Ex situ' conservation of a critically endangered fern

Pneumatopteris truncata is listed as Critically Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).The Australian population occurs only on Christmas Island where fewer than 50 mature individuals are known and population size fluctuates significantly across years.Ex situ conservation was prioritised as a critical response to insure against loss of the wild population.Spore from wild subpopulations was collected and germination and propagation techniques were trialled.This work has established ex situ spore and plant collections (more than 100 plants), developed protocols for germination and propagation of this species and identified priority future research for threatened fern species.