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Noah’s arks in the XXI century. A typology of seed banks

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Abstract

In recent decades, seed banks have spread out worldwide as essential institutions for biodiversity preservation, like new Noah’s arks. However, little is known about the diversity of practices that are involved in them. The aim of this study is to reconstruct the dynamics of operation of the different seed banks, developing a typology of them worth providing. As sources for that aim, in-depth interviews to seed banks referents, documents and other materials related to seed banks have been used. First, we describe three stages which seed conservation has undergone until it became modern seed banks. The impact of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its debate context are considered. We analyze the knowledge involved in seed banks which turn them into more than just seeds reservoirs. Afterwards, we study how seed banks are used. From the functioning of seed banks and their objectives, we have identified three bank profiles: assistentialist, productivist and preservationist profiles. Finally, we analyze a series of cases that allow us to show the type of seed banks we have proposed. Policy implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. According to FAO, there are over 1750 banks of plants in the world (FAO 2014). The largest seed banks are in the USA, China and Russia, but they are largely based on collections from sites around the world (Murphy 2007).

  2. Such as World Conservation Strategy (1980), Caring for the Earth (1991) and Global Biodiversity Strategy (1992), among others.

  3. This plant, originally from Madagascar, was used in the 1980s by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly to develop two drugs, generating an estimative of 100 million dollars annually in profits. Although the rosy periwinkle plant has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, Madagascar never received any economic benefit for the products obtained from bioprospecting on their lands.

  4. So states the FAO for example: "The need to conserve and sustainably use the world’s plant genetic diversity is more critical than ever. It is the basis of food security, in a world facing many challenges (…) The continuing loss of plant genetic diversity for food and agriculture greatly reduces our options, and the options of future generations, for adapting to these changes and ensuring food security, economic development, and world peace" (FAO 2011).

  5. According to UN’s definition: "The term 'biological resources' is understood as genetic resources, organisms or parts of then, populations, or any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential value or use for mankind" (UN 1992).

  6. Not all seeds tolerate that. Those which do it are called orthodox seeds; those which do not are called recalcitrant. Recalcitrant are those seeds that cannot be dried, neither can they be stored at low temperature then, because the water inside the seed forms crystals when it freezes, so those plant organisms must be stored in vivo to fields or as seeds but for a short time (a few months).

  7. How useful may the preserved seeds be in a long future is uncertain. But the central idea in this perspective is not usefulness but preservation: "Seeds are placed in gene banks not so much to preserve seeds as to preserve diversity", argues Fowler and Mooney by adding that "Because extinction is forever, conservation must be forever" (Fowler and Mooney 1990).

  8. Interview to bank coordinator, March 2015.

  9. La Rioja province has 99 % of the limited society market share, founded in 2009.

  10. Interview to the manager of the Agrogenética Riojana SAPEM Commercial Department, April 2015.

  11. Interview to the head of the company laboratory, carried out in March 2015.

  12. It implies conservation of buds, apices and meristems by limiting growth through low temperatures (between 4 and 10 °C) and other factors.

  13. Complete list at https://www.croptrust.org/about-crop-trust/donors/.

  14. Complete list at http://www.nordgen.org/sgsv/index.php?page=sgsv_depositor_list.

  15. This is clearly stated in Art. 2, part 2 from SDA: “The act of deposit shall not act in any way to convey any property rights over the Deposited Materials to the Nordic Gene Bank or the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food” (NMFA 2012).

  16. In fact, in the case described as productivist profile, the seed bank belonging to a company in La Rioja, there is also a preservationist line. The company committed to store in vitro tissue samples of national historic trees, in agreement to the National Commission of Monuments, Historical Sites and Properties. It also stored carob seeds native of the region, in agreement with the Ministry of Environment of the Province. To do this, it receives funding from national and provincial government. The aim is to preserve the biodiversity of these species in the region, which is a characteristic feature of a preservationist profile.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica through funding PICT-2011-1713.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CONICET and Instituto de Estudios sobre la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Roque Sáenz Peña 352, 1876, Bernal, Argentina

    Pablo A. Pellegrini

  2. Instituto de Estudios sobre la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Roque Sáenz Peña 352, 1876, Bernal, Argentina

    Galo E. Balatti

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  1. Pablo A. Pellegrini
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Correspondence to Pablo A. Pellegrini.

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Communicated by Frank Chambers.

This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Ex-situ conservation.

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Pellegrini, P.A., Balatti, G.E. Noah’s arks in the XXI century. A typology of seed banks. Biodivers Conserv 25, 2753–2769 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1201-z

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