Presented at the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Conference on the Environment, online conference 2021.
Cryopreservation offers a method of conserving exceptional species long term through storage in liquid nitrogen. In order to do this, plant tissue often needs to be specially prepared and a variety of plant tissues may be stored. Dr Valerie Pence opens the session by introducing the Exceptional Plants Conservation Network (http://cincinnatizoo.org/conservation…) and describing the outcomes of long term cryopreservation for a range of species. Dr Bryn Funnekotter provides an overview of cryopreservation in Australia and application of cryopreservation to shoot tips. Dr Jayanthi Nadarajan discusses extraction and cryopreservation of embryonic axes (focused on Syzygium maire) and Dr Daniel Ballesteros invites us to consider cryopreservation as a method of conserving fern spores.