Conservation and climate change news
Plants have an essential role to play in mitigating the effects of climate change, because they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Conversely, if forests are destroyed by burning, then carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere. Deforestation accounts for about one fifth of the world’s carbon emissions.
However, plants are threatened by environmental changes including climate change. Conserving plants is therefore critical to any sustainable solution to environmental change.
Kew's work in this area | Adopt a seed for £25 and help Kew protect plant life
Monitoring seed viability
A germination test is the most reliable way to measure seed viability. It also provides valuable information that can be used in the future to turn the seeds into plants for reintroduction, restoration or research.
Drying seeds
The majority of the world's seed-bearing plants produce ‘orthodox’ seeds that can be dried to a low moisture content and then frozen. Drying, sealing and freezing will often lead to at least a 100-fold increase in seed storage life.
Packaging seeds
A variety of different containers are used to keep seeds dry within the cold rooms of Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank.
Checking seed quality
Visual checking, cut-testing or x-ray tests at the seed cleaning stage will not determine for certain whether seeds are viable and therefore likely to be able to germinate. However, such tests can provide important clues to the overall quality of the seeds.
Estimating seed quantity
Several methods are used to estimate the number of seeds within collections. If fruits are to be stored, then the number of seeds per fruit must be recorded.
Assessing seed storage needs
Not all seeds store easily, so before the MSBP undertakes seed storage any likely problems need to be identified.
Cleaning seeds
All seed collections need to be cleaned before storage to remove dust, debris and unnecessary plant parts.
Unpacking seeds
Seed collections arrive by courier from partner organisations across the world and are immediately unpacked in a clean area.
Recording data about seeds
Data for each Millennium Seed Bank Partnership collection is held in the Seed Bank Database.
