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The creation of seed banks for plant resource conservation
dates back to the XXth Century. The first alarm concerning
global genetic erosion on plant diversity sounded in 1920
when the scientists Harry Harlan and Nikolai Vavilov warned
of the risk of abandoning of traditional crops in favour
of new varieties selected by man and widely distributed
across the world.
Seed banks were created because of the need of producers
to have access to the regenerable stocks of material.
Their role in conservation has been at the forefront since
1970, after the great losses suffered in American and
Soviet corn production due to the loss of genetic diversity.
After these events, in 1974, the United States government
created the Department of Plant Genetic Resources
(nowadays known as IPGRI) which, at the same time, created
a world wide network of seed banks (gene banks).
This organization currently includes university programmes
on regeneration, government units of seed conservation
and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR), a worldwide organization constituted
by 16 agriculture research centres and founded to spread
the Green Revolution in the developing nations, assisted
by the World Bank and its international agencies.
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| Numerous
seed banks at present form a part of this resource and
joint collaboration: at the European level; European
Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET) which consists
of 19 banks; at a national level; the Conservatoires
Nationaux Botaniques Français, in France; the
REDBAG, in Spain, and the new RIBES, in Italy. Photo
( from left to right) : Agronomic Mediterranian Institut
of Chania – Creta (© MAICh) and Institut
Botànic de Barcelona-Catalunya (© Arxiu
- IJBB), partners of the GENMEDOC project. |
It is important to underline that seed banks are mainly
focused on conservation of agronomic varieties and their
respective wild species. In fact, 90% of all accessions
currently present in seed banks are of food species and
common plants that are produced intensively on a worldwide
scale and have an enormous economical importance. Since
1980, IPGRI is interested in numerous crops (mainly wheat
and corn), which are kept in seed banks as “cultivars”
and “varieties”.
The main exception to this tendency is represented by the
English Millenium Seed Bank (MSB), which conserves more
than 21.400 accessions of 10.417 wild species from 113 countries
and aims to preserve a collection representative of a quarter
of the world flora (24.000 species).
The recent increase in seed banks for threatened wild flora
conservation is a consequence of different regional initiatives
for biodiversity conservation, such as Agenda
21, and to fulfil conservation duties foreseen in the
Convenció sobre
la Diversitat Biològica.
For these banks, rarity, vulnerability and endemism criteria
are priority in the selection of the material to preserve
and regenerate. However, species normally considered as
marginal but of biodiversity importance in a particular
territory are not forgotten.
Following FAO agreements, at present, there are around 6
million plants conserved thanks to the activity of seed
banks. But this figure only represents a small part of the
world biodiversity and many regions of our planet still
do not have planned actions of this kind.
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| Seeds
have a natural characteristic, called “dormancy”,
which permits their conservation during long periods
in suitable conditions and with limited damage. To preserve,
in seed banks, the dormant seeds of rare or threatened
species, or species of alimentary interest for man,
is a type of “genetic insurance” against
the risk of their extinction in nature. In the photos:
some species preserved in the seed bank of Mediterranian
Agronomic Institut of Chania (Creta). From left to right:
: Alyssum fragilimum; Juniperus oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa;
Phoenix theophrasti (© C.Fournaraki - MAICh). |
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| Sources:
Tuxill
J. - Appreciating the benefits of plant biodiversity: Stored
for safekeeping - - link
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