Abstract

Despite the value of Chilean flora, 46% of the species, currently evaluated, arecritically endangered or endangered, so ex situ conservation measures are keyto their preservation. We analyzed the current state and conservation gaps ofthe native species preserved in the Seed Base Bank (SBB) of the Instituto deInvestigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA), the main curator of Chile's plant geneticresources. Our analysis showed that 3,040 seed accessions of native species arepreserved in the SBB, corresponding to 1,256 species, which represents 26.9%of the Chilean flora. The area with the largest number of accessions collectedcorresponds to the northern and central parts of the country, indicating thatthere has been a bias in terms of concentrating efforts on the continentalregions and ignoring other important geographical regions of Chile, such asthose located in the insular territory. A quarter of the threatened plantsbelonging to the Chilean flora are not currently conserved in the SBB, as theyare vascular species without seeds, which cannot be protected in the long termunder the traditional conditions of a seed bank. Additional collection andresearch efforts are required to increase the collection of native species in theSBB, especially threatened and endemic species