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Abstract Detail


Plenary Symposium: Protecting the Diversity of Plants

Prance, Ghillean [1].

Ex situ Conservation: Second best, but increasingly Important.

It is obvious that in situ conservation is the best way for protecting the diversity of plants since it allows interactions and evolution to continue. However, with the extreme threats to species today from habitat destruction and climate change ex situ conservation is becoming increasingly more important. This has given botanic gardens a special responsibility and conservation has now become high on their agendas both for research and practical conservation.
There are now various options for ex situ conservation and it is important to choose the best methods for any individual species. Seed storage is becoming more used and a review of the work of the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew will be given. For species with recalcitrant seed other methods are essential such as growing in gardens, field gene banks and in vitro methods of maintaining and storing tissue. This often also uses cryopreservation. Other important tools are pollen storage of the male parent and DNA storage. It is important that practical ex situ conservation is accompanied by active research programs to further improve methods and to gather data about behaviour in ex situ situations.


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1 - University of Reading, School of Biological Sciences, UK

Keywords:
Ex situ conservation
Seed storage
Millenium Seed Bank.

Presentation Type: Symposium or Colloquium Presentation
Session: SY06
Location: International Ballroom/Hilton
Date: Wednesday, July 11th, 2007
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: SY06005
Abstract ID:1269


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