Canaries in the genetic coal mine

Specialism in science being what it is, it’s understandably unusual to see papers which combine combine analysis of genetic diversity in humans over time with that of crops, or indeed livestock. It’s less understandable why it should also be unusual in science journalism, and examples should be celebrated. So hats off to Warren Cornwall for his very readable synthesis in Science of the history of human and crop genetic diversity in the Canaries over the past two thousand years. Well worth a read.

References

The genomic history of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands.

The demography of the Canary Islands from a genetic perspective.

Demographic history of Canary Islands male gene-pool: replacement of native lineages by European.

An Evolutionary Approach to the History of Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Cultivation in the Canary Islands.

Farmer fidelity in the Canary Islands revealed by ancient DNA from prehistoric seeds.

Agriculture and crop dispersal in the western periphery of the Old World: the Amazigh/Berber settling of the Canary Islands (ca. 2nd–15th centuries CE).