Surya Diantina

Citation

Thesis Title
Comparison of Seed Traits of Tropical (Indonesia) and Temperate (New Zealand) Orchid Species to Support Orchid Seed Conservation

Most orchid species are endangered in nature, therefore enhanced knowledge of orchid seed characteristics would be useful for both in situ and ex situ conservation programs. Orchid seed germination in nature is very low, thus exacting nutrients in in vitro germination is a key prerequisite to successful ex situ conservation of orchid species. Mrs Diantina compared seeds of six orchid species from Indonesia and New Zealand. She found high variation in seed micro-morphometric that may relate to their ecological adaptation rather than taxonomy, habitats, or geographical distribution. She used the biochemical approach to characterise seed lipids and confirmed changes of proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids during natural ageing. The study emphasised the need for different requirements in asymbiotic in vitro seed germination media. It also found that the direct cryopreservation technique was suitable for ex situ orchid seed conservation.

Supervisors
Associate Professor James Millner
Dr Jayanthi Nadarajan
Mr Craig McGill
Dr Andrea Clavijo McCormick