The Wild Cycad Conservancy

Cycads are, without doubt, fascinating plants that deserve our attention. They evolved around 300MYA, that is 150 million years before the emergence of flowering plants, and they trumped the dinosaurs by surviving three of the earth’s major extinction events. The species alive today exhibit a weird mix of ancestral and derived features – think motile spermatazoids, analogues of animal sperm cells with little filaments to propel them in search of an egg cell, or mutualisms with insect pollinators and root microbiomes, which are at least as complex as those found in orchids or yucca plants. So, part of my obsession is sparked simply by an insatiable curiosity to know more about the biology and ecology of these unusual plants. 

On a more sobering note, my experience with cycads made me confront the deeper realities facing multiple species, where survival is compromised by shrinking habitat, over exploitation, invasion of their ecosystems by invasive species, and climate change.  

Cycads happen to be particularly vulnerable to these threats – their limited ability to disperse has resulted in geographically restricted populations with no escape from habitat loss or climate change, and their ability to recover from any population declines is constrained by slow growth rates and long-life cycles. Not surprisingly, the risk of extinction for cycads is amongst the highest for any group of organisms, with >70% of the 350 species assessed as threatened with extinction. 

 Efforts to conserve cycads span more than five decades and cover all the conventional approaches, including trade restrictions, nurseries to supply demand, establishment of protected areas and comprehensive recovery plans. Yet, 50 years later, many cycad populations are still declining and this leads me to think critically about our conservation efforts. I believe that interventions to change the big picture are essential – global policies and agreements, national action plans, better spatial planning and modifying damaging behaviours – and should be matched to local-level actions. 

But why don’t these interventions translate into positive change for species like cycads that are threatened with extinction? This apparent mismatch between policy, planning and on-the-ground change for particular species keeps me grounded, keeps me invested in cycad conservation and the ongoing search for effective solutions.  

Left: John Donaldson – presenting the global cycad conservation strategy at a workshop. Right: John accepting a gift from a community cycad project in Zimbabwe

Seeking tangible changes to cycad populations  

Let me emphasize that cycads are not some weird outliers in the conservation landscape. Yes, they seem more vulnerable to threats than many other species, but the main threats to cycad survival were identified by the IPBES Global Assessment (IPBES 2019: Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services) as the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide, i.e. habitat loss, over exploitation, biological invasions and climate change. So, thinking more deeply about cycad conservation and trying to find solutions that work at a population level can provide insights into broader conservation challenges.   

For parts of my career, I have tried to change the world, and I have spent big chunks of my life working on global and national policies and actions for biodiversity conservation. But that does not seem to be enough, I also want to measure success through some tangible changes to the populations of these imperiled species.  

Deeper reflections on specific cycad conservation issues will follow in future pieces, but here are some teasers to where these ideas might lead: to trade or not to trade, have we learnt anything about conservation of high demand species?; The circle of life, why we keep coming back to the same solutions and why they don’t work?; Humpty Dumpty – the enormous task of trying to put things back together again. 

John Donaldson engaging with community leaders in Zimbabwe