Funded by the Global Botanic Garden Fund

Project Completed: 2024

Institution: Jardín Botánico de Culiacán

The impact of a little Seed Bank: Community and Biodiversity

This project focussed on the conservation of 10 species at risk, through seed collection and storage in the germplasm bank of the Culiacan Botanical Garden, and germination tests for 3 of the species.

The first objective of this project was to improve the research and conservation efforts of the “Hermilo Quero Rico” seed bank, by collecting seeds from 10 at-risk species. 48 monitoring tours were carried out through the garden collections and ecological park, where seeds of 10 species were collected. The majority of these are listed on the IUCN red list of threatened species. In total, approximately 10,660 seeds were obtained, and 51 new accessions were also created for the bank.

The second objective was to reproduce 3 species that are at risk, carrying out 3 germination tests per species in a period of 6 months. The selected species were:

1) Guaiacum coulteri
2) Gaussia gomez-pompae
3) Cochlospermum palmatifidum

Germination tests were applied to each species, with different pre-germinative treatments – including immersion of the seeds in H2O2, sanding of the testa and immersion in gibberellic acid.

As a result, a total of 208 individuals we obtained among the 3 species.

Most of the plants that were geminated through this project will be used for the institution’s projects, which seek to create new spaces in the city – with the objective of generating biological corridors with native species, as well as promote the recovery of green areas.

Culiacan Botanical Garden plan to establish collaborations with other botanic gardens in Mexico for future exchanges of specimens. In the case of Gaussia gomez-pompae, they plan to donate specimens to the botanical gardens of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz where this species is native.