Methodology and results

Conservation of North African flora

This stage, coordinated by Partner 2 - The Botanical Institute and Garden of Barcelona (IJBB) - had the primary goal of the creation of two seed banks: in Morocco, at the Botany Department of the Scientific Institute of Rabat (ISR), and in Malta, at the Argotti Herbarium of the University of Malta (AHUM).

As far as the seed bank in Rabat is concerned, during the project some expeditions were organized. These expeditions were aimed at the exploration of several bio-geographical zones of Morocco and led to collection of seeds of endemic, sub-endemic, and rare species. Some samples were taken in order verify the identification of the species that were collected, and at the same time enrich the Scientific Institute of Rabat and improve awareness with regard to the distribution of these species.

The germ-plasma collected was prepared for long-term conservation in order to increase the number of accessions of the seed bank.

For the personnel of the seed bank, each expedition was chance for training and exchange of work methods and techniques.

Moreover, some partners offered technical material to help the bank's operations and make it operational as quickly as possible.