REVIEW ARTICLE
Ex situ Conservation Efforts for Plant Diversity Protection with A Focus on Seeds
Hyejin Lee1, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 17
E-location ID: e187433152307250
Publisher ID: e187433152307250
DOI: 10.2174/18743315-v17-230822-2023-15
Article History:
Received Date: 12/03/2023Revision Received Date: 23/06/2023
Acceptance Date: 05/07/2023
Electronic publication date: 29/08/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Plant diversity underpins ecological systems and provides materials that sustain humanity. Yet, plant diversity is being lost at a rate unparalleled in recent history, and the threat largely comes from anthropogenic pressures. As an effort to halt the continuing loss of global plant diversity, ex situ conservation has been gaining momentum. This article reviews the current ex situ conservation approaches with particular attention to botanic gardens, seed banks, cryopreservation, and seed vaults. Botanic gardens and conventional seed banks present their advantages and issues for effective plant conservation with cryopreservation complementing them in useful ways. Seed vaults that store seeds permanently occupy a unique place in plant conservation efforts. Of the two existing vaults, the Svalbard vault appears to have established itself as a global institution for the public good by safeguarding food and agriculture seed. The Korean vault, a relatively newer institution, may need further strategic efforts to build its clear identity and comparative niche, and distinguish itself as a global facility. While sustainably conserving plant diversity is an uphill challenge, increasing participation in ex situ conservation will certainly facilitate coping with the challenge.
