Integrated conservation of native wild plant species

Urbanization, industrialization and agriculture have always contributed to the destruction and degradation of natural habitat. Widespread concerns about the environment have placed these practices under the spotlight and high on the public and political agenda. The urgent need for conservation measures has been identified and governments have ratified many national and international conventions to put a hold to the loss of biodiversity. Programs designed to protect regional biodiversity are using revegetation to enhance degraded remnants and to reconstruct functional communities using diverse assemblages of local native species. While seed are usually the preferred source for genetically diverse propagules, some important species may be excluded because of low seed production or barriers to germination. Gahnia spp. and Lepidosperma spp. (Cyperaceae) are significant and often dominant components of diverse Australian ecosystems. Like many other native wild plants, these species possess seed dormancy traits that are difficult to overcome and, in some taxa, low seed production. They are not responsive to conventional vegetative propagation techniques, limiting their efficient propagation. Without a ready and adequate source of plants, ecologists are not able to use the full spectrum of key species, leading to reduced levels of genetic and phenotypic biodiversity and functionality in revegetated sites. In vitro technology is proposed to overcome the propagation hurdle and the enormous shortage of planting material, while retaining levels of genetic diversity representative of the source wild population. The primary goals of this project are (1) to determine the conditions for embryo culture initiated from seed sampled from wild populations; (2) to research optimal micropropagation and acclimatization steps; (3) to study the requirements of the in vitro plants for slow growth for short to medium term storage; (4) to investigate efficient transplanting procedures to revegetation sites; (5) to assess genetic diversity of the source population and that captured in regenerated plants; and (6) to verify the propagation protocols on Austrian Cyperaceae. Thus, this project will develop reliable and efficient propagation protocols for native wild plants with focus on the retention of genetic diversity and on the supportive role of in vitro technology in ex situ and in situ conservation.