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Seed banks preserve plant diversity
October 02, 2003'Some seed gene banks contain more higher plant species per square meter than anywhere else on the planet', write Simon Linington and colleagues of the Millenium Seed Bank, Kew, in the October issue of Biologist. This helps to 'ensure plant diversity is available long term for use in development or habitat restoration', they explain.
Although genetically uniform crop varieties can produce good yields, the plants may be more vulnerable to new diseases than traditional varieties. Seed banks underpin their replacement. Similarly, seed banks offer a valuable resource for reintroduction of many native wild plant species, lost through habitat destruction and fragmentation or out-competition by invading alien species.
Linington and colleagues comment: 'Seed banking cannot directly protect ecosystems.' However, 'it may offer the last line of defence for many plant populations'.
Institute of Biology
Scientists propose the creation of a new type of seed bank
While an international seed bank in a Norwegian island has been gathering news about its agricultural collection, a group of U.S. scientists has just published an article outlining a different kind of seed bank, one that proposes the gathering of wild species -- at intervals in the future -- effectively capturing evolution in action.
Predicting the perfect predator
Garlic mustard has become an invasive species in temperate forests across the United States, choking out native plants on forest floors and threatening ecosystem diversity.
University of Sussex launches world's first degree programme in 'seed banking'
Biologists are being offered the chance to help save the planet by enrolling in an innovative new postgraduate degree at the University of Sussex this autumn. Together with the world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the University is to offer the world's first degree programme in 'seed banking', which includes strategies for safeguarding the earth's most endangered plants. Wakehurst Place is the Royal Botanic Gardens' "country garden in West Sussex" and home of the Millennium Seed Bank. The largest seed bank in the world, it is part of an international collaborative plant-conservation initiative that aims to safeguard 24,000 plant species against extinction. The Millennium Seed
Pharoah`s ears
"Three years ago, a mummy was unrolled in London, and in its hand was a small bag of Wheat. Some grains of it were sown and vegetated. Its produce has again been sown . . . and has produced an average of 38 ears or spikes for each grain sown. To be sold in packets of 10 grains each at £1 per packet..." In 1843, when The Gardeners` Chronicle ran this ad, the public was crazy about ancient Egypt. And nothing was more fascinating than the notion that "mummy wheat", grain discovered in the tombs of kings-often in model granaries like this one-would spring to life after thousands of years. At £1 a packet, worth £60 today, people were paying for something more than a few stalks o
More Seed Bank Current Events and Seed Bank News Articles
| Seed banks, or seed morgues? (agriculture): An article from: The Futurist This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on March 1, 1996. The length of the article is 797 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.From the supplier: Continued... | |
 | Seed rain, soil seed bank, seed loss and regeneration of Castanopsis fargesii (Fagaceae) in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest [An article from: Forest Ecology and Management] by X. Du, Q. Guo, X. Gao, K. Ma This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: Understanding the seed rain and seed loss dynamics in the natural condition has important significance for revealing the... |
| Ecology of Soil Seed Banks | |
 | Impact of management on vegetation dynamics and seed bank formation of inland dune grassland in Hungary [An article from: Flora] by G. Matus, M. Papp, B. Tothmeresz This digital document is a journal article from Flora, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: Seed bank formation and 7 years of vegetation dynamics were studied on permanent plots of a dry sandy pasture, Cynodonti-Festucetum pseudovinae. A... |
 | Spatial pattern analysis of seeds of an arable soil seed bank and its relationship with above-ground vegetation in an arid region [An article from: Journal of Arid Environments] by S.S. Shaukat, I.A. Siddiqui This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Arid Environments, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: The composition and spatial pattern of weeds was analysed in an arable-soil seed bank after the harvest of wheat. Four... |
 | Importance of the seed bank for population viability and population monitoring in a threatened wetland herb [An article from: Biological Conservation] by V.M. Adams, D.M. Marsh, J.S. Knox This digital document is a journal article from Biological Conservation, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: Although demographic models have become increasingly important tools in plant conservation, few models have considered the... |
| Comparison of standing vegetation and seed bank composition one year following hardwood reforestation in Southwestern Ohio (1).: An article from: The Ohio Journal of Science by Cathlene I. Leary, Carolyn Howes-Keiffer This digital document is an article from The Ohio Journal of Science, published by Ohio Academy of Science on April 1, 2004. The length of the article is 5947 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation... | |
| Seed longevity in terrestrial orchids - Potential for persistent in situ seed banks [An article from: Biological Conservation] by D.F. Whigham, J.P. O'Neill, H.N. Rasmussen, Caldwe This digital document is a journal article from Biological Conservation, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: Terrestrial orchids typically produce numerous small seeds that contain very small nutrient reserves. The seeds are... |
| Postfire Seed Bank and Soil Conditions in a Blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima Torr.) Shrubland.: An article from: Bulletin (Southern California Academy of Sciences) by Simon A. Lei This digital document is an article from Bulletin (Southern California Academy of Sciences), published by Southern California Academy of Sciences on August 1, 2001. The length of the article is 5104 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can... | |
| Effects of Agriophyllum squarrosum seed banks on its colonization in a moving sand dune in Hunshandake Sand Land of China [An article from: Journal of Arid Environments] by B. Wen-Ming, B. Xue-Mei, L. Ling-Hao This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Arid Environments, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Description: A field study was conducted in a moving sand dune to detect the effects of different positions of the dune and the burial... |
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