Our Stories
Katie Heineman
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Dr. Katie Heineman is a Plant Conservation Scientist with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) who specializes in documenting plant collections for research and conservation purposes. Heinemen’s experience in Borneo during her undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln inspired her to focus her efforts on plants and plant conservation. In her work with both SDZWA and the Center for Plant Conservation, Heineman has helped to improve the shared data systems and digital interface for seed inventory, genetic samples, germination records, and similar conservation data which has been an essential part of CaPR’s efforts. She also has a passion for seed germination analysis and helps design germination trials for research to improve rare seed germination practices and conservation viability.
“I’ve always been kind of a biodiversity person, and I had a cool experience in undergrad where I went to Borneo and I worked with tropical trees,” Heineman said of where her interest in plants began. She explained how her observations of customs in life and in honoring life after death while shew as there led her to recognize the scope of how much human use of landscapes impact nature. “One day, at one of the places where I was working they were creating a cemetery for people across the street, cutting down all of these trees to make space for the dead. And that’s important, but it was this very stark realization of the way in which we affect these plants that are so irreplaceable both when we’re alive and when we die.
“That’s really what put me down the path of plant conservation and I went from working in more forested spaces to seed banking,” she continued. “I’m really obsessed with the fact that we can freeze a seed and keep them alive, then add water and revive them years later. Even though seeds have been able to do this forever, and humans have known about it for thousands of years, it still seems like science fiction that we can do these things.”
Heineman has now been contributing to CaPR’s work for the past decade where she’s had roles with both SDZWA and the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). “My role was to compile what is now the current version of the CaPR database from all of the existing datasets from all of the different botanical gardens [we partner with],” she explained. Previously, Heineman had worked directly with CPC to create an interface for prioritizing seed collections by species, occurrence, and similar conservation measures. With SDZWA, she has continued to work together with curators from botanical gardens across the state to compile data in to a shared system.
“It’s been a really fun process because through creating these shared data tools we’ve been able to learn more about how each institution collects [seeds], and we’ve been able to really standardize this practice,” Heineman explained. “And it’s been fun to watch the collections and the interface grow, as well as the sophistication with which we can really hone in on what we do. It’s gone from, ‘Oh, I think we might have 500 seeds but we’re not really sure about that,’ to, ‘We know we have those seeds at this site, that they were collected in 1984, etc.’ It really is a powerful tool in terms of how we can plan and work together as a group.”
In addition to improving those data systems, Heineman added that this data management work also demonstrates the importance of the CaPR partnerships for reaching conservation goals. “For example, there’s a graph in the gap analysis we’re about to publish that shows that after we were able to establish a partnership with the Forest Services, which holds a huge amount of the land in California, there was an exponential increase in our ability to make collections. And being able to show people the true value of partnership in conservation, we can be a model for other places.
“In my role I also lead our International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Center for Species Survival biodiversity banking and I’m constantly holding CaPR up as a model for people in other countries,” she added. “This is what you can do when you collaboratively seed bank. This is the difference you can make in a region in terms of extinction prevention, and that kind of thing.”
Heineman is also drawn to studying the way in which plants germinate. “I love the analyses we can do with germination trials. Those of us that have worked at botanic gardens have had the privilege to work with a variety of endangered plants, learn more about them, and teach people about them in ways that can help in their conservation,” she commented.
Recently she’s been collaborating with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Seed Laboratory. “We’ve been doing a seed longevity study with seeds there and at the California Botanic Garden, using molecular methods like RNA in order to test seeds’ viability long term. Some of the seeds in the CaPR network, especially in the California Botanic Garden, have been in collection for over forty years and we work with partners to take the old seeds while recollecting new seeds from the same populations to evaluate how long these seeds are living.”
Heineman added that studies like these help inform plant conservation strategies like how often seeds need to be recollected for different species. “It’s been a sort of proof of concept to show that, yes, this works. We can keep seeds alive for decades. And it’s really exciting to see the [conservation] programs scale and take on so much responsibility for the flora of California, such as UC Santa Cruz which has become one of the biggest regional seed banks in California within five years.”
She also mentioned the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s expansion of their cryopreservation program. “If you’ve ever heard of the Frozen Zoo that is a collection of (mostly vertebrate) cell lines, and now we have a collection for plants, too. We’re building capacity and also have protocol development for California native plants. Plants that can’t be seed banked can often be cryopreserved,” Heineman noted of the project.
About being a part of CaPR she added, “I just love this network and I wish everyone could spend a day with this great group of people. It’s a very cohesive group of likeminded conservationists, and a testament to the people who started the network who were so inclusive of this community of botanic gardens. All of the relationships that botanic gardens have with regulators, land managers, and local communities has allowed this program to really expand the way it has.”
- Interview with Katie Heineman (2025), written by Brooke Clifford
“I’ve always been kind of a biodiversity person, and I had a cool experience in undergrad where I went to Borneo and I worked with tropical trees,” Heineman said of where her interest in plants began. She explained how her observations of customs in life and in honoring life after death while shew as there led her to recognize the scope of how much human use of landscapes impact nature. “One day, at one of the places where I was working they were creating a cemetery for people across the street, cutting down all of these trees to make space for the dead. And that’s important, but it was this very stark realization of the way in which we affect these plants that are so irreplaceable both when we’re alive and when we die.
“That’s really what put me down the path of plant conservation and I went from working in more forested spaces to seed banking,” she continued. “I’m really obsessed with the fact that we can freeze a seed and keep them alive, then add water and revive them years later. Even though seeds have been able to do this forever, and humans have known about it for thousands of years, it still seems like science fiction that we can do these things.”
Heineman has now been contributing to CaPR’s work for the past decade where she’s had roles with both SDZWA and the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC). “My role was to compile what is now the current version of the CaPR database from all of the existing datasets from all of the different botanical gardens [we partner with],” she explained. Previously, Heineman had worked directly with CPC to create an interface for prioritizing seed collections by species, occurrence, and similar conservation measures. With SDZWA, she has continued to work together with curators from botanical gardens across the state to compile data in to a shared system.
“It’s been a really fun process because through creating these shared data tools we’ve been able to learn more about how each institution collects [seeds], and we’ve been able to really standardize this practice,” Heineman explained. “And it’s been fun to watch the collections and the interface grow, as well as the sophistication with which we can really hone in on what we do. It’s gone from, ‘Oh, I think we might have 500 seeds but we’re not really sure about that,’ to, ‘We know we have those seeds at this site, that they were collected in 1984, etc.’ It really is a powerful tool in terms of how we can plan and work together as a group.”
In addition to improving those data systems, Heineman added that this data management work also demonstrates the importance of the CaPR partnerships for reaching conservation goals. “For example, there’s a graph in the gap analysis we’re about to publish that shows that after we were able to establish a partnership with the Forest Services, which holds a huge amount of the land in California, there was an exponential increase in our ability to make collections. And being able to show people the true value of partnership in conservation, we can be a model for other places.
“In my role I also lead our International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Center for Species Survival biodiversity banking and I’m constantly holding CaPR up as a model for people in other countries,” she added. “This is what you can do when you collaboratively seed bank. This is the difference you can make in a region in terms of extinction prevention, and that kind of thing.”
Heineman is also drawn to studying the way in which plants germinate. “I love the analyses we can do with germination trials. Those of us that have worked at botanic gardens have had the privilege to work with a variety of endangered plants, learn more about them, and teach people about them in ways that can help in their conservation,” she commented.
Recently she’s been collaborating with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Seed Laboratory. “We’ve been doing a seed longevity study with seeds there and at the California Botanic Garden, using molecular methods like RNA in order to test seeds’ viability long term. Some of the seeds in the CaPR network, especially in the California Botanic Garden, have been in collection for over forty years and we work with partners to take the old seeds while recollecting new seeds from the same populations to evaluate how long these seeds are living.”
Heineman added that studies like these help inform plant conservation strategies like how often seeds need to be recollected for different species. “It’s been a sort of proof of concept to show that, yes, this works. We can keep seeds alive for decades. And it’s really exciting to see the [conservation] programs scale and take on so much responsibility for the flora of California, such as UC Santa Cruz which has become one of the biggest regional seed banks in California within five years.”
She also mentioned the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s expansion of their cryopreservation program. “If you’ve ever heard of the Frozen Zoo that is a collection of (mostly vertebrate) cell lines, and now we have a collection for plants, too. We’re building capacity and also have protocol development for California native plants. Plants that can’t be seed banked can often be cryopreserved,” Heineman noted of the project.
About being a part of CaPR she added, “I just love this network and I wish everyone could spend a day with this great group of people. It’s a very cohesive group of likeminded conservationists, and a testament to the people who started the network who were so inclusive of this community of botanic gardens. All of the relationships that botanic gardens have with regulators, land managers, and local communities has allowed this program to really expand the way it has.”
- Interview with Katie Heineman (2025), written by Brooke Clifford