Seedbanks allow scientists to study seeds
and learn how best to keep them alive.
Image: iStockphoto
A new technique for storing Australian orchid seeds and their fungal mates could save more than 60 endangered orchid species from extinction in NSW alone.
The orchid species and the fungus that each requires to germinate will now be stored in a seaweed-based gel that will keep them alive for longer.
The conservation breakthrough was made possible by the partnership of the New South Wales Seedbank with the Millennium Seed Bank founded by the UK’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
The Millennium Seed Bank announced on 15 October that it was celebrating collecting, banking and conserving 10 per cent of the world’s wild plant species by banking its 24,200th species. A target of 25 per cent of the world’s plant species has been set for 2020.
This is the first time many of the species have been collected and – equally important -- the conditions under which they will survive, germinate and grow have been researched and documented.
“Identifying the particular fungus that each Australian orchid species requires for its seeds to germinate, and storing the seeds and their fungal partners in a seaweed-based gel developed by the Millennium Seed Bank has transformed our capacity to conserve endangered orchid species," said Executive Director of the Botanic Gardens Trust, Dr Tim Entwisle.
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