Year: 2022

TIME CAPSULES. "Desiccated seeds from a 6th century AD storage vessel recovered from Qasr Ibrîm, Egypt, were examined for the presence of lipids and nucleic acids. A remarkable degree of lipid preservation was discovered, the fatty acid and sterol profiles being very similar to those of modern radish seeds." http://lnkd.in/dhDu3zj View in LinkedIn

SEED LONGEVITY. "Although the most sensational claims for seed longevity are almost certainly bogus, seeds of Canna compacta apparently can live for at least 600 years." http://5e.plantphys.net/article.php?ch=t&id=9 View in LinkedIn

SEED DORMANCY. "Many species of plants have seeds that delay germination for many months or years, and some seeds can remain in the soil seed bank for more than 50 years before germination. Some seeds have a very long viability period, and the oldest documented germinating seed was nearly 2000 years old based on radiocarbon dating." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_dormancy View in LinkedIn

ORCHID SEED SYMBIOSIS. "Orchids and a few other groups of plants ... depend on mycorrhizal fungi for nutrition during germination and the early growth of the seedling. Some terrestrial orchid seedlings, in fact, spend the first few years of their lives deriving energy from the fungi and do not produce green leaves." This can complicate GERMPLASM banks. http://lnkd.in/ddyNBfG View in LinkedIn

PINE SEED ADAPTATION. "Seeds may also go into hibernation for other causes. Many pines have adapted to forest fires that destroy trees by creating pine cones that open in extreme heat (fire) and release seeds coated with a material that will break down only in extreme heat. The seeds hibernate until this happens." http://lnkd.in/ddyNBfG View in LinkedIn

BANKING SEEDS is clearly not enough, and the seed may require frost, fire or fungi to activate from dormancy. And those cultivars whose dormancy survival is relatively short must be either refreshed with new seeds or replanted and fresh seed harvested; finally, the issue of having male and female for those species which crossbreed is another consideration. View in LinkedIn

DIMINISHING DIVERSITY. "The Holocene extinction event is a name customarily given to the widespread, ongoing mass extinction of species during the modern Holocene epoch ... This extinction event is sometimes referred to as the sixth extinction following the previous five extinction events." http://lnkd.in/dj_r4ry View in LinkedIn

EXTINCTIONS. "Since AD 1500, 784 extinctions have been documented. However, since most extinctions are likely to go undocumented ... during the last century, between 20,000 and two million species have become extinct ... Up to 140,000 species per year may be the present rate of extinction." http://lnkd.in/dj_r4ry View in LinkedIn

SIXTH MASS-EXTINCTION. "In the worst one, 250 million years ago, 96 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land species died off. It took millions of years to recover. Nowadays, many scientists are predicting that we're on track for a sixth" "mass extinction. The world's species already seem to be vanishing at an unnaturally rapid rate." http://lnkd.in/dVjRnmw View in LinkedIn

20% OF MODERN PLANTS FACE EXTINCTION. "Little is known about the state of many plant species. Every fifth plant species is threatened with extinction, which means the world's plants are as much at risk of dying out as mammals." http://lnkd.in/duQti62 View in LinkedIn