<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css" style="display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} </style>
</head>
<body dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dustin Wolkis et al., Conservation Science and Practice, November 11, 2021</span><o:p style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"> </o:p><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
Abstract</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
Historical herbarium collections have been proposed as a last resort for recovery of extinct plant species not represented in dedicated seed banks or other living conservation collections. For critically endangered plants at the brink of extinction, herbarium
collections may also contain historical material from extinct subpopulations representing a species' former range and lost genetic diversity of high value for conservation management. We explored the potential for germination of 81 critically endangered seed
plant taxa endemic to the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i from herbarium specimens in herbarium PTBG of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG). Of 1250-recorded specimens of wild origin, 138 specimens representing 37 taxa contained mature seeds that could
be subjected to germination testing. Seven of these taxa were not represented by any NTBG seed bank collections. Fresh embryos were observed in one seed of each of the three species
<i>Schiedea helleri</i>, <i>Schiedea kauaiensis</i>, and <i>Viola helena</i>. While potential germination success may be low, we conclude that testing of seeds from herbarium collections should be extended from a focus on strictly extinct taxa to critically
endangered taxa, which may not have sufficient representation in seed banks or other living collections of subpopulations and genetic diversity across their wild range.<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;margin-bottom:0in">
Link to article: https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/csp2.576<o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>