- Genome-wide molecular diversity analyses identify wild Cicer as reservoirs of variations for chickpea improvement. Wild relatives of chickpea harbour a wealth of genetic variation that has yet to be exploited by breeders. But it’s mainly within species.
- Genetic and Morphological Diversity in Spontaneous Populations of Brassica rapa: How Do Feral Populations Differ From Wild Ones? When a crop escapes cultivation, does it become wild again? Apparently not. Pity.
- Genetic structure of traditional cacao reveals four new genetic lineages in indigenous Amazonian sites in Peru. Genetic analysis of traditional cacao maintained by Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon uncovers four previously undescribed genetic lineages.
- Contrasting germplasm composition and propagation practices in the two major cacao-growing areas in Panama. Two of Panama’s principal cacao-growing regions have developed markedly different genetic profiles, reflecting both the varieties farmers cultivate and how they propagate them. I think they have been previously described though.
- Ecological multifunctionality of watersheds increases with tree species richness. Watersheds planted with a greater diversity of tree species perform better across multiple ecological functions simultaneously, including nutrient cycling, soil protection and water regulation.
- Nutrition sensitive poverty and its correlates in Papua New Guinea: incorporating healthy diet targets into poverty measurement. Conventional poverty measures ask whether people can afford basic necessities. Why not ask a more demanding question: can they afford a healthy diet? Hopefully meaning a diverse one.
Brainfood: Easter Island coffee, Sword bean, Sweetpotato names, Colombian potatoes, Nut grass, Market access, Pollinators, Seed microorganisms
- An insular in situ Coffea arabica resource from Rapa Nui (Easter Island): SSR uniformity and biochemical evaluation of material consistent with the Typica lineage. Coffee growing on remote Rapa Nui appears to represent a remarkably uniform population closely related to the historic Typica lineage. Not diverse doesn’t necessarily mean not interesting.
- Farmer knowledge, management practices, and seed morphological diversity of sword bean (Canavalia gladiata) in Côte d’Ivoire. Growers recognize, manage and maintain morphological variation in sword bean, a legume that could be more utilized.
- Consistency of farmer-named sweet potato cultivars and their physicochemical and color differentiation within a production region. While local naming systems are generally meaningful, they don’t always map perfectly onto measurable physicochemical and colour traits.
- Harnessing the Genetic Diversity of the Colombian Central Collection of Potatoes to Dissect Pigmentation Genomics in Andigenum Landraces. Colombia’s collection helps explain colourful potatoes.
- Novel food ingredients from Cyperus rotundus: an ancient famine food and the world’s most pernicious weed comes back to the table. One of the world’s most notorious weeds may also be an overlooked food crop, and a potential source of novel food ingredients. An opportunity weed?
- Market remoteness and the production–diet association in smallholder food systems: Evidence from rural Nepal. Growing a diverse range of crops does not always translate into a more diverse diet. In Nepal, the relationship depends strongly on market access, highlighting the importance of infrastructure alongside agricultural diversification. Ok, forget the nut grass then, at least far from markets.
- Pollinators support the nutrition and income of vulnerable communities. Pollinator diversity makes important contributions to both dietary quality and household incomes among vulnerable communities.
- Seed ageing increases the influence of native microorganisms on germination. As seeds deteriorate, their naturally associated microorganisms play an increasingly important role in determining whether they successfully germinate. Of course microorganism diversity had to get a look-in too.
Brainfood: Animal genetic resources
- Beyond the binary: Queer inclusion and invisible labour in Samoa’s fisheries value chains. Fisheries in Samoa depend on significant but largely unrecognized labour by LGBTQ+ people, particularly fa’afafine and fa’afatama, whose contributions are overlooked by policies based on rigid gender categories.
- Genetic and morphological diversity of indigenous chicken of Kenya: A Review. Kenya’s indigenous chickens are adapted to diverse environments, resilient to disease, and important for rural livelihoods.
- Uncovering the lives of rock doves (Columba livia) in Late Bronze Age Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus. Rock doves lived alongside people in a major Late Bronze Age port city, revealing a more complex relationship than simple domestication in which doves exploited urban environments while providing food and other resources.
- Farmed Escapees Threaten MHC Diversity in Wild Atlantic Salmon. Escaped farmed Atlantic salmon can erode the diversity of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes in wild populations through interbreeding, which could reduce the long-term resilience and adaptability of wild salmon.
- Creation of intermuscular bone-free genetic mutants in grass carp and multiomics reveals molecular regulatory basis. Genome editing was used to produce grass carp lacking the numerous fine intermuscular bones that reduce consumer appeal, opening new possibilities for breeding more marketable fish while deepening understanding of skeletal biology.
Brainfood: Unusual data edition
- The Broad Spectrum Species: Plant Use and Processing as Deep Time Adaptations. Hundreds of plant species, many now forgotten, show up in archaeological assemblages stretching back tens of thousands of years. Exploiting an astonishing diversity of plants was a fundamental human adaptation long before agriculture. And the data was kinda always there.
- Evaluating cultivars for pollinator gardens. Some ornamental cultivars attract more pollinators than the wild plants they were bred from. The relationship between genetic modification through breeding and ecological function is not always straightforward. And I now want to see the descriptor “pollinator attractiveness” in evaluation datasets.
- Chemotypic Diversity and Integrated Metabolic Profiling of Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) from Mediterranean Turkey. Dozens of different chemical compounds vary dramatically among individual myrtle plants that look much the same to the naked eye.
- Essential oil composition and ethnobotanical survey of male and female Juniperus seravschanica Kom. (Cupressaceae) in Iran. Traditional knowledge and chemical profiling show that juniper male shoots, female shoots and cones each produce distinct blends of essential oils, exposing a surprising layer of sex-linked diversity within a single species.
- Earth Metabolome and Digital Botanical Gardens Initiatives: Chemodiversity Knowledge for Biodiversity Conservation. Millions of plant-produced molecules remain undocumented, forming an invisible dimension of biodiversity. We need global digital infrastructures to catalogue this vast reservoir of chemodiversity before it disappears. Of course we do.
- Herbaria Provide a Valuable Resource for Obtaining Informative mRNA. Decades-old herbarium specimens still contain usable messenger RNA, opening the door to studying historical patterns of gene expression from preserved plant collections.
- The Politics of Open Infrastructures: Power, Governance, and Justice in Digital Knowledge Practices. Data infrastructures may be open, but control over them often is not. And that probably goes even more for the unusual sorts of data represented by the above papers than for the crop diversity data we normally deal with here.
Brainfood: Diversity of Oats, Cotton, Sugarcane, Rice, Amaranthus, Vegetables, Agroforestry, Value chains
- Genome-wide comparative diversity uncovers population structure, global distribution, and targets of selection in hexaploid oat. A worldwide survey reveals how oat diversity is structured, spread, and shaped by breeding, helping pinpoint untapped genetic resources for future improvement.
- Genomic diversity and the domestication history of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Its genome traces cotton’s journey from its wild origins in Mesoamerica while documenting the genetic narrowing that accompanied domestication.
- Genetic architecture of sugarcane traits in a polyploid genomics framework. New genomic tools finally begin to untangle the diversity of one of agriculture’s most genetically complex crops, exposing the basis of traits breeders have long selected largely in the dark.
- Projected warming will exceed the long-term thermal limits of rice cultivation. Rice has historically thrived within remarkably stable climatic boundaries. Those boundaries are now on course to be crossed across major growing regions, with profound implications for global food security. Diversity to the rescue?
- An inter-specific Amaranthus pangenome captures genetic variation potentially underlying key leafy vegetable traits in this underutilised crop. A rich reservoir of previously hidden diversity emerges from across multiple cultivated amaranths, offering breeders new options for improving a neglected but nutritious vegetable.
- Impact of gardening and nutrition support provided to women in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Even in one of the world’s most challenging humanitarian settings, greater interspecific crop diversity translated into better diets, improved food security, and enhanced wellbeing.
- Designing perennial crop-based agroforestry systems: specificities, challenges, and opportunities. Diversification does not stop at the field edge: how perennial crops can be combined with trees to deliver productive, resilient, and biodiversity-friendly farming systems.
- Towards Nature Positive supply chains: From biodiversity commitments to organisational action. What would it take to move biodiversity from corporate promises to business practice? Maybe the above examples can help turn aspiration into measurable action.