of green mush where every cell has been burst open by ice crystals. It is the resurrection capacity of seeds to remain undamaged and viable following up to two centuries of storage in a simple household freezer (-20°C) or state-of- the-art cryogenic facility (-176°C) that makes them such powerful conservation tools. The Irish Threatened Plant Seed Bank housed at TCBG currently contains 165 unique seed accessions (samples in the seed bank with unique identifiers that includes species name, location of collection and date of sampling) from 60 species (from 29 families) in the Irish flora. Of the species in our seed bank – one is endemic to Ireland, meaning that it is only found in Ireland and nowhere else globally, ten are classified as ‘Vulnerable’, three as ‘Critically Endangered’, five as ‘Endangered’ and nine are from the wild relatives of important crops including Bristle Oa t , Wild Asparagus, Sea Kale, Meadow Barley and Rye. They have been collected by Dr Steve Waldren, Curator of TCBG and students from multiple populations of wild species from the four corners of Ireland including six off-shore islands. Our aim with the funding support from Dr Schuler is to fully database our current seedbank inventory and make it globally searchable via Botanic Gardens Conservation International and available for restoration ecology efforts. Secondly, we aim to substantially increase our seed bank holdings of threatened Irish plants over the next few years as we work with other Botanic Gardens in Ireland and across the world to meet global conservation targets. To date, collective conservation action by approximately 1,750 seed banks, such as Trinity’s, have conserved over 6 million seeds from an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 species (Walters and Pence, 2019). Although not all plants produce seeds and not all species produce seeds that can be frozen, seed banking is regarded as a vital means of conserving plant genetic diversity. These precious seed holdings will be used in the future to restore native biodiversity that has been lost through land-use change, or wiped out due to emerging diseases, or shifted due to coastal erosion and climate change. Walters, C and Pence, VC, 2021. The unique role of seed banking and cryobiotechnologies in plant conservation. Plants, People, Planet, 3(1), pp.83-91. Wyse Jackson, M, FitzPatrick, Ú, Cole E, Jebb, M,McFerran, D, Sheehy Skeffington, M, and Wright, M (2016). Ireland Red List No 10: Vascular Plants, Dublin, Ireland: National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
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