Ex Situ Conservation Guidelines: Linking Ex-Situ Collections to In-Situ Conservation Actions

Johnny reviews the Center for Plant Conservation best practices related to the link between ex situ and in situ actions. Ex situ collections held as seeds or whole plants can help with research on germination or cultivation and reintroductions to the wild. He discusses clues that may trigger ex situ action, reviews the organizations that help guide the practice, and describes the link to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. He reviews patterns of where seed banking is practiced in the world and where it is needed and discusses the continuum of seed types that require different efforts for ex situ conservation. He briefly describes ethics and prioritization for collections, protocols for sampling genetic diversity, and techniques for processing orthodox seeds. Genetic concerns about ex situ collections include genetic drift, adaptation to cultivation, mutation accumulation and artificial selection.  He showcases the NCBG program and accomplishments with partners.

This work was presented at the Southeast Partners in Plant Conservation (SePPCon) 2016 Meeting. Learn more about SePPCon here.

Johnny Randall, North Carolina Botanic Garden (SePPCon 2016)