DNA barcoding is based on a gamble (or maybe a shrewd guess), and perhaps a smidgin of circular thinking: that there is a chunk of genome short enough to sequence quickly and cheaply, and which shows just enough variability for the entire sequence to be the same for all members of a species, but different for different species. Well, the gamble seems to have paid off. A suitable bit of a gene has duly been identified for both animals and plants, data are being ammassed, and there’s talk of a portable gadget being available in a few years which will read off the relevant sequence from a bit of leaf or skin or something and compare it with a database to give you the species name right there in the field.
Maintaining diversity: an experiment
When we talk about biodiversity — including agrobiodiversity — we really mean three things at the same time: diversity among ecosystems, among species, and within species. Scientists usually study these scales separately, but can diversity at one level somehow affect diversity at another? That’s the question tackled by an experiment described last week in Science ((MRichard A. Lankau and Sharon Y. Strauss (14 September 2007) Science 317 (5844), 1561. DOI: 10.1126/science.1147455.)) and discussed by one of the authors in Scitizen (fortunately, because the full paper is behind a paywall). ((Thanks to Andy for the headsup.))
Giant swamp taro analyzed
More of one of our favourite leitmotifs. Lois Englberger tells me her team’s latest paper on variety-level nutritional composition has been accepted by the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis ((Carotenoid and mineral content of Micronesian giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma) cultivars by Englberger L, Schierle J, Kraemer K, Aalbersberg W, Dolodolotawake U, Humphries J, Graham R, Reid AP, Lorens A, Albert K, Levendusky A, Johnson E, Paul Y, Sengebau F.)). It won’t actually be out for a few months, but here’s the abstract to whet your appetite:
Are farmers a dying breed?
I didn’t go looking for this. These three stories came to me independently, from different sources, from different parts of the world, but all within a day or two of each other. And all describing agriculture in crisis.
NTFP and poverty
Collecting wild foods an “efficient method of subsistence.”