Botanical Garden helps Primorsky Aquarium to make its grounds even more beautiful
The scientific and educational centre Primorsky Aquarium, and the Botanical Garden-Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS) planted saplings of a unique and rare Far East tree, ginkgo, as a sign of friendship and cooperation. On the same day, the two organizations signed a cooperation agreement.
Director of the Primorsky Aquarium Olga Shevchenko, Director of the Botanical Garden Pavel Krestov, Deputy Director of the Botanical Garden Irina Krestova and Assistant Prosecutor of the Vladivostok Environmental Prosecutor's Office Maxim Yantsevich took part in ginkgo planting.
“There is a long history of friendship between our institution and the Botanical Garden, and I hope that the saplings will take root in our land and that the Aquarium will flourish due to support from the Botanical Garden. This is an expansion of botany into marine biology, and I am glad that the Botanical Garden helps to make the Primorsky Aquarium more beautiful and attractive to our visitors by giving us these rare relic plants,” stressed Olga Shevchenko.
As Pavel Krestov said, ginkgo is a very symbolic plant. It is the only extant member of a prehistoric family of plants that lived in our hemisphere in the Mesozoic Era. It has survived for million years due to its extraordinary adaptive abilities. Ginkgo can live up to 2500 years.
After the dinosaur extinction, these trees survived only in China. Later, ginkgo plants spread to other countries through international botanical gardens, but they are relatively recent residents of Vladivostok.
“We are always ready to work with the Aquarium, first of all in environmental education. Raising environmental awareness is very important for us all because we can change the way people relate to nature. When our efforts are united, they are more powerful and I am sure that we will make our region better together,” commented the Botanical Garden Director.
It should be noted that ginkgo trees have been successfully grown in the Botanical Garden since the 1970s. These were the first attempts in Russia to grow these plants to the east of the Ural Mountains, specifically in Primorsky Krai. Botanists did a hard work to introduce ginkgo into cultivation.
“The Prosecutor’s Office, especially the Environmental one, is not only responsible for law enforcement, but for promoting public understanding of law, too. For this purpose, we establish social connections in the community and meet fabulous people. I believe the Aquarium will continue collecting unique animals and plants like ginkgo. I have no doubt that cooperation between our two organizations will be long-term, fruitful and peaceful,” said Maxim Yantsevich.
In addition to joint educational projects, as Irina Krestova told us, the Botanical Garden is also planning scientific research on the Aquarium land within the framework of the cooperation agreement.
“We are handing ginkgo saplings over to the Primorsky Aquarium to plant at several sites in order to make observations of their growth process. This very place that we’ve chosen with our colleagues from the Aquarium is a comfortable one, but we’ll also plant the saplings along the coast, where the conditions are extreme,” explained Irina.
Ginkgo trees will become a fascinating decoration for the grounds and a new educational object at the Primorsky Aquarium.