Extinction
Feb. 12th, 2026 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithPlant extinction risk rises as garden databases remain divided
Botanic gardens have amassed one of the world’s largest living reserves of plant diversity.
A new study demonstrates that fragmented data systems have kept that global collection from functioning as a single, coordinated safeguard against extinction.
At a moment when plant loss is accelerating, the information needed to act often remains locked inside incompatible databases, limiting the very safety net designed to prevent disappearance.
I have mixed feelings about this. A unified body of knowledge is certainly easier to use -- but it's also easier to damage or destroy. Right now, the government is a major threat to information that it dislikes. So having that information scattered around in places that aren't easy to reach all at once can offer a kind of protection.
Botanic gardens have amassed one of the world’s largest living reserves of plant diversity.
A new study demonstrates that fragmented data systems have kept that global collection from functioning as a single, coordinated safeguard against extinction.
At a moment when plant loss is accelerating, the information needed to act often remains locked inside incompatible databases, limiting the very safety net designed to prevent disappearance.
I have mixed feelings about this. A unified body of knowledge is certainly easier to use -- but it's also easier to damage or destroy. Right now, the government is a major threat to information that it dislikes. So having that information scattered around in places that aren't easy to reach all at once can offer a kind of protection.
