Enhancing Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Bolstering the Seed Bank at Cartagena Botanical Garden

Project Status: Completed 2025

Funded by: Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve via the Global Botanic Garden Fund

Project Partner: Jardín Botánico de Cartagena “Guillermo Piñeres”

Introduction

The Cartagena Botanical Garden holds the largest germplasm collection in Colombia’s Caribbean region, with over 1,800 accessions representing 488 genera and 142 families, cataloged in GBIF in 2022. Its seed bank, established in 2016, supports tropical dry forest conservation. To strengthen these efforts, the garden looked to improve storage conditions for preserving orthodox seeds and archival-quality materials.

Project Goals

Establish seed storage behaviour of native species through germination trials and to improve seed storage conditions for native plants with conservation importance as well as for the incorporation of archival quality materials.

Key Achievements

Native tropical dry forest species were evaluated through germination trials after mid-term storage (23 °C, 50% RH).

Only accessions with over 60% germination were selected for transfer to long-term storage, ensuring resources focused on viable, high-quality seeds and guiding future conservation decisions.

Storage conditions were improved by installing a portable air conditioner, dehumidifier, and vacuum sealing machine to stabilize temperature and humidity, optimize space, and reduce seed deterioration through better packaging.

All seed accessions were reviewed and repackaged using archival-quality materials to enhance long-term preservation. Containers and labels were updated, and seed counts were verified to improve collection management and storage integrity.