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Institute of Systematic Botany
At the Forefront of Biodiversity
The New York Botanical Garden has one of the most consistent, intensive, and distinguished programs of systematic botany research in the world. Plant systematics, the study of the kinds and diversity of plants and their relationships, has been at the heart of the Garden's scientific endeavors for over one hundred years, beginning in 1891 with the institution's founding by Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton. In recognition of its traditional, century-old commitment to systematic botany, and to underscore the urgency of the inventory, conservation, and rational utilization of the world's natural resources, taxonomic research activities were organized into the Institute of Systematic Botany (ISB) in 1991.
Systematic botany research at The New York Botanical Garden is responding to the biodiversity crisis through the implementation of a series of activities that both address this crisis and build towards the future.
The program’s missions are to:
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Document the world's plant diversity through research and exploration. |
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Carry out monographic studies of important plant groups. |
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Carry out floristic inventories in North America and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on threatened and endangered ecosystems. |
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Make information about plants available to other fields of science and to the general public through technical and popular publications and electronic means. |
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Ensure the capacity for botanical research in the future through formal graduate programs and informal internships. |
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Advise policy makers on biological diversity issues. |
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Be actively involved in institution-building in developing countries, especially in the tropics, where the highest biodiversity is concentrated. |
For More Information |
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Field Research
Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies
Graduate Studies Program
The New York Botanical Garden Press
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