[PCA] NEWS: 'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Norway

[Ed Guerrant]

Hi All,
	It is true that the planet would not be able to continue function if
the only plants available were crop plants, but I don't see this is a
conceptual flaw in the Doomsday seed vault. I'd rather see the Doomsday seed
vault increase the sample sizes and diversity of crop plants, and other
plants with utilitarian value that it holds.

	The Doomsday facility is a back up for other seed banks around the
world that focus on crop plants (and, presumably, their wild relatives). 

	As for native plants, the Millennium Seed Bank (Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place, England) has set itself the ambitious goal of
acquiring 10% of the world's seed bearing species by the year 2010 (and 25%
by 2020).  It's sample sizes for each species are considerably larger
(10,000 to 20,000 each, I think), and their samples are backed up in the
country of origin.  

	Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world created a second Doomsday seed
vault, perhaps in Antarctica, that could back up collections of native
plants.  Hey, why not have both crop plants and native plants in both
places?

	I agree that our knowledge about communities and ecosystems is not
what we'd like it to be, but that is another issue. 

	Seed banks are a tool of limited utility, and are not intended as an
end in themselves. They serve as an insurance policy with respect to some of
the elements of communities and ecosystems (species or populations).
Communities and ecosystems and are too complex to be packaged and stored off
site, an so must be conserved as functioning systems where they exist. Seed
banks are not an alternative to conserving and preserving habitat, but a
supplementary and complementary activity in support of survival in the wild.


Ed Guerrant PhD, Conservation Director, Berry Botanic Garden
11505 SW Summerville Avenue,Portland, OR 97219
 
ph 503 636-4112 ext. 103, fax 503 636-7496, www.berrybot.org

-----Original Message-----
From: native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
[mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of A &
T Schrum
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 6:18 PM

I saw the story on the news this evening.  What bothered me was that 
only agricultural crops are being stored.  There is no way that the 
planet will continue if it's planted only with corn, wheat, peanuts, 
coffee (to be sure) and several other crops.  So lacking is the 
understanding of plant communities and ecosystems it makes me sad enough 
to cry.

--Theresa Schrum
www.eco-tlc.com

Olivia Kwong wrote:
> More coverage of the seed vault in Norway:
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/26/norway.seeds/index.html (video)
>
>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022600
481.html?hpid=topnews 
> (article)

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