Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Diversity

Ex situ conservation encompasses the preservation of plant genetic resources outside their natural habitats, primarily through seed banks, living collections in botanical gardens, cryopreservation and tissue culture repositories. These measures safeguard diversity against habitat loss, climate change and overexploitation, providing material for restoration, sustainable use and research. Seed banks offer cost-effective storage of orthodox seeds under controlled humidity and temperature, while cryopreservation and in vitro culture extend protection to recalcitrant seeds, vegetatively propagated and rare ‘exceptional’ species that cannot survive conventional drying and freezing. Living collections, such as those in botanic gardens, facilitate research into reproductive biology, disease resistance and phenotypic variation but require rigorous coordination to prevent genetic drift, inbreeding and mislabelling. Effective ex situ strategies demand representative sampling of wild populations, regular viability and genetic monitoring, and strategic collaboration across institutions. Together, these approaches underpin global efforts to maintain the evolutionary potential of plant species, secure germplasm for future breeding and restoration and support international targets for biodiversity conservation.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Diversity publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in ex situ conservation of plant genetic diversity across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Ex situ conservation: Preservation of plant genetic material outside natural habitats, including seed banks, living collections and cryopreservation.

Germplasm: Living genetic resources, such as seeds or tissue, maintained for breeding, preservation and research.

Genetic monitoring: The use of molecular markers to assess changes in genetic diversity, inbreeding and population structure over time.

Pedigree-based population management: Strategy that uses recorded lineage information to guide breeding decisions and maintain genetic health in ex situ collections.

Genetic conservation gap: The deficit between current genetic diversity retained in collections and the theoretical maximum achievable through optimal sampling.

References

1. Current management practices do not adequately safeguard endangered plant species in conservation collections. Biological Conservation (2023).
2. Taxonomic similarity does not predict necessary sample size for ex situ conservation: a comparison among five genera. Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2020).
3. Applying the zoo model to conservation of threatened exceptional plant species. Conservation Biology (2020).