Comments on: Rethinking the Resurrection Initiative

By: Berry Go Round #10

Berry Go Round #10 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:38:00 +0000

[...] flora, there simply are no fauna, which explains why well-stocked seed banks are so critical to our long-term survival.Â Ecology is all about relationships; the purpose of [...]

By: Eliseu Bettencourt

Eliseu Bettencourt — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:31:39 +0000

The article, indeed, conveys a good idea (re-collecting) but certainly not a novel one.
In the 80′s of the last century, it has been already stated that, for crops, wild relatives and wild species it can never be said that the collecting, although thorough at a certain point in time and in a given area, is done in a definite way. That is, because adaptative process continues, diversity changes, in a word, evolution keeps on.
Re-collecting, both to asess and measure genetic erosion that occur, in crops and wild species, and to capture the new genetic combinations, has been a commom practice carried out by PGR workers.
I do agree, and would like to reiterate that, the genebank community has not been curating museums, far from that, the genebank community has been curating diversity on behalf of the wide users’ community. Worldwide, the existing genebanks (estimated at about 1,500) maintaining an estimated 6 million accessions, have been actively promoting the sustainable utilisation of the materials they conserve. That diversity is the founder blocks on what breeding, training and research have been build on. The diversity maintained in genebanks around the world is the guarantee to meet the challenges humanity faces due to climate change, water shortage and the so much needed food security.
The genebank community has been the driving force in capturing plant diversity and conserving, studying, documenting and promoting its sustainable utilisation for the benefit of the present and future generation. Genebanks have and will continue to be the main elements in conservation and utilisation of biodiversity.

By: Luigi

Luigi — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:58:17 +0000

The numbers are dodgy, but by one count there are 1,500 genebanks in the world. Most of them are not a sustainable financial footing. Seeds do indeed need to be stored cold – after drying – and their viability needs to be monitored and regeneration carried out as necessary. That all takes money. You’re certainly right about the need to centralize information, hence this.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:16:40 +0000

You know, maybe having a distributed seed bank in addition to big mega vaults would be a good idea. God knows people like to collect things, so why not harness that tendency and have people around the world keep small collections of seeds. A central authority would only be needed to keep track of who has what and provide the proper materials and education for preserving seeds. I don’t know much about seed banking, but one potential problem is refrigeration: if these seeds need to be stored cold, I think it would greatly reduce the number of collectors.