News
We are delighted to announce the opening of nominations for the International Network for Seed-based Restoration board of directors. The open positions are Secretary and two At-Large Directors. We strongly encourage nominations from individuals of diverse backgrounds and experiences to ensure our board represents our international membership from over 65 countries.
As a member, we encourage you to submit your nominations and vote electronically to help shape INSR’s strategic direction and initiatives.
Landslides are severe natural disasters worldwide which are exacerbated by anthropogenic causes, including deforestation and climate change. With topsoil and soil seed bank removed, the extreme environmental condition on landslide surfaces often hinder natural regeneration. Stabilization and restoration of landslides by engineering or ecological restoration means are often hampered by the steepness and inaccessibility of the landside sites. Hence, the exposed soil surface of landslides is vulnerable to further erosion. Active forest restoration has been regarded as a potential method to repair such landslide scars. Apart from planting tree seedlings, direct seeding is a more cost effective and practical method in large-scale forest restoration. However, the effectiveness of direct seeding on landslides is not well studied. How could seed germination and seedling survival be improved on the poor soil surface on landslides?
The XXI Brazilian Seed Congress, the largest national event of the seed sector in Brazil, took place between 12 and 15 September 2022 in Paraná state. More than one thousand participants joined the conference, organized by the Brazilian Association of Seed Technology (ABRATES). The event approached a wide range of cutting-edge seed practices, techniques, and standards through several symposia, training courses, and working groups.
One of the main goals of SGI’s new Native Seed Program is to perform seed collections across the region for the Seeds of Success (SOS) program. Despite the success and broad coverage of SOS, some states still have only a few or zero collections, especially in some of the southeastern states.
Until recently, Tennessee was one of the states with zero collections. After much planning, scouting of wild populations and natural areas, networking, and getting permits, the first SOS seed collections from Tennessee have been made!
Are you involved in implementing forest and landscape restoration projects or buying or selling planting material for restoration?
If yes, kindly respond to this survey to help identify existing capacities and capacity needs in sourcing tree seeds and seedlings for diverse restoration objectives:
Global forest and landscape restoration commitments require large amounts of tree seed and seedlings and provide opportunities for local stakeholders to participate in seed supply. At the same time, forest loss and degradation reduce seed availability and quality, making seed sourcing increasingly difficult for individual projects.
Narkis Morales San Martin, Adjunct Professor in the Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, is co-editing a new article collection, “Impacts of Climate Change on Long Term Viability of Trees Species with Recalcitrant Seeds” on the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. You can learn more about the scope of the topic and its accepted article types here: Impacts of Climate Change on Long Term Viability of Trees Species with Recalcitrant Seeds.
If you are interested in contributing to the special issue, please feel free to register via the link above. Frontiers will shortly provide further details.
Whilst not mandatory, you are encouraged to submit an abstract (or short outline of the manuscript) by 12 August 2022. The deadline for submissions is 12 October 2022, but Frontiers will aim to accommodate extensions on a case-by-case basis.
For further queries you can reach the dedicated specialist, Lily Campbell at orestsandglobalchange.submissions@frontiersin.org should you need any help.
More than 900 individuals from 25+ countries registered for the March 8, 2022, Native Seed in Restoration Workshop, which brought together experts working in seed-based restoration around the world to discuss key elements of the native seed supply chain. This virtual event was organized by the International Network for Seed-based Restoration, the Nature Conservancy, SER, and the US Bureau of Land Management, with assistance from the Great Basin Fire Science Exchange.
Native seeds for restoration can be quite expensive. But how much exactly? This study analysed the seed price for 129 species in South-Western Australia. The average price per kg is $ AUD 1,093, but adjusted for viability, it increases to $ AUD 2.600. We propose a new pricing approach based on the cost of a thousand pure live seeds ($ TPLS)
In December 2021, RBG - Kew announced that, due to an agency compliance issue regarding accessibility, they will discontinue the Seed Information Database (SID) in March 2022.
SID has been an invaluable and reliable source of information on native seeds for countless stakeholders for many years. It provides user-friendly access to essential information on seed weight, storage behaviour, germination requirements, and other traits for more than 50.000 plant taxa. This wealth of information has supported everyday operations in scientific research, seed use in ecological restoration, seed collection and propagation, and teaching (just to name a few). Upon learning about the plans to discontinue SID, members of the native seed community expressed their concern about this news.
When restoring vegetation, especially in patchy landscapes, we often cannot simply rely on natural succession. Active restoration measures are needed, often involving the sowing of seeds. There is a growing consensus that seeds should be of at least regional provenance, but regional seeds are a limited resource and direct harvesting might damage existing ecosystems. That is where agricultural propagation and the commercial production of regional seeds come into play. It raises the question to what extent agricultural propagation alters the seeds’ genetic composition. In the end, however, what matters is how different the restored populations are from surrounding natural populations (if there are any left).
During the May 2021 monthly Board meeting, the INSR Board (with support of SER) proposed a variety of changes to our membership structure and fee rates in order to better serve our Section. During the October 2021 INSR membership meeting, the INSR Board moved this Proposal to the Section for a vote. The Section voted overwhelmingly in favor of implementing membership fees (74% in favor). The introduction of membership dues will enable the Section to continue its current services and tools, as well as expand our work to meet member needs. The Board will continue to submit proposals seeking additional funding for larger projects. The following changes will take effect 1 December 2021.
On October 18, 2021, INSR hosted its annual membership meeting. In the meeting, we presented an Introduction of INSR and 2021 highlights, the new proposed fees for members, the treasury report, the nominations and elections for the INSR board, the ambassador program, and the website: resources, news articles; Social media. The short presentation was followed by a Q&A discussion with members
If you missed our last meeting in October 2021 you can watch it here. SER has kindly provided the recording of the meeting.
The workshop, organized by Stephanie Frischie, featured seven representatives of native seed networks from three continents who gave lighting round presentations to explain the rationale, activities, funding and future outlook for their respective networks. Several common themes are working with a variety of stakeholders, from indigenous, government, private companies, organizations, farmers, conservationists, botanists, seed banks to build an appropriate supply of seed for their region while minimizing the pressures that are put on wild populations.
As a restoration practitioner, I hope that every time I put a seed in the ground, I’ve done a bit of good in the world. At the same time, I sit on the edge of my seat after adding thousands of seeds, waiting for that one individual to emerge and make it to adulthood. Sometimes, that back and forth makes it hard to understand if my restoration work is making a consistent difference across the landscape. Scaling from my own work to all of our combined efforts in restoration is even more mind-bending.
