Lifeline for critically endangered flora

Twenty of WA’s most endangered plant species are being given a lifeline as part of a Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) project to store rare seeds for future use in species recovery actions. Seeds from threatened flora in danger of extinction due to habitat loss, weed invasion, disease and climate change are being collected from the Wheatbelt, Midwest, Swan and South Coast regions. DEC Threatened Flora Seed Centre technical officer Andrew Crawford said the seeds were being stored for future conservation work in the DEC seed bank, housed in the new Western Australian Conservation Science Centre. ‘Some of these species consist of just a handful of individuals in the wild, so seed is taken very carefully and in many cases it takes several years before there are enough seeds in storage for us to be able to attempt the translocation of plants into new, safer populations,’ he said. One of the species, Daviesia cunderdin, consists of just seven known living plants, which cover a 100m stretch of degraded road verge adjoining farmland near Cunderdin. ‘We have been collecting seeds from this prickly shrub since 1996, but because of the tiny number of plants and seasonal conditions it has only been possible to collect a small quantity of seeds,’ Mr Crawford said. ‘Fortunately it was a good winter in 2011 and we collected about 400 seeds, which is as many seeds as all other years combined. ‘DEC commenced a translocation of this species in 2005 on a small bush remnant on nearby private property using seed propagated from the original wild plants, and there are now more than 40 plants in this population. ‘This project is all about getting better long-term recovery outcomes for our most threatened species, and while it takes many years of meticulous work, the safeguarding of seeds in DEC’s seed bank is an important tool to help prevent plant extinction in the wild.’ Link to media stories and images: http://www.merredinmercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/cunderdins-end... http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/galleries/photo/-/12666035/the-week-s-t...