Author: Jeremy Cherfas

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Rare breeds at risk of disease

BBC News says that “regional breeds of sheep face a heightened risk of disease because of their tendency to remain together in one location”. It is summarising a report from The Sheep Trust, which was founded during the epidemic of Foot and Mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001. That’s important.

What the Trust’s report seems to be saying that when there is an outbreak of disease, the regional, heritage, breeds are vulnerable because they are concentrated in a single geographical location. But that does not put them at greater risk of disease. It puts them at greater risk of being culled as part of government’s policy-based response to the disease. If the policy is to slaughter all animals within, say, 5 km of an affected farm, regardless of whether they have the disease or not, then yes, geographical concentration is a threat to the breed. But it isn’t the disease as such that is the threat, it is the policy response. It is even possible that the policy would wipe out flocks that contain genetic resistance.

What’s the answer? Given that regional breeds are interesting precisely because they are adapted to a small region, simply spreading them about might not be much of a solution. Gene-banking? Well, that’s where we came in: The Sheep Trust is an outgrowth of the Heritage Genebank. So what exactly do they want?

“We are strongly recommending that new measures are put in place to protect these important genetic resources now that their vulnerability has been so clearly demonstrated,” says Professor Dianna Bowles OBE, founder and Chair of The Sheep Trust.

No further details are forthcoming. How very frustrating. Maybe all they want is government money for the sheep genebank.

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Featured: Breeding Taro

Inoculated Mind on Making breeding illegal:

[I]f “Changing the basic structure of the sacred Hawaiian taro plant” is made illegal … then they are basically legislating that natural genetic recombination, outcrossing, etc, does not change the genetic structure of taro.

Note the interesting use of the word “sacred” repeatedly when describing the ‘need’ to ‘protect’ the plant from genetic engineering. Yay for misusing religion for political purposes. The obvious counter-argument is that not allowing researchers to defend Taro against future diseases violates the sanctity of the holy plant.

Over to you, descendents of the sacred taro.

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No bee problem

Here’s something contrarian. The Economist says that there’s no shortage of bees in California this year. Far from it, there’s actually a glut. As you might expect, it’s complex:

This year’s Californian bee glut, then, has been caused by a mixture of rising supply meeting falling demand. The price of almonds dropped by 30% between August and December last year, as people had less money in their pockets. That has caused growers to cut costs, and therefore hire fewer hives. There is also a drought in the region, and many farmers are unlikely to receive enough water to go ahead with the harvest. Meanwhile, the recent high prices for pollination contracts made it look worthwhile fattening bees up with supplements over the winter. That may help explain why there have been fewer colony collapses.

The entire article is a useful summary of where things stand on colony collapse disorder, and the clearest conclusion is that almost certainly there is no single cause. A diversity of problems, each exacerbating the others and — what do you know? — a diversity of solutions, each of which seems to improve matters a little.

(I’d like to add that the headline and crossheads of that article are among the best I’ve seen all year: The bees are back in town; Bee good to me; Bee-conomics; Bee off with you. Someone had a lot of fun. And thanks Michael for being so quick off the mark with a tip.)

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Nibbles: Databases, Hell squared, Genebanks, Goats, Olives, Safe movement, Pouteria, Roman wine