Seed Banks to Maintain Biodiversity

• Seed bank: a facility where seeds of various food crops and wild plants are stored in an effort to maintain biodiversity
• Large numbers of wild plants in nature are endangered, because of destruction of habitats and climate change
• By storing seeds of these endangered plants, their extinction may be prevented
• Approximately 150 plant crops worldwide make up the staple food cultivated for human consumption
• These plants have variations, making them more drought resistant or frost-resistant, more nutritious, or more pest- or disease resistant
• Crops are cultivated to emphasize these desirable qualities at the cost of variation
• A plant that is cultivated with only one variation may be highly vulnerable
• A new disease brought by evolution can attack these plants and cause large-scale destruction
• If the seeds of this plant are stored in a seed bank, this specific variety will not die out
• The seeds in seed banks are stored in cold, dry conditions
• Since DNA breaks down after sometime, the seeds must be planted after a certain period of time to that fresh seeds can be collected for the next period of long term storage
• Seeds stored in seed banks are used to:

  • re-establish endangered or extinct plants
  • rehabilitate damaged or destroyed habitats
  • Cultivate plants that are overexploited
  • cultivate new hybrids that are hardier and more resistant to disease
  • conserve endemic species
• The protection of plant diversity is essential for food security as well as ecological well-being