- The Value of Biodiversity as an Insurance Device. So apparently the “Epstein-Zin-Weil specification of the utility function allows us to disentangle the effects of risk aversion and aversion to fluctuations.” Good to know.
- The Invasive Legacy of Forage Grass Introductions into Florida. Sometimes biodiversity is bad for you, Epstein-Zin-Weil specification or not.
- Cultigen Chenopods in the Americas: A Hemispherical Perspective. Why did the North American one not do a quinoa?
- The potential of landscape genomics approach in the characterization of adaptive genetic diversity in indigenous goat genetic resources: A South African perspective. “[N]on-descript indigenous veld goats” no longer.
- Collection and characterization of grapevine genetic resources (Vitis vinifera) in the Holy Land, towards the renewal of ancient winemaking practices. Some of the local varieties could make a decent tipple.
- Genetic studies regarding the control of seed pigmentation of an ancient European pointed maize (Zea mays L.) rich in phlobaphenes: the “Nero Spinoso” from the Camonica valley. But do we really want to promote a landrace as a functional food?
- Genetic diversity patterns in ex situ collections of Oryza officinalis Wall. ex G. Watt revealed by morphological and microsatellite markers. Malesia separates out from SE Asia, and similarities between PNG and Philippines points to long-distance dispersal by birds. Or germplasm collectors.
- Perceptual selection and the unconscious selection of ‘volunteer’ seedlings in clonally propagated crops: an example with African cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) using ethnobotany and population genetics. Occasional seedlings are allowed to survive not so much because they look different, but because they look similar, to existing landraces, even though they may be genetically distinct.
- Evolutionary “Bet-Hedgers” under Cultivation: Investigating the Domestication of Erect Knotweed (Polygonum erectum L.) using Growth Experiments. Experimental domestication pretty quickly gets rid of that peskily bet-hedging germination heteromorphism.
- Are We Getting Better at Using Wild Potato Species in Light of New Tools? Not until we move on from conserving populations and start documenting individual plants in depth.
- Crucible of Crop Diversity: Forging Partnership with Farmer Breeders and Innovators for Higher Climate Resilience. Experience of the Honey Bee Network in bringing together farmers and researchers.
- Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of yam (Dioscorea alata L.) using microsatellite markers. 17 groups among 384 global accessions, reflecting geography, ploidy and morpho-agronomy.
- Harnessing diversity from ecosystems to crops to genes. “…currently, approximately 75% of the genetic diversity of crops may have been lost.” I do like that “may.”
- Multivariate analysis of morphological diversity among closely related Daucus species and subspecies in Tunisia. The revenge of morphology: D. sahariensis, plus 4 subspecies of D. carota.
Luigi asked:
But do we really want to promote a landrace as a functional food?
Why wouldn’t we? Would its landrace status be lost if it were a functional food? My suspicion is there would be breeding to select the nutritionally positive attributes into a higher yielding maize background with subsequent commercialization. The original landrace could remain – and in situ conservation might even be bolstered if the nutraceutical value caught on (ala quinoa) among foodies. So I’m not sure where the difficulty lies.
I just don’t think that it’s a scalable strategy for landrace conservation.
I hadn’t considered it a new strategy for widespread landrace conservation – more of a one off (or perhaps a model for the chance application in some cases). A case by case sort of thing.
What might be interesting to follow, if indeed some commercial scale production of the landrace itself were realized, would be to track the genetics of the landrace over many generations of wider scale production to see how gene flow is affected.
Well I’m also not sure that it’s a scalable approach to better nutrition. So what really would be the point?