Data Recording

The Seed Bank Database

Data for each Millennium Seed Bank seed collection is held in the Seed Bank Database (SBD), a relational database driven by Sybase. The data is organised in four main groups:

•  Donation data. A record of the field (collecting or 'passport') data including names and organisation of collectors, locality etc. An attempt has been made to make the field data as objective as possible. Indeed, due to the potential longevity of the seed collections, it is essential that the related data will be meaningful to scientists in coming years. To this end, Geographical Positioning System (GPS) data accurately pinpoints the location of collection. Such accurately recorded locations immediately lend themselves to use within a Geographical Information System (GIS) thereby allowing linkage to climatic and other data. Information on the plant's identification is also included. The identification concerned is important as it links the collection to everything else that is recorded in the scientific literature about the species. Identifying this wild material is equivalent to the process of 'characterisation' for crop genetic resource collections.

•  Processing data. A record of the results of procedures carried out on the seed collection once it has arrived at Wakehurst Place. The sequential nature of this process makes it relatively easy to monitor where a collection is in the system.

•  Seed distribution data. Most seed collections that are held in the MSB are covered under Access and Benefit Sharing Agreements with the countries of origin. Seed samples can be made available to third parties for bona fide research under a Material Supply Agreement, and transactions are tracked on the SBD. (See "Uses of seeds")

•  Taxon data. This includes accepted names for species and their synonyms, conservation ratings and inclusion within plant health and CITES legislation.

The SBD is under constant development to facilitate curation and processing of seeds, data exchange with MSBP partners and research and conservation in the wider context of RBG Kew's international programmes.

 

Searching and reporting from the Database

Analysis tools are used to provide statistics from the entire database. Uses of these tools include monitoring of progress in collecting, planning future collecting and quality assessment of collections from specific countries.

The seed collection data is not available publicly, but information on seed characteristics for particular species is available online through the Seed Information Database.