Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Gaps in seed banking are compromising the GSPC’s Target 8 in a megadiverse country

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ex situ seed conservation is an effective strategy to help safeguarding plants from extinction. The updated Global Strategy for Plant Conservation’s (GSPC) Target 8 aims to include 75% of threatened plant species in ex situ collections by 2020, preferably in the country of origin. Halfway through the updated GSPC program, we evaluate the current state of knowledge and practice of ex situ seed conservation of threatened species from megadiverse Brazilian flora, contributing to this Target. We identify knowledge gaps and costs to achieve Target 8 through seed banking in Brazil within the time constraints of the GSPC and in a scenario of recent science budget funding cuts. Knowledge on seed storage behavior is available only for 24 Brazilian species (1.3%). Seed desiccation tolerance was concluded for 175 of 228 species, feasibly allowing safe storage of most Brazilian species at sub-zero temperatures. However, only 26 species (1.3%) are effectively banked in research institutions. Surprisingly, the percentage of banked threatened species hardly increased in the first 5 years since the update of the Target (0.55%, 2011–2015), and Brazil now faces the challenge of banking almost 1500 species during 2016–2020. Despite a major lack of commitment of Brazilian institutions and of knowledge to achieve the Target, the costs for banking the remaining species were estimated to be only US$3.9 million. We call for a nationwide coordinated effort of government agencies, policy makers and research institutions to include ex situ seed conservation in the environmental agenda to pursue achievement of the Target by 2020.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alton S, Linington S (2001) The UK Flora Programme of the Millenium Seed Bank Project: the outcome of a collaboration between volunteers and professionals. Plant Genet Resour Newsl 128:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernard E, Penna LAO, Araújo E (2014) Downgrading, downsizing, degazettement, and reclassification of protected areas in Brazil. Conserv Biol 28:939–950

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • BGCI (2016) Botanic Gardens Conservation International. http://www.bgci.org. Accessed 19 Apr 2016

  • Cai J (2015) Seed conservation of China’s flora through the germplasm bank of wild species. BGjournal 12:22–24

    Google Scholar 

  • CBD (2010) Conference of the Parties 10 Decision X/17. Consolidated update of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020. Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya

  • CHABG (2011) Safeguarding Australia’s flora through a national network of native plant seed banks: business plan 2011–2020. The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Inc., Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Dias BS, Hoft R (2013) Challenges facing implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation in Brazil. In: Martinelli G, Moraes MA (eds) Red Book of Brazilian flora. Nacional Center for Flora Conservation, Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Rio de Janeiro, pp 26–39. http://www.cncflora.jbrj.gov.br. Accessed 10 Oct 2016

  • Ellis RH, Hong TD, Roberts EH (1990) An intermediate category of seed storage behavior? J Exp Bot 41:1167–1174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feeley KJ, Silman MR (2009) Extinction risks of Amazonian plant species. Proc Natl Acad Sci 106:12382–12383

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira J, Aragão LEOC, Barlow J, Barreto P, Berenguer E, Bustamante M et al (2014) Brazil’s environmental leadership at risk. Science 346:706–707

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Forzza RC, Baumgratz JFA, Bicudo CEM, Canhos DA, Carvalho AA, Coelho MAN, Lohmann LG (2012) New Brazilian floristic list highlights conservation challenges. Bioscience 62:39–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu Y, Ahmed Z, Diederichsen A (2015) Towards a better monitoring of seed ageing under ex situ seed conservation. Conserv Physiol 3:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galluzzi G, Halewood M, López Noriega I, Vernooy R (2016) Twenty-five years of international exchanges of plant genetic resources facilitated by the CGIAR genebanks: a case study on global interdependence. Biodivers Conserv 25:1421–1446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia LC, Ribeiro DB, Roque FO, Ochoa-Quintero JM, Laurance WE (2016) Brazil’s worst mining disaster: corporations must be compelled to pay the actual environmental costs. Ecol Applic. doi:10.1002/eap.1461

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibney E (2015) Brazilian science paralysed by economic slump. Nature 526:16–17

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godefroid S, Vyver AV, Vanderborght T (2010) Germination capacity and viability of threatened species collections in seed banks. Biodivers Conserv 19:1365–1383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godefroid S, Rivière S, Waldren S, Boretos N, Eastwood R, Vanderborght T (2011) To what extent are threatened European plant species conserved in seed banks? Biol Conserv 144:1494–1498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardwick KA, Fiedler P, Lee LC, Pavlik B, Hobbs RJ, Aronson J et al (2011) The role of botanic gardens in the science and practice of ecological restoration. Conserv Biol 5:265–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Havens K, Vitt P, Maunder M, Guerrant EO Jr, Dixon K (2006) Ex-situ plant conservation and beyond. Bioscience 56:525–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hay FR, Probert RJ (2013) Advances in seed conservation of wild plant species: a review of recent research. Conserv Physiol 1:cot030. doi:10.1093/conphys/cot030

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • IUCN (2015) The IUCN Red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 19 Feb 2016

  • Kildisheva OA, Erickson TE, Merritt DJ, Dixon KW (2016) Setting the scene for dryland recovery: an overview and key findings from a workshop targeting seed-based restoration. Restor Ecol 24:36–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • León-Lobos P, Wayc M, Arandad PD, Lima-Juniore M (2012) The role of ex situ seed banks in the conservation of plant diversity and in ecological restoration in Latin America. Plant Ecol Divers 5:245–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li DZ, Pritchard HW (2009) The science and economics of ex situ plant conservation. Trends Plant Sci 14:1360–1385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maunder M, Guerrant EO, Havens K, Dixon KW (2004) Realizing the full potential of ex situ contributions to global plant conservation. In: Guerrant EO, Havens K, Maunder M (eds) Ex situ plant conservation: supporting species survival in the wild. Island Press, Washington DC, pp 389–418

    Google Scholar 

  • MMA (2014) Portaria MMA/443/2014 of 17 December 2014 on the “Lista Nacional de Espécies da Flora Ameaçadas de Extinção”. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília

    Google Scholar 

  • MMA (2015) Fifth National Report to the CBD: Brazil. Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Brasília

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers N, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, Fonseca GAB, Kent J (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad D, Soares-Filho BS, Merry F, Lima A, Moutinho P, Carter J et al (2009) The end of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Science 326:1350–1351

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira U, Paglia AP, Brescovit AD, Carvalho CJB, Silva DP, Rezende DT, Leite FSF et al (2016) The strong influence of collection bias on biodiversity knowledge shortfalls of Brazilian terrestrial biodiversity. Divers Distrib. doi:10.1111/ddi.12489

    Google Scholar 

  • Pritchard HW, Moat JF, Ferraz JBS, Marks TM, Camargo JLC, Nadarajan J, Ferraz IDK (2014) Innovative approaches to the preservation of forest trees. For Ecol Manag 333:88–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro GVT, Teixido AL, Barbosa NPU, Silveira FAO (2016) Assessing bias and knowledge gaps on seed ecology research: implications for conservation agenda and policy. Ecol Appl 26:2033–2043

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts EH (1973) Predicting the storage life of seeds. Seed Sci Technol 1:499–514

    Google Scholar 

  • Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (2016) Seed information database (SID). Version 7.1. http://data.kew.org/sid/. Accessed 11 July 2016

  • Scarano F, Guimarães A, da Silva JM (2012) Rio+20: lead by example. Nature 486:25–26

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schoen DJ, Brown AH (2001) The conservation of wild plant species in seed banks attention to both taxonomic coverage and population biology will improve the role of seed banks as conservation tools. Bioscience 51:960–966

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharrock S, Oldfield S, Wilson O (2014) Plant Conservation Report 2014: A review of progress in implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011–2020. CBD, Montréal, and BGCI, Richmond

  • Soares-Filho B, Rajão R, Macedo M, Carneiro A, Costa W, Coe M et al (2014) Cracking Brazil’s forest code. Science 344:363–364

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sousa-Baena MS, Garcia LC, Peterson AT (2014) Knowledge behind conservation status decisions: data basis for “Data Deficient” Brazilian plant species. Biol Conserv 173:80–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ter Steege H, Pitman NC, Killeen TJ, Laurance WF, Peres CA, Guevara JE (2015) Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species. Sci Adv 1:e1500936

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Walters C, Wheeler LJ, Grotenhuis JM (2005) Longevity of seeds stored in a genebank: species characteristics. Seed Sci Res 15:1–20

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walters C, Berjak P, Pammenter N, Kennedy K, Raven P (2013) Preservation of recalcitrant seeds. Science 339:915–916

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weigand Jr R, Silva DC, Silva DO (2011) Metas de Aichi: situação atual no Brasil. UICN, WWF-Brasil and IPÊ, Brasília

Download references

Acknowledgements

Two anonymous reviewers provided constructive comments to improve the manuscript. We thank IBAMA, IAC, IF, CENARGEN-Embrapa and INPA. We are grateful to J.G. Pádua (CENARGEN-Embrapa), M. Pimentel (FZB-BH), G. Martinelli, R. Forzza and M.L. Costa (JBRJ) for providing unpublished data; and J.C. Moreno and J.B. Dickie for providing constructive comments. A.L.T., L.L.F. and T.J.G. received a post-graduate scholarship from CAPES. F.A.O.S. received a productivity grant from CNPq.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 30161-970, Brazil

    Alberto L. Teixido, Lisieux F. Fuzessy, Tadeu J. Guerra & Fernando A. O. Silveira

  2. Comparative Plant and Fungal Biology Department, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, RH17 67N, UK

    Peter E. Toorop

  3. Collections Department, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Wakehurst Place, Ardingly, RH17 67N, UK

    Udayangani Liu

  4. Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 30161-970, Brazil

    Guilherme V. T. Ribeiro

Authors
  1. Alberto L. Teixido
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Peter E. Toorop
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Udayangani Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guilherme V. T. Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lisieux F. Fuzessy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tadeu J. Guerra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Fernando A. O. Silveira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto L. Teixido.

Additional information

Communicated by Daniel Sanchez Mata.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Ex-situ conservation.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOC 102 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (XLS 69 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Teixido, A.L., Toorop, P.E., Liu, U. et al. Gaps in seed banking are compromising the GSPC’s Target 8 in a megadiverse country. Biodivers Conserv 26, 703–716 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1267-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1267-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation