Kunming germplasm bank, Noah’s Ark of world species

"A gene can influence the rise and fall of a country, and a species can shape the economic lifeline of a region," said Li Dezhu, a Kunming-based plant researcher.

Located at Mt. Yuanbao in central Yunnan, the Kunming Germplasm Bank of Wild Species is the only Chinese facility that focuses on the conservation of wildlife germplasms. With the highest conservation volume in Asia, it is a global leader in biodiversity conservation.

Serving at the Germplasm bank is Yang Xiangyun, who is a senior engineer at Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). She returned to her hometown Yunnan province and devoted herself to bio-conservation following her study in seed storage and advanced gardening.

Wu Zhengyi is one of the founders of the Yunnan seed bank. Realizing the crisis facing biodiversity, Wu, honorary director of the CAS Kunming institute of botany, wrote a letter to former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji to explain the inadequacy of wildlife conservation measures in China. The academician also stated the urgency and necessity of building a wildlife germplasm repository in Yunnan, the province with a highest degree in biodiversity.

Biult on the 1,958-meter summit of Yuanbao Mountain, this germplasm bank will stand tall even if global warming continues or other catastrophic geological events occur in the future. Construction of the germplasm bank started in 2005 and completed in 2007.

"We’ve learned experiences from our predecessors to improve the design of the infrastructure, building five floors underground and 30 floors above the ground. The cold storage is designed 6 meters underground, making it safe in storing seeds," said Yang Xiangyun, the chief engineer.

The process of collecting seeds was something challenging indeed as seeds of certain species are rarely seen and they are moslty located in eco-fragile areas. Thanks to the efforts by botanists, seeds of the endangered plants of apricot yellow dock orchid and water pine have been put under protection in the seed bank.

"Since each seed and specimen is not easy to come by, there should always be a place for them in the national repository," said Zhang Ting, a seed collector at the germplasm bank.

Source: Science and Technology Daily; Trans-editing by Zhang Shuyu