DOI: 10.15468/agadqc
title: Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank Database

description: Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank (KFGB) extents its forestry conservation efforts by creating DNA and tissue bank of rare and endangered plant species. Since 2017 KFGB has gathered genetic material of 225 plants representing a wide range of taxonomic coverage (50 families, 133 genera, 5403 tissue samples, 1128 DNAs). Herbarium collection is utilized to provide additional resources in future genetic analysis such as DNA barcoding. 

In 2025–2026, the collection of the Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank (LBG Kostrzyca) was further enriched with additional data on DNA samples, tissue fragments, and herbarium specimens of plant species representing the following families: Boraginaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Primulaceae, and Ranunculaceae.
The vast majority of the taxa belong to Magnoliopsida. Among all of the species there are not only angiosperms, but also representatives of mosses, club mosses and ferns - a total of 225 species belonging to 50 botanical families. The largest collection has Cypreaceae family (30 species), with the representatives of the rarest native Polish flora – Carex buxbaumii Wahlenb., Carex pauciflora Lightf., Carex pulicaris L. The other families with a large representation of species are Orchidaceae (25), Ranunculaceae (20), Poaceae (18).Taxa that are considered of special importance/significance at our repository: Aconitum bucovinense Zapal., Aconitum firmum subsp. maninense (Skalický) Starm., Aconitum moldavicum subsp. hosteanum (Schur) Graebn. & P.Graebn., Arenaria graminifolia Schrad., Buxbaumia aphylla Hedw., Buxbaumia viridis (DC.) Moug. & Nestl., Callianthemum coriandrifolium Rchb., Lathyrus laevigatus (Waldst. & Kit.) Gren., Oxytropis carpathica R.Uechtr., Polytrichastrum formosum (Hedw.) G.L. Sm., Senecio macrophyllus M. Bieb., Silene borysthenica (Gruner) Walters, Silene lithuanica Zapał., Silene nutans subsp. dubia (Herbich) Zapal., Sphagnum fimbriatum Wilson, Sphagnum girgensohnii Russow, Sphagnum magellanicum Brid., Tozzia alpina subsp. carpathica (Woloszcz.) Dostal, Trollius altissimus Crantz.
Geographic coverage encompasses hundreds of the natural localities of threatened native plants in Poland. Taxa are growing in the habitats of 10 National Parks (Białowieża National Park, Biebrza National Park, Bieszczady National Park, Drawa National Park, Gorce National Park, Kampinos National Park, Karkonosze National Park, Stołowe Mountains National Park, Tatra National Park, Wigry National Park), 37 nature reserves and 55 Natura 2000 sites. GPS coordinates are known for all of the specimens.The DNA bank is part of the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) which was founded in 2011. The network provides a technically optimized DNA collection service facility for all biological research accessible via one central web portal. The network promotes deposition of well documented reference DNA samples after project completion or data publication from scientists of other universities and institutions.The database of the collection deposited up to 2024 was developed based on work supported by the Global Genome Initiative under Award No. GGI-GGBN-2021-280. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Global Genome Initiative.