Australia

Western Australia

As the original Australian partner in the Millennium Seed Bank Project, Western Australia has been working with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since 2001 on this seed conservation initiative.

In a jointly developed project the Threatened Flora Seed Centre of the Department of Environment and Conservation (formerly Conservation and Land Management)
along with the Seed Technology Centre of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
collaborate in a partnership to ensure that the State priorities for flora conservation, species recovery and habitat management are well supported through an extensive seed collection programme.

Seed Technology Centre manager, Luke Sweedman cleaning seed using a Zig Zag aspirator (Photo: Dave Merritt)

These two organisations have recently been joined by Greening Australia (WA) in a seed collection programme that will accelerate an improved understanding of the management of seed material from those species most frequently needed in the many restoration programmes in the State.

Therefore, in line with the Australian Network for Plant Conservation’s “Germplasm Conservation Guidelines for Australia”, the Project seeks to;

Ensure that seeds of 60% of the 2340 Declared Rare and Priority plant taxa for Western Australia are collected and held within ex-situ germplasm facilities both in Western Australia and the UK within the next decade and ensure that these genetic materials can become the basis for the translocation of threatened plant species and the restoration of threatened ecological communities.

This broad aim will be achieved through the following activities;

1. Seed collection programme,
2. Seed studies related to germination, storage and dormancy,
3. Long-term seed storage at WADEC (TFSC) and BG&PA,
4. Duplicate seed storage by RBG, Kew in the Millennium Seed Bank,
5. Collaborative seed research between WA and RBG, Kew scientists,
6. Technical collaboration between Project Partners,
7. Publication of technical information generated through the Project

Using X-rays to quickly assess the viability of seeds, Kings Park Science Division (photo Dave Merritt)

Of the 12,500 vascular plant species in the state, 2,340 are listed as being under threat of extinction. Western Australia has roughly 70% endemism, meaning it potentially has 8,750 species native to the state alone. The Western Australian teams will collect 2,400 species new to the Millennium Seed Bank over the ten year life of their partnership.

With such high profile and successful science teams from both Kings Park and DEC, Millennium Seed Bank staff members collaborate on a number of research projects with our Western Australian partners.