Garfield Weston Global Tree Seed Bank Project (Europe)

The Global Tree Seed Bank Project is a global initiative, which will secure the future of more than 3,000 of the world’s rarest, most threatened and useful trees. It is funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation. In Europe, the project will collect and conserve in seed banks at least 200 native European tree species. These should be seen as a global resource to use by researchers, foresters and conservationists. Selected European Millennium Seed Bank partners are involved. Each of them will collect a subset of their native tree flora (orthodox seeds only), in several accessions per species. As there will be an overlap of species between different countries in Europe, the idea is to have the same common species represented from different countries/bio-regions across the continent, and some samples from locally important, much rarer trees. Since a single species will be available in multiple accessions from multiple countries, a comparative research will be a nice additional project output. It will explore to what extent the germination behaviour of European trees can provide guidance on species vulnerability to climate change. The study wants to highlight the importance of the germination stage in the fate of plant species facing current and future climate changes. 

Keywords:B270-plant-ecology, B290-taxonomy