VIDEO: Save plants to & # 039; & # 039 mass extinctions;

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Saving the plants in the "sixth mass extinction"

July 8, 2015 at 23:30 clock Last updated BST

Wednesday launched an ambitious project to compile the genomes of the major groups of plants on the planet in the next two years and placed in the freezer.

The project is part of the global genome initiative to the collection and preservation of the DNA of all life on earth in low-temperature deposits.

The task seems daunting, but scientists lead the initiative in National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian say it takes a few months to collect samples of the plant families of half the world, since it is already growing in the Botanical Garden. Most are within five miles (8 km) from Washington, DC.

There are about 500 families of plants and more than 13,000 species within these groups. The task is urgent because some species are threatened with extinction. In fact, the scientists warn that the Earth entered its sixth mass extinction - the last of these events 65 million years ago killed the dinosaurs.

Jane O'Brien was to look at the United States Botanic Garden, some of the first collected plant samples.

Filmed by Colm Malloy. Written by Bill McKenna

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