Free Online Plant Conservation Course

[William Schlegel]

https://saveplants.org/courses/

Relevant to plant breeding as well as to other forms of plant conservation. The above link is to a plant conservation organization that has put together a detailed and entirely free introductory course. I'm going through it and while it is relevant to my professional work it's also relevant to my beloved plant breeding hobby. The genetics sections bring up some extremely relevant points to plant breeding. One very interesting one is this- for a plant population to become locally adapted it must be genetically diverse. True for rare plants and true for crops. In the process of our plant breeding I think we are also engaging in a citizen science initiative to conserve crop diversity. Also, it doesn't hurt to learn more about the conservation of the wayside plants that support the pollinators that pollinate our crops so effectively.  Though I profoundly believe that plant species and crop diversity have intrinsic value. Inherent value not dependent on their services.