Seed banks as a tool for conserving wild plant biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems: A Review

The loss of wild plant biodiversity has become one of the major threats to agricultural sustainability, food security and ecosystem stability. Climate change, soil degradation, habitat loss and the expansion of intensive agriculture reduce the genetic diversity of wild plants and crop wild relatives that may contain valuable traits for drought tolerance, disease resistance and adaptation to poor soils. Seed banking is increasingly considered an effective conservation tool because it allows plant genetic resources to be stored, studied and used for future restoration and breeding programmes. This review was conducted during 2025–2026 using literature from 2015 to 2025 sourced from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Relevant studies on seed banks, wild plant conservation, cryopreservation, and genetic resources were selected based on quality and relevance, and analysed by conservation methods, storage technologies, applications, limitations, and global case studies. The review showed that seed banks are a scalable and cost-effective method for conserving orthodox seeds and supporting post-disturbance restoration. Cryobanks are especially important for recalcitrant seeds, embryos, tissues and other materials that cannot survive conventional drying and freezing. Gene banks strengthen agricultural research and breeding by combining preserved germplasm with passport, phenotypic and molecular data. Global examples from the Millennium Seed Bank, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, community seed banks in Europe and Asia, and the Seed Bank of the Natural Flora of Kazakhstan confirm that seed banking contributes to biodiversity conservation, restoration ecology and long-term agricultural resilience.