- Native Americans are coping with a coronavirus-caused food shortage by seed saving. Among other things.
- On the International Day of Peasant’s Struggle, even.
- IWYP science brief on using wheat wild relatives in breeding.
- Really nice Meise Botanic Garden publication on botanical nomenclature.
- And to complement the above: Phylogenetics in the Genomic Era.
- More old apples found. I’m beginning to think the whole lost apples thing is a scam.
- But losing yaks is a definite possibility.
- Nature Map Explorer is online. Rejoice.
- Sean Hoban on calculating how much to collect and conserve. Without using the above.
CGIAR genebanks keeping on keeping on
Just a quick Twitter thread illustrating how the international genebanks managed by the CGIAR centres are trying to maintain basic operations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nibbles: Joy of seeds, CC risk map, Community seed banks, Genebanks
- Yes, what does make seeds so incredible?
- Biodiversity risk from climate change: the interactive online map.
- Community seed banks for farmers’ rights. And not only.
- Genebanks in a time of coronavirus.
- SPC genebank is trying to deal with COVID-19.
- The USDA genebank at Ft Collins soldiers on.
Brainfood: PFM, Endemic diversity, VAM, Food systems, Forages, Ganja taxonomy, Maize phenomics, Yield maps, Cassava breeding, Diversification, Distributions
- The illusion of participatory forest management success in nature conservation. Success is in the eye of the beholder.
- Back to the future of a rare plant species of the Chihuahuan desert: tracing distribution patterns across time and genetic diversity as a basis for conservation actions. A combination of genetic analysis and niche modelling shows that population structure is due to habitat, not geography.
- High‐throughput phenotyping reveals growth of Medicago truncatula is positively affected by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi even at high soil phosphorus availability. And affected differently during the course of plant growth.
- Global drivers of food system (un)sustainability: A multi-country correlation analysis. Most drivers are driving sustainability in the wrong direction.
- Progress and Challenges in Ex Situ Conservation of Forage Germplasm: Grasses, Herbaceous Legumes and Fodder Trees. Highly palatable leguminous woody species tick a lot of boxes. We know what to do. Let’s do it.
- A classification of endangered high-THC cannabis (Cannabis sativa subsp. indica) domesticates and their wild relatives. One subspecies, 4 botanical varieties? Well, that’s like your opinion, man.
- Phenomic selection and prediction of maize grain yield from near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy of kernels. Yeah, but can you do it in the field?
- Global dataset of historical yields v1.2 and v1.3 aligned version. For maize, rice, wheat and soybean, for the period 1981-2016. No NIRS in sight.
- Cassava breeding and agronomy in Asia: 50 years of history and future directions. 50% yield increase in 20 years. Is that good?
- Decision-Making to Diversify Farm Systems for Climate Change Adaptation. Define goals, assess enabling & disabling factors, quantify risks, look for gaps in functional diversity, pick some interventions, evaluate & learn.
- Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence. Points are better than polygons.
Free seed resources
Because of the realisation (due to the Covid-19 situation) that it is important to be in the garden growing your own food, we offer free downloads of “Seed to Seed Food Gardens” on how to start a food garden, and “Local Seed Network Manual” on how to start a group that collects, uses and distributes locally adapted seeds and other planting material (at a distance). We leave seeds and planting material at our gate for neighbours and friends to pick up.
Thanks, Seed Savers!