SEED BANKING

Dandelion Seeds

General Definition:

Seed Banking’s goal is to preserve seeds as food security for our future.  It is an example of conserving biodiversity in action.

Seed Banks are considered seed libraries, containing valuable information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress, and can be used to create genetically modified versions of existing seeds.

General Information:

There are over 1,000 Seed Banks globally.  In the world today over 40% of plant species are vulnerable to extinction.  Factors like pollution, climate change and habitat loss all contribute to this alarming percentage.

Seed Banks require funding along with long term care and upkeep. Some plants such as bananas, avocados, mangroves and about 20% of our native forest species cannot be stored in the conventional manner. 

A study published in 2018 in the journal Nature Plants revealed that 36% of endangered plant species cannot be stored in seed banks because their seeds are recalcitrant, meaning they cannot withstand the drying process necessary for long-term storage in a seed bank.

Preserving Process:

In professional seed banks, such as the International Seed Bank, seeds are flash-frozen at temperatures as low as -20°C to -40°C. These seeds are stored in controlled conditions that remain consistently below -20°C

throughout their storage life.

Seeds in Seed Banks need to be regularly tested for viability and replenished to ensure their long-term preservation.

History of Seed Banks:

Nikolai Vavilov, a Biologist from Russia collected 150,000 plus different seeds.  They were stored at an institute in St Petersburg, Russia in 1894 which became the world's first seed bank - Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry.

Seed Banks around the World:

The Svalbard Global

Seed Vault, sometimes called "Doomsday Vault," is owned and funded by the Norwegian government.  Located beyond the Arctic Circle, it’s the world's largest secure seed storage, opened by the Norwegian Government in February 2008. From all across the globe, crates of seeds are sent here for safe and secure long-term storage in cold and dry rock vaults.  The seeds here can be used to recreate valuable plant varieties whose seed collections in a local gene bank are lost.  It safeguards seed samples from almost every country globally, with room for millions more.

In the US, The National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation which is in Fort Collins, Colorado, is a key component of the USDA's agricultural research program. This vault is considered one of the world's largest seed banks, holding over a million seed samples.  In addition it also houses cryogenic freezer capsules containing animal embryos, semen, and microbes.

It is a vital resource for preserving plant genetic diversity.

The Kew Millennium Seed Bank located in Wakehurst, England is the largest wild seed bank in the world.  (MSB) is the most diverse wild plant species genetic resource in the world, with over 2.4 billion seeds representing almost 40,000 different species. 

You can create your own Seed Bank at home by saving seeds produced from your plants year after year like I do.  It can be a fun surprise when some flower seeds I plant the following year come up in different colors! 

Lotus Seeds