News
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.
Native forbs provide important food and shelter resources for wildlife and are the component that adds species diversity to many native plant communities. This symposium provided an overview of some important aspects to consider when using native forbs in restoration and highlights recent work relevant to different phases of restoration.
This symposium covered a national U.S. approach to developing commercially available, locally adapted native seed for restoring resilient ecosystems. Five speakers contributed talks highlighting attributes of using and developing native seed, from wildland seed collection, to monitoring after restoration, to the history of native seed development by U.S. federal agencies.
A new review article is now available in Biodiversity and Conservation about seed production areas (SPAs) from Zinnen et al. (2021). The review synthesizes research about SPAs, as well as other literature applicable to the topic. It provides a comprehensive investigation into the SPA literature and highlights the disproportionate influence of SPAs on conservation and restoration outcomes.
Recently published research reveals that aspirin can do more than just heal your headache. It can also help with restoring ecosystems that have been damaged and establishing sustainable pastures. This study performed on native perennial grasses showed that very low concentrations of Salicylic acid, applied to the seed can improve plant survival.
Scientists have long recognized that rodents and other small mammals are such voracious seed predators that they could affect plant abundance in natural systems. However, many plant species produce so many more seeds than are necessary to replace and expand their populations that seed predation may have negligible effects on plant populations and communities…
In fall 2019, the Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC) launched a promising 5-year partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) to implement the Seeds of Success (SOS) Native Seed and Grassland Restoration Program. Our program focuses on the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in ecological restoration, working in close partnership with FBIC on BLM and adjacent tribal lands on Montana’s Northern Great Plains.
Direct seeding has expanded as a method for ecological restoration on degraded areas with low natural regeneration potential in Brazil. Results demonstrate ecological and reduced costs, in addition to generating income and social opportunities for marginal communities that have preserved ecosystems and are now engaged in supplying seeds for a growing native seed market. In order to spread the use of this restoration strategy, a multiple-stakeholder initiative was created in 2019, focused on up-scaling adoption of the method and matching its growth with native seed production. Hence, we present the Seed Paths Initiative (Iniciativa Caminhos da Semente, in Portuguese), framing lessons learned and recommendations for structuring the seed production chain and expanding direct seeding adoption and its social benefits among restoration projects in Brazil.
INSR is pleased to announce that the First International Principles and Standards for Native Seeds in Ecological Restoration are now available as an Open Source Special Issue of Restoration Ecology.
To access the special issue, click on the image below.
The growing demand for native seeds in ecological restoration and rehabilitation has resulted in a $1 billion global industry in the sourcing, supply, and sale of native seeds. Until now, there has been little international guidance for ensuring native seeds have the same standards of quality assurance that are already regular practice in the crop and horticultural industries. Using the SER International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration as a foundation document, INSR synthesized general practices in the native seed supply chain. They derived the Principles and Standards for Native Seeds ("Seed Standards") from this synthesis. These practices and the underpinning science provide the basis for developing quality measures and guidance statements that are adaptable at the local, biome, or national scale. Importantly, the Seed Standards define what is considered native seed in ecological restoration and highlight the differences between native seeds versus seeds of improved genetics. The Seed Standards are not intended to be mandatory, however, the guidance statements provide the foundation upon which regulatory approaches can be developed by constituencies and jurisdictions.
In a critically endangered vegetation type within the mega-diverse fynbos biome in the Cape Region of South Africa, passive and active interventions were compared in terms of restoration success following removal of invasive Acacia saligna, since this ecosystem is a good example of where clearing alone has often failed to facilitate recovery of the native ecosystem.
