithops, or stone-pebble plant (which looks like a stone), the Rose of Jericho from the Southern Dead Sea area (which looks like a dead ball, until 'brought to life' by the rains), the Elephant s Foot, the Medusa s Head, and many others which have adapted to low annual rainfall, drought periods of unknown lengths, flash floods, and saline soils. Lands of Thirst, like Lands of Plenty, would offer a fascinating insight into growth forms that have evolved in sync with the conditions; annuals that germinate and bloom right after rainfall, casting seeds which will lie dormant during the hot, dry periods; shrubs and shrublets that sprout shortly after the rain has come; succulents (including cacti) that store water, and whose varied forms create self-shade, or collect the moisture available as morning dew; and trees whose long roots reach water deep underground, or whose widely spread roots tap every drop of water in the vicinity. Repeat visitors will follow the cycles of plants, seeing them both in their dormant stages as 'living statues, and their brief, but dramatic, periods of bloom.

8 Optional additions:from canopy to roots Funding permitting, the Gardens would like to include two additional elements into the Center for Biodiversity Education A canopy viewing platform in Lands of Plenty would enable visitors to view the plants from above. This would help them to understand the importance of storeys in the rainforest different levels of life, at different heights, each with different environmental conditions, and different collections of animals and plants. A roots exhibit, focusing on the unseen parts of the plant, and the tumbling life in, on and around them. Were it not for the master recyclers that are sustained by roots, we would all have drowned in the waste of living things a long time ago. Ideally, the roots exhibit would have two sections: Live roots, of plants such as the Fig A digitally-based exhibition exploring the busy life beneath our feet. This would be the first roots exhibit for the public in the country.

9 Green technology From Spring through to Fall, heat will be provided from two sources: Geothermal energy stored in underground pipes, and a hydro-solar system, invented by two Israelis Nahum Zamir, and Nahum Levav. The hydro-solar system provides a continuous sheet of water via small nozzles, similar to those in a shower head. The water plunges into a pool, and is pumped through a filter before being re-circulated to the "shower heads" above. Providing 80-90% humidity year-round (with automatic settings to regulate humidity levels), this water sheet takes heat from sunlight at the highest point of the conservatory, and disperses it outwards with the water droplets. This system will provide all the heat required during sunny summer days. Providing 80-90% humidity year-round (with automatic settings to regulate humidity levels), this water sheet takes heat from sunlight at the highest point of the conservatory, and disperses it outwards with the water droplets. Our energy expert tells us that we will get all the heat we need during sunny summer days. During the winter, the hydro-solar system will provide us with a temperature roughly ten degrees above the outside, and the rest we will add with electrically operated air-compression heaters. During the winter, the hydro-solar system will provide us with a temperature roughly ten degrees above the outside, and the rest we will add with electrically operated air-compression heaters. All the machinery related to both the hydro-solar system, and the air-compression heaters, will stand behind the conservatory, outside, releasing additional space for other purposes inside. The hydro-solar system provides a continuous sheet of water via little holes, like those in a shower head. The water plunges into a pool, and is pumped through a filter before being recirculated to the "shower heads" above.

10 The shell The Gardens are working with the firm of Israel Prize-winner Shlomo Aronson to adapt and complete plans for construction that began years. Some of the foundations for the two new wings have already been laid, and pits to be filled with sand for the geothermal heating systems have already been dug. The roof will be made of polycarbonate panels, designed for the optimum level of sun-penetration and insulation. The existing cupola the trade mark of the tropical conservatory will be retained, as well as the existing stone entrance area. The remainder of the existing roof will be replaced.

11 Using plants, the Center will be at the national forefront of efforts to educate the public about: Biodiversity and species extinction. Climate change, desertification, and water conservation.

12 It will encourage visitors to marvel, think, and hopefully act to preserve our amazing plant world.