These millennium seeds are humanity's future Noah's Ark
Naodong Shouzuo
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Seeds of Gnetum. Photo courtesy of the Germplasm Bank.
A single seed can become a tree, or it can become a flower. Seeds develop into plants, and plants form the foundation of our lives. From a single grain of rice to a table full of food, we are connected to seeds at every moment. But this ecological foundation is collapsing, especially for rare and endangered plants.
According to statistics, about 4,600 species of higher plants in China are endangered or threatened, far higher than the global level of 10%. Over the past 50 years, about 200 species of higher plants have gone extinct, an average of 4 species per year. Apart from ex situ conservation and establishing protected areas, what other ways do we have to preserve these endangered plants? The Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is building a "Noah's Ark" for China's wild plants - the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China.With the launch of the "Millennium Seed Project" on QQ Browser during Tencent's 99 Charity Day, the Southwest Germplasm Bank, this "Noah's Ark," has gradually become known to more people.As of 2017, one third of China's wild plant seeds had been collected here, and each seed is the last hope of an endangered species.
In 2009, because a reservoir was to be built locally, the only remaining 3 Guangxi star trees (Vatica guangxiensis X. L. Mo) were going to be submerged. The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China sent Zhang Ting to collect seeds and relocate the 3 trees for ex situ conservation, and this extremely small population was thus able to survive.
Collectors from the Germplasm Bank pose for a group photo in the field, with Zhang Ting on the far right. Photo courtesy of the Germplasm Bank.
Zhang Ting was the first seed collector at the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China. Before taking on this tough job, Zhang Ting had sold houses for a year after graduating with his bachelor's degree. "If I had stuck with it until now, I probably would have gotten rich long ago," Zhang Ting said with a laugh. But as a plant lover, he still chose to continue studying botany.
How do you collect a qualified seed sample in the field? A seed collector not only has to collect seeds, but also record the local forest environment and GPS information. For some berries, they must be processed in advance and dried in the field, otherwise the seeds will rot and become moldy. It can be said that every seed embodies the sweat and risks of the collector.
Seed collector Zhang Ting on the way from Dimaluo to the Kongque Mountain pass in Gongshan. Photo courtesy of the Germplasm Bank.
For example, the nettle family plant fire nettle tree (Dendrocnide urentissima) is covered in poisonous needles and once gave Zhang Ting an unforgettable experience.
"At the time, I was wearing a glove on one hand to prevent being stung by the poisonous spines of the fire nettle tree. When the cut branch fell, I instinctively used my other hand to catch it, and ended up getting stung three times. A sharp pain quickly spread from my arm to my heart, and gradually I also felt it become difficult to breathe, as if I had been bitten by a snake," Zhang Ting said with a laugh. "Later I checked the flora records and found that the stinging hairs of this plant can even kill young livestock and children." Zhang Ting did not sleep at all the whole night. Washing with soap did not help, and neither did applying crushed fire nettle tree leaves. He even tried urine, but there was no improvement. It was only after several days that he slowly recovered.
Seed collector Guo Yongjie laboriously collecting seeds on a scree slope. Photo courtesy of the Germplasm Bank.
Of course, going deep into the forest also reveals beautiful sights that others rarely get to see. Guo Yongjie is another collector at the Germplasm Bank. In recent years he has been responsible for seed collection on islands, from the coral reefs of the Xisha Islands to the Zhoushan Archipelago along the coast of Zhejiang. Guo Yongjie has witnessed the most beautiful coastal scenery of southeastern China, and of course also got badly sunburned. Guo Yongjie loves field collection work and is good at climbing trees. His most unforgettable collection trip was collecting seeds in the Dulongjiang Gorge, when a huge rock lay at the bottom of the river. Guo Yongjie climbed up along a tree, and the rock was covered with epiphytic orchids and rhododendrons, as if he had walked into a lost secret realm.
Seed cleaning work is very tedious; insect-damaged and rotten seeds must first be removed. Photo by Qian Ye.
After seeds are collected, they cannot be directly stored in the bank. Seed cleaning staff member He Huajie says that from collection to being placed in a constant-temperature, constant-humidity underground cold storage, a seed goes through more than 10 stages and 80 steps.
Most seeds undergo initial drying, germination testing, drying again, weighing, and packaging, and can then be bottled and stored. For example, corn can lie dormant in a cold storage at minus 20 degrees Celsius for more than 1,800 years. But there are other seeds that are extremely difficult "little masters" to handle, and describing them as fussy is not an exaggeration.
In industry terms, these are called recalcitrant seeds. For example, seeds of Fagaceae plants such as Chinese chestnut lose their viability once they lose water. Seeds under ordinary preservation methods generally need their moisture content controlled at 3%-7%. Some other seeds, after dormancy in cold storage, require specific factors to germinate, all of which pose major problems for seed preservation staff.
Yang Juan conducting a germination experiment. Photo by Qian Ye.
Yang Juan works on germination experiments, and she found that there are quite a few of these recalcitrant seeds. For example, seeds of plants in the Primulaceae, Solanaceae, Brassicaceae, and Gentianaceae families need some hormones added before they can germinate. Seeds of plants in the Fabaceae and Malvaceae families need to have their seed coats cut open to awaken the "sleeping" seeds.
There are also some seeds whose germination factors are very special. For example, Iris halophila is a plant that grows on saline-alkali land, and its seeds need some salt in order to germinate. And the seeds of some pine trees can hang at the tips of the trees for several years, then suddenly burst open after the forest catches fire, germinating and growing on the burned land.
Germinating seeds. Photo by Qian Ye.
"We preserve seeds so that one day the seed can be 'awakened' again. If the seed loses its vitality, what meaning is there in preserving it?" He Jun is a staff member at the in vitro conservation laboratory, and the few bottles of orchids that have been stored the longest in his in vitro conservation bank have been there for more than 30 years. He Jun's in vitro laboratory is filled with all kinds of bottles and jars, and each small bottle contains an individual of a rare orchid. These individuals are placed in a constant-temperature "warehouse," receiving illumination from LED lights, like exquisite little potted plants. Some orchids in the bottles have even bloomed, determined to show their beauty even within the narrow bottles.
After seeds are cleaned, they are placed into bottles for sealed storage. Photo by Qian Ye.
It is precisely because of the protection of such a group of people that many endangered plants can be preserved in the form of seeds. For example, Pinus squamata X. W. Li, Vatica guangxiensis X. L. Mo, Elaeagnus bambusetorum Hand.-Mazz., and so on. Important discoveries have also been made in some seemingly barren places. Starting in 2015, seed collector Yaji Dong collected more than 150 species of endemic plants from Xinjiang, including Malus sieversii, Armeniaca vulgaris var. ansu, Prunus domestica, and others. The Ili River Valley is very likely the place of origin of the apples, apricots, plums, and other fruits we eat today.
According to calculations, a grain of corn can be preserved in the Germplasm Bank for 1,826 years, while under room-temperature conditions it can only be preserved for 1.68 years. A grain of wheat can be preserved for 3,122 years, while at room temperature it can only be preserved for 1.17 years. An apple seed can be preserved for 1,632 years, while at room temperature it can only be preserved for 1.52 years. The lifespan of seeds has been greatly extended. Even if we experience ice disasters, earthquakes, typhoons, and other doomsday catastrophes, we can still rely on the seeds preserved in their hands to rebuild this world.
The Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest China, located at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has collected one third of China's wild plant seeds and is called China's Noah's Ark. Photo by Qian Ye.
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