Nature’s SAFE are excited to announce that our co-founder and charity coordinator Dr Rhiannon Bolton has successfully published a new paper reviewing assisted reproductive technologies and biobanking. Alongside other members of the Nature’s SAFE team, including; Dr Sue Walker (vice chair and fellow co-founder), trustee Matt Pettit, scientific advisors Lucy Morgan and James Gillis, Chester Zoo veterinarian Gabby Drake, Andrew Mooney from Dublin Zoo, as well as several other authors, they have published a paper entitled “Resurrecting biodiversity: advanced assisted reproductive technologies and biobanking” in the Journal of Reproduction and Fertility (volume 3, issue 3, published online 26 Jul 2022). This paper looks into how cryopreservation techniques and biobanking can help preserve the world’s natural biodiversity, restore genetic diversity and help save animal populations for the future.
The term biodiversity relates to the variety of living organisms found within a given area and maintaining biodiversity is essential for the health of Earth’s ecosystems. As such, biodiversity and its preservation or loss can actually have an impact on the health of human populations too. However, human activities are currently causing a mass extinction event, the 6th of its kind in the history of our planet, with the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity estimating that up to 150 animal, plant and microorganism species go extinct each and every day, a rate 1000 – 10,000 times greater than expected. Also, as the numbers within an animal population dwindle, the amount of genetic diversity within the population declines, leading to inbreeding and health problems. For these reasons, we need to be doing everything we can to slow this rate of biodiversity loss, both in the wild habitats where these species live and in captive breeding and research projects.
In the review paper the authors outline the current methods available for cryopreservation, where animal tissues and cells are stored at ultra-low temperatures (for example at Nature’s SAFE we store our samples in liquid nitrogen at -196°C), in a manner that keeps them alive, so that they can be thawed out in the future and potentially used in assisted reproductive technologies. These efforts could lead to the birth of new offspring within an endangered species, which would bolster declining population numbers, reintroduce lost genetic diversity, boosting the overall health of the population and improving its long-term survival. These reintroduced individuals could also help reverse lost biodiversity and improve the health of ecosystems overall, benefitting not only wild species but human populations also.
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As a growing charity, we are now looking to expand our scope beyond the UK by establishing global conservation hubs. Our vision is to work with local conservation services to preserve samples from native wildlife within their own country, enabling appropriate stewardship of these valuable resources.
The carbon conversation continues to thrive, and successfully attracts significant investment and market-driven incentives. It has been commodified—bought, sold, offset, and traded—as if it exists in isolation from the broader environmental crisis. This narrow focus risks turning the pursuit of ‘net-zero’ into a convenient smokescreen, allowing companies and countries to claim progress while overlooking the interconnected challenges of biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and long-term sustainability.
Living Biobank Charity, Nature’s SAFE, will be saving rare UK wildlife thanks to Postcode Local Trust.
Sloth bear
Total Population: Less than 20,000 in the wild
Little egret
Total Population: 660,000 to 3,150,000 in the wild
Red-footed tortoise
Total Population: Unknown
Caribbean flamingo
Total Population: 150,000 to 205,000 in the wild
Babirusa
Total Population: Less than 10,000 in the wild
Patagonian Sea Lion
Total Population: 222,500 to 265,000 in the wild
Bush dog
Total Population: Unknown
African Lion
Total Population: 20,000 - 25,000 in the wild
Bar-headed goose
Total Population: 97,000 - 118,000 in the wild
Macaroni Penguin
Total Population: Around 12 million
Sumatran laughing thrush
Total Population: 2,500 - 10,000 in the wild
Black tree monitor
Total Population: Unknown
Scimitar-horned oryx
Total Population: Around 400 in the wild
Arctic wolf
Total Population: Around 200,000 in the wild
Lesser Madagascan tenrec
Total Population: Unknown
South American fur seal
Total Population: Around 200,000 in the wild
Collared peccary
Total Population: More than 2,000,000 in the wild
Inca Tern
Total Population: Around 150,000 in the wild
