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Australian Seed Bank Partnership

Phone: +61 2 6250 9473

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• Environmental conservation organisation

25.01.2022 Following the hail damage in Canberra earlier this year we’ve been looking for new accommodation options for the Australasian Seed Science Conference 2020. We’re thrilled to announce some great new deals to complement our existing discounts. Check out our website for all the info you need to get your discounts! https://seedscience2020.com.au

24.01.2022 Ficus crassipes commonly known as the round-leaved banana fig, is endemic to the wet tropical rainforests of north eastern Queensland. This particular fig is an incredible tree that can grow up to 20 metres tall. Unlike most tree fruit, the figs are not preceded by showy blossoms because figs are actually inverted flowers - botanically known as syconia. The syconia of the Ficus crassipes are yellowish to orange-brown to purple in colour and can be anywhere between 44-68 mill...imetres in length. This plant is a hemiepiphyte, beginning its life in the canopy of another tree then sending roots down to eventually make contact with the ground. Our Queensland Partners at Brisbane Botanic Gardens collected the seed of Ficus crassipes in the wet tropics of north east Queensland during the 2014-15 collecting season. This image was taken by Jason Halford of Brisbane Botanic Gardens. This is just one of the many trees we've collected in recent years thanks to support from Kew Gardens. For more on our tree collecting see our article in the latest edition of Samara - https://www.kew.org//publications-and-/publications/samara Images from J.Halford and M.Fagg

24.01.2022 No matter the size, shape or fit out, seed banks achieve amazing outcomes for plant conservation! Did you know the National Seed Bank at the Australian National Botanic Gardens operates out of a 1960’s cottage where the garden’s first curator lived? https://hercanberra.com.au//a-peek-inside-canberras-hidde/

24.01.2022 The boab tree, Adansonia gregorii, occurs mostly in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and east into the Northern Territory. It is known for its massive bottle-shaped trunk whose fibrous wood stores water. The boab tree is deciduous, losing its leaves in the dry winter months. The boab is slow growing with a life span of hundreds of years. This slow growing tree can reach 5-15 metres in height with a trunk circumference of up to 20 metres. The fruits are large and ova...l-shaped containing numerous seeds and a white powdery flesh. Indigenous Australians obtain water from the tree and eat the flesh of the fruit, which has a tangy taste. The outer surface of the fruit is used as a canvas for paintings or carvings and the leaves are also used for medicinal purposes. Our Western Australian Partners at Kings Park and Botanic Garden collected seed from A. gregorii in 2016. See more

24.01.2022 With #scienceweek over for another year it doesn’t mean we stop celebrating #seedscience! We thought we'd shine a light on the diversity of seeds using four examples from Australian plants. While these seeds vary in colour, shape and size they all have one thing in common they’re all from rare or threatened species. These seeds were collected by the Western Australian Seed Centre, Kensington, Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia, early last year as part of the Glo...bal Trees Seed Bank Project. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership instigated this project to conserve seeds from 3,000 of the world’s rarest plants. Funding from the Garfield Weston Foundation enabled the Australian Seed Bank Partnership and organisations from around the world to contribute to this goal. The nine conservation seed banks in Australia provided seeds from over 500 taxa. In total seeds from 3,863 tree and shrub species from 35 countries were collected and conserved through this project. Photos from left to right: Gastrolobium mondurup; Grevillea fuscolutea; Grevillea olivacea and Isopogon drumondii. Photo Credit: Andrew Crawford, DBCA.

23.01.2022 The Organising and Scientific Committees, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens as host of the Australasian Seed Science Conference 2020, have decided to postpone the conference until September 2021 due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 virus. We want to ensure that we do not put the health of delegates at increased risk as a result of conference related travel. We also want to ensure that we can deliver a conference that best reflects the breadth and variety of see...d science that colleagues around the world are delivering. Our Conference Managers, Arinex, will be updating the conference website shortly and contacting registered delegates directly to provide further information about refunds of registration fees. Once we have more details about the rescheduled conference we will be in touch to discuss future plans. We apologise for the short notice. We have moved as quickly as possible given the rapid escalation and changes regarding the virus and travel related bans being imposed globally and domestically. We look forward to welcoming you to Canberra in 2021.

22.01.2022 If you're developing a #NationalEnvironmentalScienceProgram Hub bid for the next round of NESP funding and want to discuss research partnerships, we at the Australian Seed Bank Partnership will contribute to non-exclusive bids. Please contact Dr Brett Summerell at [email protected] to discuss seed bank research capacity #seedscience Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

19.01.2022 Dr Andrew Crawford at the Western Australian Seed Centre has been working with the kids from Woodlupine Primary School on some pretty cool seed saving projects. The kids and Andrew are doing such a great job at conserving some of WA's threatened species that Gardening Australia paid them a visit and put them on the telly! Good on ya kids

18.01.2022 The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens (CHABG) has released a statement in recognition of the recent bushfires, and the role of botanic gardens and seed banks in supporting the recovery efforts across the country. The full statement is available on the Partnership’s website. We might be biased but we think this is just one of the many incredible examples of expert collaboration that exist throughout the Australian and global botanical community. #bushfirerecovery... #plants #seedscience #botanic https://www.seedpartnership.org.au/australias-major-botani/

18.01.2022 Eucalyptus lucens, also known as the shiny-leaved mallee, gets its scientific name from the Latin ‘lucens’ meaning ‘to shine’.This species can be easily identified by its glistening leaves which are concolorous, meaning they are the same colour on both sides. Eucalyptus lucens is a malle tree with multiple pale grey stems sprouting from a lignotuber: a bulbus woody structure which protects plant stems from damage - by fire, for example . After flowering with groups of 7-11 cr...eam coloured flowers, the tree produces conical shaped woody fruits containing blackish brown, oval shaped seeds, 1-2 millimetres long. Eucalyptus lucens occurs in remote areas west and south-west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and also north east of Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Our Western Australian partners collected seeds from Eucalyptus lucens in the dry conditions of the Pilbara region during the 2014-15 collecting season to contribute to the Global Trees Project, a Millennium Seed Bank Partnership project which aims to conserve 3,000 of the rarest, most threatened and useful trees globally. These photos were taken by Todd Erickson from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Western Australia.

15.01.2022 The UK Foreign Office has today announced support for the Australian Seed Bank Partnership, to be delivered through our long term partnership with Kew Gardens and the Millennium Seed Bank. This collaboration with Kew Gardens will enable the Partnership to undertake field reconnaissance, seed collecting and vital germination research to assist in the conservation and recovery of high priority native flora following the devastating #Australianbushfires. https://www.seedpartnership.org.au/uk-government-supportin/

15.01.2022 Last week we showed you some great seed shots from four Western Australian species. This week we’re diving further into one of those species-Grevillea fuscolutea. This plant is listed as rare with the entire population occupying less than 20km2 in Western Australia. In context, this plant is only found in an area about the size of Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation. To conserve this shrub Andrew Crawford collected seeds for safe keeping at the Western Australian Seed C...entre, Kensignton, Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia. Many Grevillea fuscolutea plants in the population were re-growing from a previous fire. This meant seeds could only be collected from older plants that had reached reproductive maturity. Over the coming seasons Andrew and other Partners around the country will be collecting seed from fire-affected species like this one, carefully selecting seed to ensure the soil seed bank has the best chance of being replenished for future wild regeneration. Ex situ seed banking provides a backup for these wild populations in case threats such as disease, pests or increased fire frequency and severity prevent the species from reproducing in sufficient numbers in the wild. Photos: Andrew Crawford, DBCA. See more

15.01.2022 The ANPC has established a Consortium of partners from across the native seed and ecological restoration sectors to oversee the new Healthy Seeds project. Marti...n Driver and Lucy Commander have hit the ground running in their respective roles of Healthy Seeds Project Manager and Florabank Guidelines Project Manager. Murray Local Land Services have commenced the audit and investigation into past and present Seed Production Areas (SPAs) in NSW. SPAs are seen as central to overcoming shortfalls in high quality native seed for ecological restoration, and for improving seed supply reliability, reducing pressure on wild populations, and for improving genetic provenance and diversity to ensure the long-term health and resilience of restored ecosystems. SPAs will be even more vital now after the recent bushfire crisis. CSIRO The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney Australian Seed Bank Partnership Department of Planning, Industry and Environment Greening Australia Australian Association of Bush Regenerators-AABR Society For Ecological Restoration (SER)Australasia https://www.anpc.asn.au/healthy-seeds/ See more

15.01.2022 Congratulations #MSBP20 on 20 years of seed conservation and thanks for your support of our Australian Partners!

15.01.2022 Great to have the support of the international community for #plantconservation as Australia responds to the #AustralianBushfires Kew Gardens

14.01.2022 Time’s almost up! Early bird rates finish tonight for our big week of seed science in Canberra this April. We’ve got some great speakers lined up, including the Threatened Species Commissioner, Dr Sally Box who’ll be speaking about the importance of seed science to saving threatened species and Corey Tutt, the founder of DeadlyScience, joining us to talk about his work in engaging Indigenous kids in science https://seedscience2020.com.au/conferenceprogram/

12.01.2022 The magnificent Tasmanian king billy pine is endemic to Tasmania and is otherwise known as Athrotaxis selaginoides. Some individuals are believed to be over 1000 years old! The king billy pine sucker from their roots, which means that when this happens, each 'new' tree that emerges is actually a clone of the original tree. That is why mastings (seed producing) events like the one that happened this April are so important for capturing genetically diverse seeds. Our Tasmanian partners sampled from 46 stands of trees over 70 km of the Overland Track, and they believe that this may actually only represent a small number of genetically different individuals. You can read about the adventures of the team from Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) in this week's article in the Guardian Australia

12.01.2022 The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre @BotGardensSA was on Gardening Australia last week showcasing some of the collections from Ikara-Flinders Ranges and the work they do behind the scenes to conserve seeds for the future. https://www.abc.net.au//factshe/ikara-inheritance/12297460

09.01.2022 The postponed Australasian Seed Science Conference will now take place from 5th to 9th September 2021. Our host Australian National Botanic Gardens and our venue sponsor @Kambri @ANU have agreed to support us once again next year. More details to follow on the conference website soon seedscience2020.com.au

09.01.2022 The Tasmanian King Billy & pencil pines are masting (fruiting and setting seed) for the first time since 2015! This rare event will be a focus for the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre at #RoyalTasmanianBotanicalGardens this March and April as they head out to collect from populations along the world-famous Overland Track. There’s a chance for anyone to join this rare collecting experience through #CradleMountainHuts https://www.abc.net.au//tasmanian-conifers-fruit-/11858284

08.01.2022 So many wonderful trips to secure native species thanks to the support from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership #MSBP20

07.01.2022 If you’re looking for flights for the Australasian Seed Science Conference we recommend choosing Qantas, our exclusive airline partner. Discounts are available for international and domestic flights so head to our website for the discount code and to access our exclusive booking portal! https://seedscience2020.com.au/discountflightoffer/ #seedscience #flyingkangaroo

07.01.2022 We’re looking forward to a week of seed science presentations, workshops and field trips in the first week of April! Registrations are still open but there’s only four days left to secure early bird rates for the Australasian Seed Science Conference 2020 - https://seedscience2020.com.au

03.01.2022 May 22nd marks the International Day for Biodiversity with the theme for 2020 Our solutions are in nature calling for us to reflect on our dependency on nature and our quest to live in harmony with it. Biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life forms on earth, the communities they form, and the habitats in which they live. The United Nations advises us that 75% of the land-based environment and approximately 66% of marine environments have been significantly alte...red by human actions. In Australia our biodiversity is in decline with more than 1,700 species and ecological communities known to be threatened and at risk of extinction. These threats come in many forms such as habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation, invasive species and altered fire regimes. As a national collaboration of nine conservation seed banks and two flora-focused organisations, the Australian Seed Bank Partnership are well placed to deal with the risk of plant diversity loss. See more

02.01.2022 Have you seen inside a seed bank? Why not join Luke Sweedman from Kings Park and Botanic Garden for a behind the scenes tour of their seed bank and a glimps at how they run their state-wide seed program #seedbank #WAnativeplants #fieldwork https://www.facebook.com/watch/