Despite abundant evidence of biotic responses to environmental change, we still lack a fundamental understanding of the nature of these changes, including when they involve evolution versus plasticity, the genetic basis of evolutionary changes, and how responses vary across the geographic ranges of species. Project Baseline is a nationwide, collaborative effort to facilitate ecological and evolutionary studies using resurrection ecology in wild plant populations. Resurrection ecology experimentally compares resurrected ancestors and contemporary individuals from the same population, and is a powerful tool for research. Historically, implementing resurrection studies has been difficult or impossible for most plant species because access to living ancestral material is lacking; sampling is not intentional and, therefore, limited; and/or seed viability is compromised due to sub-standard storage methods. The Project Baseline seed bank was established to overcome those limitations, and currently houses more than 10 million seeds from 65 common plant species, sampled intentionally by maternal line across multiple geographically-dispersed populations. The seeds are stored using best practices at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado, with associated ecological data, photos, and herbarium voucher information accessible via the Project Baseline website.
Results/Conclusions
It has been five years since the first seeds were collected, cleaned, and accessioned, and it is time to release the ancestral seeds to researchers. We anticipate that researchers will use Project Baseline seeds to ask a wide variety of questions, including those of both ecological and evolutionary import. For example, seeds could be used to study the impact of longer or shorter growing seasons on flowering time; the relationship between evolutionary responses and genetic correlations; differences in adaptation rates between selfers and outcrossers; extinction rates in relation to climate change; and more. Early studies using Project Baseline samples have already demonstrated genetic-based shifts in phenology due to climate change and climate-associated variation in plant defense characteristics. The Project Baseline Advisory Board (PBAB) is developing protocols for requesting access to the collection, as well as designing best practices for using and replenishing the collection. Researchers who are seeking outside funding for research using Project Baseline seeds will have the opportunity to request pre-approval and letters of support from the PBAB to bolster their proposals. Seeds will be available for withdrawal beginning in late 2020 and extending through at least 2065. Find more information about this important NSF-funded resource at www.baselineseedbank.org.