Can 20‐year‐old stored seeds be used for plant translocation? An investigation of the arctic‐alpine specialist Viscaria alpina

The increasing number of threatened plant species requires urgent conservation action. One option is to translocate plants back to their natural habitat. Many seeds of wild species are stored in seed banks, but there is little information on their suitability for plant translocation. Plants grown from stored seeds may not be adapted to the current climate, especially in alpine areas where warming is faster than the global average. We used three old (2000–2005; “ancestor”) and three recent (2018–2020; “descendant”) seed accessions of Viscaria alpina, an arctic-alpine specialist, to grow plants which were translocated back to the seed collection site. We monitored plant survival over 3 years and recorded vegetative, flowering, and seed traits. In the third year after translocation, survival was high (96%), but flower production decreased. Descendants had shorter flowering stems than ancestors, suggesting plants have become smaller over 20 years. The number of flowers, seed mass, number, and germination did not differ between ancestors and descendants, indicating these are more conservative traits. Plant translocation of an alpine species using old and recently collected seeds was successful in the short term, demonstrating that seeds stored for 20 years can be used for plant conservation. However, long-term monitoring is required to determine the success of this translocation. Descendant plants were smaller than ancestors, so they may have improved drought tolerance, likely in response to the drier conditions at the study site. Therefore, we recommend using recently collected seed accessions for plant translocation.