
Living Ash Project
Identifying trees tolerant to Ash Dieback Disease and securing material for breeding.
Living AshSince the mid-20th century, species-rich habitats in the UK have been destroyed or degraded at an alarming rate. Many surviving patches of habitat are unsustainably small and fragmented, vulnerable to further degradation in the face of a changing climate and ever-growing demands on the natural environment. Many species, particularly trees, are under significant threat from new pest and disease outbreaks.
In the ground-breaking report Making Space for Nature, Sir John Lawton and colleagues (2010) set out an ambitious new strategy for UK conservation – to rebuild nature on a landscape scale, creating resilient and coherent ecological networks to expand and link existing habitats with buffer zones, wildlife corridors and areas of active restoration and habitat creation. This approach has been endorsed in the UK Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, which sets out ambitious commitments to increase the scale of activity over the coming decades, underpinned by robust evidence and specialist advice.
The Millennium Seed Bank (MSB)'s UK Programme seeks to support this ambition through the collection and provision of native plant material, data and expertise to support research, conservation and restoration initiatives. 98% of the UK’s orthodox, seed-bearing native flora is represented in the MSB, including multi-population, genetically representative collections of over 70 native trees and shrubs. We continue to build these collections through our UK Threatened Flora Project and UK Ash Collecting Project, and to make seed and other native plant materials available via our UK Native Seed Hub Project. We also provide specialist advice and applied research to through the UK Native Seed Hub and participation in partnership projects like the Living Ash Project.
We work with a wide range of partners across the UK, including specialist botanists and seed collectors, government agencies, local authorities, conservation organisations, ecological consultants and commercial companies. We share scientific, technical and practical skills through training, publications and participation in conferences and events to promote the effective collection, conservation and use of native seed in the UK.
Ted Chapman – UK Conservation Partnerships Coordinator
Stephanie Miles – UK Collections Coordinator
Christopher Cockel – UK Native Seed Hub Coordinator
Jennifer Peach – UK Threatened Flora Project Officer
Owen Blake – UK Ash Collecting Project Officer
Alice Livingstone – Botanical Propagator
We work with over 60 partners from all over the UK. These partners range from national statutory agencies such as Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Nature Scotland and the Forestry Commission, to large conservation organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust, Plantlife and the Woodland Trust, through to other botanic gardens and a range of small local conservation groups.
Identifying trees tolerant to Ash Dieback Disease and securing material for breeding.
Living AshCollecting seed, tissue and data from ash dieback tolerant ash trees
UK Ash CollectingTo enhance the UK collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank with a focus on threatened and useful species, and to optimise the storage and germination protocols for these collections.
UK FloraDeveloping collaboration to promote awareness and understanding of UK Forest Genetic Resources (FGR) by highlighting the need to extend knowledge of the pattern and drivers of genetic diversity and local adaptation in UK trees.
UK Forest Genetic ResourcesEnsuring that high quality, genetically diverse seed and associated data from UK trees and shrubs are available to support conservation and research.
UK National Tree SeedSampling seeds from multiple populations of threatened species to capture genetic variation across the UK.
UK Threatened FloraThis project combines research and technical development to investigate germination traits in UK native trees; to understand how these traits vary; and optimise commercial seed quality using high-throughput screening techniques.
Seed traits for tree production@Kew_MSBUK on Twitter
Chapman, T., Miles, S., & Trivedi, C., (2019)
Plant Diversity, 41: 124-131.
Chapman, T., Pocock, S. & Davies, R. (2018)
Peach, J., Davies, R., Walmisley, J. & Chapman, T. (2017)
Natural England Commissioned Report, Number 244. York.
Trivedi, C., Cavers, S., Atkinson, N., Clark, C. & Cottrell, J. (2018).
RBG Kew.
Hoban, S., Kallow, S. & Trivedi, C. (2018).
Biological Conservation, 225: 10-21.
Gargiulo, R., Saubin, M., Rizzuto, G., West, B., Fay, M.F., Kallow, S. & Trivedi, C. (2019)
Biological Conservation, 233: 289-297.
Davies, R., Hudson, A., Dickie, J., Cook, C., O'Hara, T., & Trivedi, C. (2020)
Seed Science Research, 30: 1-11.