Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study
The science is clear – significant reductions in tropical montane (TM) habitats are projected to occur by the end of this century. Urgent action is needed to build the resilience of TM flora and understand its adaptive capacity to climate change. Seed banking is the most widely employed ex situ cons...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002627 |
| _version_ | 1797650698809114624 |
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| author | Gemma L. Hoyle Karen D. Sommerville Ganesha S. Liyanage Stuart Worboys Lydia K. Guja Amelia V. Stevens Darren M. Crayn |
| author_facet | Gemma L. Hoyle Karen D. Sommerville Ganesha S. Liyanage Stuart Worboys Lydia K. Guja Amelia V. Stevens Darren M. Crayn |
| author_sort | Gemma L. Hoyle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The science is clear – significant reductions in tropical montane (TM) habitats are projected to occur by the end of this century. Urgent action is needed to build the resilience of TM flora and understand its adaptive capacity to climate change. Seed banking is the most widely employed ex situ conservation tool, providing insurance against plant species extinction and germplasm for associated research. However, tropical forest floras are grossly under-represented in seed banks due to historic assumptions and generalisations regarding collection, storage and germination of tropical forest seeds. In Australia, the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of northeast Queensland contains tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) in which > 70 endemic, seed-bearing species are at high risk of extinction. To mitigate this risk, we synthesised current seed science knowledge from TM plant communities around the world and examined what we know about collection, storage behaviour and germination of TM seeds. Included are our own preliminary investigations into seed banking of Australian TMCF flora. We argue that seed banking is applicable to more TM biodiversity than previously assumed and that a global effort to broaden ex situ conservation to include TM flora is needed. Making use of all the seed/gene banking tools available today, we call for a nationwide coordinated effort to establish a secure network of ex situ germplasm collections of Australian TMCF flora. Seed science research needed to inform and accelerate ex situ conservation of TMCF flora is also discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:05:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-86ac3653551f4786b5199178dbe59456 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:05:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj.art-86ac3653551f4786b5199178dbe594562023-10-25T04:16:16ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942023-11-0147e02627Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case studyGemma L. Hoyle0Karen D. Sommerville1Ganesha S. Liyanage2Stuart Worboys3Lydia K. Guja4Amelia V. Stevens5Darren M. Crayn6National Seed Bank, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Parks Australia, Clunies Ross St, Acton, ACT, Australia; Corresponding author.The Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Narellan Road, Mount Annan, NSW, AustraliaThe Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Narellan Road, Mount Annan, NSW, AustraliaAustralian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University Nguma-Bada Campus, McGregor Road, Smithfield, QLD, AustraliaNational Seed Bank, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Parks Australia, Clunies Ross St, Acton, ACT, Australia; Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, (a joint venture between Parks Australia and CSIRO), Clunies Ross St, Acton, ACT, AustraliaNational Seed Bank, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Parks Australia, Clunies Ross St, Acton, ACT, AustraliaAustralian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University Nguma-Bada Campus, McGregor Road, Smithfield, QLD, Australia; Centre for Tropical Environmental Sustainability Science, James Cook University Nguma-Bada Campus, McGregor Road, Smithfield, QLD, AustraliaThe science is clear – significant reductions in tropical montane (TM) habitats are projected to occur by the end of this century. Urgent action is needed to build the resilience of TM flora and understand its adaptive capacity to climate change. Seed banking is the most widely employed ex situ conservation tool, providing insurance against plant species extinction and germplasm for associated research. However, tropical forest floras are grossly under-represented in seed banks due to historic assumptions and generalisations regarding collection, storage and germination of tropical forest seeds. In Australia, the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of northeast Queensland contains tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) in which > 70 endemic, seed-bearing species are at high risk of extinction. To mitigate this risk, we synthesised current seed science knowledge from TM plant communities around the world and examined what we know about collection, storage behaviour and germination of TM seeds. Included are our own preliminary investigations into seed banking of Australian TMCF flora. We argue that seed banking is applicable to more TM biodiversity than previously assumed and that a global effort to broaden ex situ conservation to include TM flora is needed. Making use of all the seed/gene banking tools available today, we call for a nationwide coordinated effort to establish a secure network of ex situ germplasm collections of Australian TMCF flora. Seed science research needed to inform and accelerate ex situ conservation of TMCF flora is also discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002627Cloud forestSeed bankingEx situ conservationTropicalClimate changeExceptional seeds |
| spellingShingle | Gemma L. Hoyle Karen D. Sommerville Ganesha S. Liyanage Stuart Worboys Lydia K. Guja Amelia V. Stevens Darren M. Crayn Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study Global Ecology and Conservation Cloud forest Seed banking Ex situ conservation Tropical Climate change Exceptional seeds |
| title | Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study |
| title_full | Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study |
| title_fullStr | Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study |
| title_short | Seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed: A review and cloud forest case study |
| title_sort | seed banking is more applicable to the preservation of tropical montane flora than previously assumed a review and cloud forest case study |
| topic | Cloud forest Seed banking Ex situ conservation Tropical Climate change Exceptional seeds |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989423002627 |
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