Nibbles: Potato journeys, European collections, European bees, Wheat breeding, Mountains, Forest restoration, Tall trees, Symbioses, Guanaco reintroduction, Plant genomes, Improving GBIF, 2 sides of beef

The European encounter with the potato. A Google Earth tour by Jorge L. Alonso, and really rather fun. In Spanish.
The European encounter with virtual germplasm collections. AEGIS takes another step.
The European encounter with the honeybee. Bad news for the latter.
The European encounter with wheat. Its promiscuity will save us. Wheat’s, that is, not Europe’s. No, wait…
Nope, mountains will save us. Including Europe’s?
We should be doing reforestation in discrete patches, not huge swathes. Even on mountains, I suppose.
But if you want those trees to grow really tall, your options are limited.
No harm in adding a few fungi though. On the contrary…
And maybe a few guanacos?
Well we must have at least one genome piece in Nibbles, mustn’t we? Turns out plants are good models for everything else, including us.
And one database hell piece too, natch. Some thoughts on improving GBIF. Could be applied to Genesys too, I fear.
Meat: One side, and the other.

A paean to diverse diets is just what we all need.
And another one, from the MIT Technology Review of all places.
Menawhile, there’s only one reference to dietary diversity in the World Bank’s investment framework for nutrition.
Maybe you have to quantify that diversity before you can save it? Now where have I heard that before?
Meanwhile, Europe reports on biodiversity-friendly farming practices. Does that include the biodiversity of the actual crops? Perhaps surprisingly, yes!
You want biodiversity-friendly farming practices? Talk to Indigenous people. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has launched an e-consultation on “Preserving, strengthening and promoting Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems and traditional practices for sustainable food systems.”
There’s diversity in asparagus too.
Genebanks can help with those biodiversity-friendly practices, diverse diets and rops and Indigenous practices.
Even big international genebanks.
Even the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
But some are in trouble.
Though others are coming back.