How does our garden grow? Preserving plant life in the midst of a global biodiversity crisis

Climate change, loss of habitat and many other factors are causing the Earth’s plants to become extinct at an alarming rate. The Smithsonian has an ambitious plan to capture and preserve the genetic biodiversity of half the world’s flora in just two years.

The U.S. National Arboretum is one of the partner sites where Smithsonian scientists will capture genomic samples for preservation in a globally networked biorepository. (Photo courtesy of U.S. National Arboretum)

In less than two years, Smithsonian scientists will collect and store samples of half of the Earth’s living plant species. The Natural History Museum’s Global Genome Initiative—part of the Smithsonian Institute for Biodiversity Genomics—aims to preserve the genomic diversity of plant life at a time of grave danger to all species. Scientists have estimated that the rate of species extinction for all life on Earth may be as much as 100 times higher than normal (1, 2). The Global Genome Initiative seeks to preserve genomic diversity in networked biorepositories around the world before it is lost.

In order to quickly collect the most species, scientists and field teams from the Natural history Museum’s Department of Botany will concentrate initially on sampling plants from the holdings of the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Smithsonian Gardens and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. National Arboretum.

The U.S. Botanic Garden is one of the partner gardens where Smithsonian scientists will capture genomic samples for preservation in a globally networked biorepository. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Botanic Garden)

Field teams will collect plant samples in and around the nation’s capital that originate from across the world, ranging from plants that live in the rainforests of Hawaii to those from the deserts of Madagascar. The scientists will preserve the plant tissues in cryogenic vials and store them in liquid nitrogen, depositing them in the Smithsonian’s biorepository in Suitland, Md., for indefinite storage. The U.S. National Herbarium at the National Museum of Natural History will also house a pressed specimen of each plant.

“This pilot collaborative effort between the Smithsonian, the U.S. National Arboretum and the U.S. Botanic Garden comes at an urgent time when the scientific community’s access to the world’s plant genomes—the blueprint of life—is limited due to biodiversity loss and lackluster genomic-research infrastructure,” said Jonathan Coddington, director of the Global Genome Initiative.

Once captured, genomic samples will be stored in the Smithsonian’s biorepository, a complex of sub-zero freezers which can hold up to 4 million cryo-preserved samples in perpetuity, located at the Museum Support Center in Suitland, Md. Samples will represent diversity from the major branches on the tree of life and will be made available to researchers worldwide, furthering understanding and preservation of biodiversity in an era of global change. (Photo by Donald E. Hurlbert)

“Now more than ever, the Smithsonian is dedicated to increasing our knowledge about life on Earth through emerging genomic technologies and capabilities,” said John Kress, the Smithsonian’s interim Under Secretary for Science. “Partnering with botanical gardens around the world is an essential step in opening new doors to the hidden benefits that can emerge from the world’s plant genomes.”

As part of the GGI’s commitment to train the next generation of genomic scientists, a summer field team of young and aspiring scientists will assist the sampling project. The team includes one high school student enrolled in the museum’s Youth Engagement through Science internship program, two undergraduate students, a graduate student and a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow. The team will follow the Initiative’s standardized research-grade genomic sampling protocols to preserve specimens on their way from the gardens to permanent storage in the Smithsonian’s biorepository. Scientists around the globe will gain access to the samples through the Global Genome Biodiversity Network’s data portal.

As part of the Global Genome Initiative’s commitment to train the next generation of genomic scientists, a summer field team of young and aspiring scientists will assist in sampling plants from partner gardens in DC. National Museum of Natural History curator, Vicki Funk, works with members of the summer field team to collect samples from the U.S. Botanic Garden. (Photo courtesy U.S. Botanic Garden)

“Now more than ever, the Smithsonian is dedicated to increasing our knowledge about life on Earth through emerging genomic technologies and capabilities,” said John Kress, the Smithsonian’s interim Under Secretary for Science. “Partnering with botanical gardens around the world is an essential step in opening new doors to the hidden benefits that can emerge from the world’s plant genomes.”

_________________________________________

1. The biodiversity of species and their rates of extinction, distribution, and protection,  Science 30 May 2014: Vol. 344 no. 6187. DOI: 10.1126/science.1246752

2. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction, Science Advances 19 Jun 2015: Vol. 1, no. 5, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1400253

Related posts:

Our Smithsonian: Backyard archaeology The evolution of fireworks Sparking Change: Advancing Gender Equity in the Science at the Smithsonian