Presenters: Charlotte Lawrence and Hanna Oldfield, Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK

This year, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP) celebrates its 25th anniversary. From the early days of this global programme, the MSBP have been providing training in seed conservation, reaching over 2,000 people from more than 100 countries. Today, the MSBP are recognised as the leading provider of scientific and professional training in use of seed banking to support plant conservation and restoration objectives. Entering the next quarter of a century, the MSBP are developing new training offers, in response to global training demands and to help address the global crises we all face.

This workshop showcases elements of a new initiative that Kew is launching this year. A MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme will train, equip and certify people from around the world to become MSBP trainers in seed conservation. In this workshop, the MSBP training team will host a “taster session” of teaching modules, aimed toward seed conservation practitioners.

While the complete course designed especially for the Trainer Certification Scheme will cover a wide range of topics, to cover all MSBP Standards – from collecting, processing and storing, to data collections and risk management – this workshop will only briefly explain the relevant context and then provide insight into a single topic.

The focus of this “taster session” will be on how to establish seed maturity and physical seed quality, in the field or in the lab, using cut test. Workshop facilitators from the MSBP team will provide demonstrations and opportunities to get involved, before discussing the wider application and alternatives.

The development, testing and launch of the Certification Scheme is funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation as part of the Global Tree Seed Bank: Unlocked programme.

Presenter: Simone Pedrini, Curtin University, Western Australia

The degradation and destruction of natural habitats, with consequent loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, is one of the major global environmental challenges of the 21st century. In 2020, the United Nations launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global initiative to reverse the current trend of ecosystem degradation.

A key component of ecosystem restoration is the use of native seeds.

Unfortunately, in Western Australia, as is the case for most regions of the world, native seeds are usually not available in the quantity and diversity required; seed quality is usually unknown, seed price very high (>1,000 $/kg), and successful seedling establishment in the field meagre from directly sown seeds (< 10%).

The native seed research team at Curtin University has been working closely with native seed suppliers and users to tackle the major issues that are currently crippling the local native seed supply chain.

The team has been developing and testing technological solutions with seed suppliers to improve various steps of the seed supply chain, such as cost-effective seed quality testing, seed processing, dormancy alleviation, seed use, and seedling establishment.

Crucial elements of the project are the collaboration and knowledge sharing with local First Nation groups, such as developing and delivering seed training to upskill and empower Aboriginal Rangers to become leaders in the restoration economy.

In the meantime, we are developing intensive training courses for seed users, especially in the resource sector, to help environmental managers understand the complexities of native seeds and develop robust native seed and rehabilitation strategies.

In this two-hour workshop, the core content developed for the native seed training courses will be presented alongside hands-on seed testing and cleaning activities using native seed batches and small-scale seed processing equipment.

Presenters: Dustin Wolkis, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii; Fiona Hay, Aarhus University, Denmark

For many decades, seed germination data has been modelled by probit analysis. In particular, it is the basis of the seed viability equation used, in the first instance, to describe the decline in germination of seeds in storage, but then also the rate of the decline, depending on seed moisture content and the temperature of storage. The underlying assumption of a probit model is that the response, in this case, loss of the ability to germinate, is normally-distributed over time. Probit analysis also takes into account the binomial error associated with germination data.

In this two-hour workshop we will start with a lecture of the theory behind the viability equation then demonstrate R codes for the following scenarios:

1. for fitting a single survival curve, for a single seed lot stored in a constant storage environment;
2. for fitting multiple survival curves and evaluating the effect of constraining parameters for the different seed lots; and if time permits,
3. to model the moisture relations of seed longevity.

The demonstrated code could also be used in pollen and fern/bryophyte spore longevity modeling. A dataset will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring their own data as well as laptop computers running R and RStudio. This workshop is of relevance to anyone concerned with seed longevity including conservation practitioners and seed/gene bank curators and managers.

Presenter: Jan Sala, Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK

The conservation of plant diversity is increasingly critical in the face of biodiversity loss, climate change, and habitat destruction. Understanding seed behaviour, including germination, dormancy and storage requirements, is essential for effective seed banking and long-term conservation. However, existing protocols are often designed for well-equipped laboratories, limiting their applicability in resource-constrained settings, and require large seed quantities, which poses challenges for threatened and endemic species with often limited seed availability. Furthermore, these protocols rarely account for practical realities in nurseries, where large-scale propagation projects are essential for habitat reforestation and restoration.

There is a clear need for a standardized protocol that supports testing seed behaviour across a wide range of species, using minimal seed quantities, while being adaptable enough to suit different levels of expertise and resources. The Block Test protocol addresses this need by providing a structured yet flexible approach that ensures scientific and statistical accuracy, while balancing resource efficiency.

This protocol consists of five sections: literature review, desiccation tolerance determination, seed quality assessment, dormancy testing, and storage requirements testing. The first three sections establish essential baseline data, while the last two sections are designed to be adjusted based on initial findings to test specific hypotheses.

Preliminary applications indicate that this protocol effectively identifies optimal germination and storage conditions for a wide range of species, including those with previously unknown dormancy and storage behaviours. By bridging the gap between laboratory-based research and on-the-ground conservation work, the Block Test provides an adaptable and accessible solution suitable for various research objectives.