The highest elevation of plant seed collection in China is 6200 meters

Mount Everest, on the top of the world, on the high-altitude exposed rocky beach, although it is regarded as a "life forbidden zone" due to extreme cold and lack of oxygen, there are still life adapting to extreme environments
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Recently, China Kexue Yuan Kunming Institute of Botany, China Germplasm Bank of Wild Species in Southwest (hereinafter referred to as germplasm banks) seed collection team successfully completed the "Everest 2021 seed collection" tasks, at about 6200 meters Mount Everest successfully collected Sumeru fan Seeds of plants such as leaf mustard and cypress snow rabbit set the highest altitude record for plant seed collection in China
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The seeds collected this time, after drying, cleaning, counting and other processes, will be stored in the Southwest Wildlife Germplasm Bank of China and the National Important Wild Plant Germplasm Bank for a long time
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Beginning in August this year, the Germplasm Bank launched the World’s Highest Plant Seed Collection Action Plan, which is also in response to the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) held in Kunming, China, to show the world , China has been making unremitting efforts to protect biodiversity
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“At present, there are 15 species of plants collected at altitudes above 6100 meters that have been reported globally, all of which were collected by foreign scholars
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After three years of preparation, the genebank collection team went to Mount Everest twice in August and September this year.
It lasted more than 20 days and reached the highest altitude of 6,605 meters to conduct plant diversity survey and collection
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“Previously, the highest-altitude seeds preserved in the germplasm bank were collected from 5,559 meters of alpine desert shrubs in the Ngari area of ​​Tibet.
This task is a new exploration and attempt to collect high-altitude plant germplasm resources.
It is of great significance to deal with climate change and strengthen the construction of biosafety
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Wildlife in Southwest China Germplasm Bank is relying on China Ke Xueyuan major national scientific and technological infrastructure construction of Kunming Institute of Botany
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