VICTORIAN CONSERVATION SEEDBANK

A Global Seed Bank Project in Victoria

Life on earth is critically dependant on plants. They feed us and the other animals with which we share the planet, they provide us with medicine, fibre and timber, they maintain soil fertility and they oxygenate the air we breathe. But plant diversity is at the crossroads. Land degradation, urban expansion and climate change threaten plant species and whole plant communities, and ultimately ourselves.

While the plight of many of our threatened species and landscapes is becoming better understood, even if we could halt the threatening processes immediately, species would continue to decline. For many species the situation is critical – they are almost irrevocably doomed to extinction.

Of the approximately 3,200 native species in Victoria, nearly 700 are considered to be threatened, that is, they are in danger of becoming extinct in the next few decades. Obviously the risk for some species is higher than others – those that are restricted to the coldest environments on high mountain summits are likely to lose the little habitat they retain to the effects of greenhouse gas-induced climate change. Similar threats face plants in areas prone to increasing salinisation. And plants that are restricted to the outskirts of expanding towns and cities are under obvious threat through population growth and changing housing trends.

While it may be decades before we can turn processes of degradation around, we have an opportunity to safeguard threatened plant species against extinction.

   Hand-pollination is necessary for some orchids
   to ensure seed production

By using techniques developed at research institutions around the world, often focussing on critical crop species, we now have the capability to store seeds of many plant species for decades or even centuries without losing their viability. Researchers have shown that by reducing the water content of seeds to very low levels (around 5%), the seeds may be stored at sub-zero temperatures that drastically slow down the chemical processes that naturally lead to loss of viability of seeds.

   Collecting seed of threatened saltmarsh species

The Seed Conservation Department of Kew Botanic Gardens in the United Kingdom have conceived the visionary Millenium Seed Bank (MSB) Project, a project that aims to conserve by 2010 genetically diverse collections of seed of 10 per cent of the worlds approximately 240 000 species of seed-bearing plants. All the states of Australia, along with countries from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, have established partnerships with the MSB Project as a means of both adding to the Seed Bank itself and enhancing our understanding of seed behaviour. Many Australian plants produce seed that have complex dormancy systems that require critical cues from the environment before they will germinate. Typically these cues follow seasonal climate extremes or bushfires or floods, but may also be simple weathering of tenacious seedcoats or subtle combinations of these factors. Without an understanding of these requirements, we cannot reasonably hope to reinstate lost or seriously depleted populations of plants in the wild.

Research into the seeds germination requirements, viability levels and general seed biology will occur at the Melbourne facility and collaborative studies will be supported at associated research institutions.

Plants grown in the course of germination experiments will be further propagated in the Royal Botanic Gardens ex situ conservation collection. They may then be replanted into the wild as reinforcement to depleted populations, or to form new populations in secure sites. These activities will be carried out in accord with approved Recovery Plans prepared under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (FFG) and the Federal Environmental Protection and Biological Conservation Act (EPBC)

   Germination tests: Craspedia paludicola