Genetic tools for reviving the island’s endemic cedar, central to Bermuda’s culture and heritage as well as the environment, are being developed to create a gene test to identify the pure strains of the national tree.

Bermuda cedars once comprised more than 90 per cent of the island’s tree cover, until a blight in the 1940s from accidentally introduced scale insect parasites wiped out most of the population within a decade.

Blight-resistant seedlings from the surviving but endangered Juniperus bermudiana trees have gradually restored the island’s cedar population.

For centuries on the island, the trees were central to everything from the construction of homes and furniture to shipbuilding.

The “conservation challenge” to develop the genetic test was a collaboration between the firm Wise Ancestors and the Bermudian-based BioQuest with the Department of Culture and the Bermuda National Trust.

The programme, which used crowdsourcing to build up financing, announced this week it had fulfilled phase one of its funding, with more to follow.

Wise Ancestors described itself as “a fairly new international non-profit focused on advancing genomic research”, while BioQuest, a non-governmental organisation, uses the resources of the Bermudian genetics firm CariGenetics to carry out genetic research on iconic flora and fauna species in Bermuda such as skinks and cahows.

Its Bermuda cedar project was announced in October 2024.

Developing a reference genome for the trees will enable seedlings that have not mingled genetically with related species to be planted — a key step to restoring a habitat that once blanketed the island.

The project will also enable scientists to build up a bank of seeds for the original species.

Carika Weldon, the founder of CariGenetics and BioQuest cofounder and director of research, said the project marked “an incredible opportunity for Bermuda”.

Dr Weldon said it “not only preserves a critical part of our ecosystem but showcases that advanced genomics can be done locally”.

She added: “By sequencing the Bermuda cedar’s genome entirely on-island by Bermudians, we are keeping the research and technology at home, aligning with our vision to ensure science equity in previously underrepresented regions for sustainable natural resource management.”

Dr Weldon said that the work, boosted by a Roche research lecturer grant that she received from Bermuda College, would have a lasting impact on the island’s environment.

She added that it would set the stage for more genetic research in the wider Caribbean, “empowering our region to play an active role in biodiversity conservation using genetics”.

Introduced species were used to reforest the island in the wake of the blight — including similar juniper species that crossed with the Bermuda cedar.

However, the imported varieties proved less resilient to the island’s harsh salt spray and strong winds.

Jean-Pierre Rouja, the executive director of BioQuest, credited the “monumental” effort to revive cedar forests with seeds from surviving “legacy” trees.

He added: “However, it is now suspected that a large portion of these may have been cross-pollinated, resulting in hybrids.

“Once we have produced the reference genome, we will be able to definitively prove which of the surviving trees are in fact pure, so that they can be granted enhanced protection from the Bermuda Government Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.”

Mr Rouja said the aim was to develop a handheld test allowing for trees to be “efficiently field tested in the environment and to ensure that, going forward, pure seeds and cloned seedlings can be prioritised for propagation”.

The move would boost the island’s stock of resilient trees, which Mr Rouja said was “now becoming all the more important due to climate change”.

Ann Pace, the executive director of Wise Ancestors, said the pilot project had proved “incredibly meaningful”.

The company’s website stated that it worked with “indigenous peoples and local communities” to preserve biodiversity using genetic research.

Solenne Correard, the scientific director of Wise Ancestors, said: “I’m excited that the DNA extraction and sequencing for this project will be done in Bermuda thanks to CariGenetics’s lab equipped with cutting-edge nanopore technology — making this both a technical milestone and a model for community-based science.”

The company said that the cedar’s reference genome would be shared globally and would enable the exploration of the tree’s evolutionary path, in tandem with the Bermuda Department of Culture’s cultural apprenticeship programme.

Crowdfunding continues for the second part of the conservation work, which is to support the identification and propagation of Juniperus bermudiana, which would mean the true Bermuda cedar could be distinguished from hybrid varieties.

It is hoped that about $45,000 can be raised to fully fund the project.

• UPDATE: this article has been updated to include a comment from Dr Correard in full and to highlight continuing crowdfunding efforts