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A '''seedbank''' stores [[seed]]s as a source for planting in case seed reserves elsewhere are destroyed. It is a type of [[gene bank]]. The seeds stored may be [[food crop]]s, or those of rare species to protect [[biodiversity]]. The reasons for storing seeds may be varied, in the case of food crops many useful plants were developed over centuries and are now no longer used for commercial agricultural production and are becoming rare. Storing seeds also guards against catastrophic events like [[natural disaster]]s, outbreaks of disease, or [[war]].

==Seed dormancy==
*'''Orthodox seeds'''. These seeds have a natural [[dormancy]] feature, which allows for their long term storage with little damage to [[DNA]], provided they are kept in a cool, dry environment. These seeds can remain viable for decades and are easily stored in seedbanks.
*'''Recalcitrant seeds'''. These seeds cannot be stored at low humidity and subzero temperature without damaging the [[germplasm]]. They must be continuously replanted to replenish seed stocks. Some examples are the seeds of cocoa and rubber.

==Optimal storage conditions==
Seeds are dried to a moisture content of less than 6%. The seeds are then stored in freezers at -18°C or below. Because seed [[DNA]] degrades with time, the seeds need to be periodically replanted and fresh seeds collected for another round of long term storage.

==Challenges==
* Stored specimens have to be regularly replanted when they begin to lose viability.
* Only a limited number of the world's biodiversity are stored.
* It is impossible to store [[recalcitrant seed|recalcitrant seeds]].
* Only 15% of all seedbanked plants are wild species; the remainder are crops.
* There is a need for improvement of cataloging and data management. The documentation should include identity of the plant stored, location of the sampling, number of seeds stored and viability state. Other information, such as farming systems in which the crops were grown, or rotations they formed, should also be available to future farmers.
* The financial cost of facilities are expensive for [[third world]] countries which contain the most biodiversity.
* Seed banks may be accused of [[biopiracy]].

== Alternatives==
[[In-situ conservation]] of seed producing plant species is another [[Conservation movement|conservation]] strategy. In-situ conservation involves the creation of [[National Park]]s; [[National Forest]]s; and [[National Wildlife Refuge]]s as a way of preserving the natural habitat of the targeted seed producing organisms. In-situ conservation of agricultural resources is performed on-farm. This also allows the plants to continue to evolve with their environment through natural selection. An [[arboretum]] stores trees by planting them at a protected site.

==Longevity==
{{main|Oldest viable seed}}
Seeds may be viable for hundreds and even thousands of years. The oldest [[carbon-14]]-dated seed that has grown into a viable plant was a [[Judean date palm]] seed about 2,000 years old, recovered from excavations at [[Herod the Great]]'s palace in [[Israel]]. <ref>[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1122_051122_old_seed.html National Geographic]</ref>

== Facilities ==
There are about 6 million accessions -- samples of a particular population -- stored as seeds in about 1,300 genebanks throughout the world as of 2006. This amount represents a small fraction of the world's [[biodiversity]], and many regions of the world have not been [[bioprospection|bioprospected]] fully.

*The [[Svalbard International Seed Vault]] will be built inside a mountain in a man made tunnel on the frozen [[Norway|Norwegian]] island of [[Spitsbergen]]. It will be designed to survive catastrophes such as [[nuclear war]], [[hurricane]]s, and world war. It will be operated by the [[Global Crop Diversity Trust]]. A tunnel will be created in a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen, which is part of the [[Svalbard]] archipelago, about 966 kilometers (600 miles) from the North Pole. The area's [[permafrost]] will keep the vault below the freezing point of water and the seeds will be protected by 1-metre thick walls of steel-reinforced concrete. There will be two airlocks and two blast-proof doors.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/09/climate.deep.freeze.reut/index.html?eref=rss_space Work starts on Arctic seed vault]</ref>

*The Wellcome Trust Millennium Building (WTMB) houses the [[Millennium Seed Bank Project]]. It is located at [[Wakehurst Place]] in [[West Sussex]]. It provides space for the storage of thousands of seed samples in an underground vault.<ref>[http://www.kew.org/msbp/ UK Millennium Seed Bank Project]</ref>

*[[Nikolai Vavilov]] (1887-1943) was a [[Russia|Russian]] geneticist and botanist who, through botanic-agronomic expeditions, collected seeds from all over the world. He set up one of the first seedbanks, in [[Leningrad]] (now St Petersburg), which survived the 28 month [[Siege of Leningrad]] in [[World War II]]. It is now known as the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry.

== See also ==
*[[Agroecology]]
*[[Arboretum]]
*[[Biodiversity]]
*[[Conservation movement]]
*[[Gene bank]]
*[[Gene pool]]
*[[Germplasm]]
*[[Heirloom plant]]
*[[International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture]]
*[[List of Conservation topics]]
*[[Millennium Seed Bank Project]]
*[[Seed]]
*[[Seed company]]
*[[Seed saving]]
*[[Soil Seed Bank]]
*[[Sustainability]]

==References==
<references/>

== External links ==
* [http://www.primalseeds.org/bioloss.htm Primal Seeds: Seed Banks]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4605398.stm BBC: Planned Norwegian seed bank]
* [http://www.nal.usda.gov/pgdic/germplasm/germplasm.html USDA: Seed Banks and Germplasm]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13409404/ MSNBC: Norwegian seedbank]

[[Category:Conservation]]
[[Category:Agriculture]]
[[Category:Plant reproduction]]

Seedbank - Revision history

MediaWiki default at 07:36, 16 September 2007