by Dallas Baxter

“I’d like to talk with you about participating in a global seed collecting effort.” The voice on the end of the phone was Michael Eason, Conservation Program Manager at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin.

The “you” was both members of the Big Bend chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas and interested persons from all over the Trans-Pecos.

So out Eason came to Alpine in March to talk - and to begin our participation in what is a truly mind-boggling project: to collect seed from 10% of the worlds 242,000 dryland species of plants by 2010. This collection is against the day when natural or human disasters, like fire or war, or crucial changes like global warming, land conversion, desertification, or loss of diversity through mono-culture plant breeding should cause plant species to disappear.

If the importance of saving these species is lost on you, a reminder that all life on earth depends on plants is in order. When plant diversity is lost, animal diversity is also lost because food sources and habitat disappear. This could cause the biological systems that are needed to support life on planet Earth to collapse. This is an important project.

While Eason works through the Wildflower Center, his real employer is the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, outside London, probably the crown jewel of botanic gardens. Kew is the custodian of the world’s largest portfolio of plant species that have gone from the wild. So this huge conservation effort is a natural project for them.

Kew has had a seed bank since the 70’s, but with the coming of the year 2000, the global project was seen as a fitting marker of the turn of the millennium.

Kew has assigned a coordinator for each of 4 world regions. The coordinators then have enlisted countries within their regions and sponsoring organizations within those countries, such as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in the U.S., the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority in Western Australia, the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development in Saudi Arabia and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute – to date hundreds organizations in countries worldwide have both official and unofficial agreements with Kew.

Scientists talk about conservation in place (in situ) and out of place (ex situ). While in situ conservation would certainly be easier and cheaper, factors such as drought, flood, development, etc. can so affect a place that conservation of species isn’t practical, or even possible.

Collecting and storing seeds in a seed bank is an excellent ex situ choice that allows seed to be stored in a relatively small space with low labor costs, making it possible to inexpensively maintain large samples with wide genetic representation.

Cleaned seed in special encoded jars ready to go into the seed bank vault at -20 degrees centigrade. (DB)

But the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP) takes an important additional step beyond simply collecting seed.

Kew botanists provide training, technology transfer, capacity building and joint collecting expeditions to scientists from the partner countries. Working alongside local partners and exchanging knowledge with them enhances the pooling of skills and experience. Kew offers its partners training and research into seed storage and appropriate technology.

The partner can select what can and cannot be done with the seed banked at Kew. They are also free to use half of the banked seed in whatever way is appropriate for them, making the MSBP banked seed a duplicate storage facility for partners wishing to back up their seed collections.

MSBP partners harvest seed from plants important to the local population as well as those that are rare or threatened with extinction.

Seeds held by the MSBP partners could be used for habitat restoration and reintroduction of rare species as well as research to find new and sustainable ways in which plants can benefit society – medical treatment, agriculture or materials for industry. It is the local sustainability of the project that is high on Kew’s list of priorities.

So, we begin with seed collecting. Headquarters for the seed bank is located at Wakehurst Place, Kew’s “country garden” in West Sussex, about half an hour south of Gatwick Airport.

The Millennium Seed Bank building – the raised beds are planted with rare plant species from the U. K. The glass walls make it possible to watch work in the labs as well as learning from the interactive exhibits in the visitors’ center. (DB)

Some partners send all of their seed to be kept at Kew if they have no seed bank of their own. Other partners keep half the seed locally and send the other half to Kew. And a third group, Texas included, sends all of its seed to Kew and takes half of it back for its own seed bank at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin.

Each batch of seed that arrives at Kew is carefully dried and cleaned and tested for viability before going into storage at 15% humidity, -20 degrees centigrade. The vast majority of seed collected will tolerate this dry cold storage, and many are expected to remain viable in storage for at least 200 years.

Specimens of the stored seed are periodically tested to be sure they are will germinate.

Since 2000 when the project began, over 13,000 species have been collected, about 5.5% of the 10% goal. But the past six years have also been a time when teams around the world have been put in place, strategies invented and reinvented and surer methods found for the successful collection and conservation of the seed. Project leaders are optimistic that their goals will be reached by the 2010 deadline.

Now seed gatherers in Trans Pecos Texas will join a worldwide community in gathering seed – this time the seeds will be collected from plants native to our part of the state. Training sessions for volunteers will be held at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis July 29 and 30.

Volunteers will be trained to collect seed by Eason and Kew staffer Stephanie Miles. Because many climactic factors affect each plant’s seed bearing capability, it may be several seasons before the goal of 10 to 20 thousand viable seeds of each plant species is reached.

Local coordination is essential and in Alpine, Patty Manning, manager of the native plant green houses at Sul Ross State University, is rounding up volunteers and assisting the Kew scientists with locating sites for seed collection.

“We are all affected by loss of habitat in one way or another,” said Manning. “Any effort that will provide a source of seed for the future is beneficial to all of us who are dependent on plants.

Also, (the project) is beneficial in providing a venue for learning what grows here, in what contexts and in what combinations and what shows up or doesn’t from one year to the next. In learning what is unique to this area and what is shared with other parts of Texas, adjoining states and/or Mexico.  I think that once a person gets out and sees the various contexts of these plants, it engenders an appreciation for the big picture,” Manning said.

Once a list of priority species is drawn up, all recorded locations of the species must be researched. Information including local knowledge, the size of the plant population, its accessibility and the right time for seed collection is gathered. 

Manning said she is eager “to recruit other potential volunteers or private landowners to participate in the project. Private land is important because it circumvents the necessity of having permits, keeps the paperwork to an efficient minimum, and with landowners permission, volunteers can have access to the land much easier. Also, it helps landowners learn more about the plants on their property.”  

Those interested in participating in the training or inviting the project to survey the plants on their property may contact Michael Eason at meason@wildflower.org 

To learn details about this project, visit Kew Gardens.

With a BFA Design, UT-Austin & M. Div., New York Theological Seminary, Dallas Baxter finds her garden is the natural place for design and theology to coincide. She has been a student of the Big Bend since arriving here seven years ago.

Rows of seed in specially constructed below-ground vaults. (DB)