Above the main campus at the University of California, Berkeley, nestled in Strawberry Canyon at the Botanical Gardens , you'll find a critically important bank. It doesn't store hordes of cash or glittering gold bullion. This bank stores seeds.

"So, we have millions of seeds represented from hundreds of different species from rare and endangered plants and they are all meticulously curated," explained curator and conservation officer Clare Loughran.

The seeds are stored in a vault at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the seeds stored in the deep freeze come from plants native to the Golden State.

"These plants have been here for thousands of years, and they're going extinct at an extremely high rate," Loughran said.

Seed banks are a way to guard against extinction and to preserve biodiv

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