Luigi Guarino

July 1, 2016

Plant Conservation and the SDGs

Dr Sarada Krishnan of the Denver Botanic Gardens kindly sent us this summary of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation’s conference on Plant Conservation and the Sustainable Development Goals, mentioned yesterday on the blog. Many thanks, Sarada. If many readers want more details on one or two topics in particular, we can perhaps ask her for a follow-up.

The conference was attended by 140 delegates from 27 countries. Here is a summary of topics presented at the conference:

Botanic gardens can play a big role in conservation of crop wild relatives.
Plant conservation needs to have people at its center.
Simplify messages to reach various audiences.
Economic impact of invasives: the role botanic gardens can play (example of RBG Sydney with Wollemi pine and Phytophthora cinnamomi).
Importance of indigenous knowledge to plant conservation.
Update to the North American Botanic Gardens Strategy for Plant Conservation in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.
We need to promote more good news (rather than doom and gloom): spread our success stories #EarthOptimism.
Kew’s role in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals.
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) implementation and other conservation topics in various countries (Brazil, South Africa, China, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Canada, Ecuador, Azerbaijan).
Capacity building (example of the Sud Expert Plantes programme (SEP2D) by France).
Access and benefit sharing for seed banking by the Australian Seed Bank Partnership.
The US National Seed Strategy developed by 12 US federal agencies.
Role of horticulture in plant conservation and lack of capacity in horticultural skills.
Conservation genetics tools.

Very intense two days with great variety of topics!

June 30, 2016June 30, 2016

Plant conservation boffins discuss the Sustainable Development Goals

Things have been a little busy hereabouts, what with one thing and another, so we seem to have neglected to remind our readers of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation’s conference on Plant Conservation and the Sustainable Development Goals at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Shame on us. Anyway, participants have been quite busy on Twitter, so you can get a flavour of what’s been going on. The focus was on the role of botanical gardens in the conservation of wild plants, but agricultural biodiversity does seem to have featured at least once.

Ms Sutherland-issues with collecting seeds on indigenous lands in Australia-where do the benefits accrue? #gppc2016 pic.twitter.com/jrRZG5YhhZ

— Anukriti Hittle (@anu_hittle) June 29, 2016

Maybe someone can tell us more on that.

June 30, 2016June 30, 2016

Nibbles: Wild pig, Indicators, Ethiopian agrobiodiversity, Traditional crops, Purple haze, Fraises des Bois, Chef prize, Breadfruit, Sorghum nutrition, Moringa, NWFP, Barcoding, Arnold Arboretum

Warty pig saved by genomics.
So apparently there’s a Biodiversity Barometer. Via the Biodiversity Indicator Partnership.
Traditional crops survive, but under threat, in Ethiopian highlands. And a whole issue of Farming Matters on why it’s important that they do survive.
More on that purple wheat heirloom variety coming back from the brink.
Going back to the original European strawberry. No, I’m not going to make any jokes about that.
There’s going to be a Nobel for chefs. If they can make use of breadfruit, they’ll deserve it.
Yes, sorghum rotis can taste good. And they’re good for you.
Big Moringa shill makes case for next superfood :)
Did I already say that FAO’s Nonwood Forest Products Newsletter seems to have been resurrected? Do subscribe.
On my work blog, I say genebanks could be a bit more like supermarkets.
Collecting trees.

June 29, 2016

World Food Prize for letting food be thy medicine

Congratulations to Drs Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, Jan Low and Howarth Bouis on being awarded the 2016 World Food Prize for their work on biofortification in general and the orange-fleshed sweet potato in particular:

“Let Food Be Thy Medicine,” a quote attributed to Hippocrates approximately 2,400 years ago, best captures the ground-breaking achievement for which the four distinguished 30th Anniversary World Food Prize Laureates are being honored in 2016 – the development and implementation of biofortification, breeding critical vitamins and micronutrients into staple crops, thereby dramatically reducing “hidden hunger” for millions.

And let’s remember how much more difficult their work would have been if not for genebank collections that could be screened for flesh colour, along with the myriad other traits that make for a successful variety release.

June 27, 2016June 27, 2016

Brainfood: Panicum diversity, Colocasia diversity, First farmers, Maize breeding, Soil data, Prunus domestication, Soya minicore

Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Proso Millet Germplasm Available in the United States using Simple-Sequence Repeat Markers. Germplasm collection diverse, released cultivars not so much.
Genetic Diversification and Dispersal of Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). Most diverse in India, which is origin of W. African material, in contrast to the S. African, which comes from Japan. The Caribbean stuff comes from the Pacific, but the Central American from India.
The genetic structure of the world’s first farmers. Ancient DNA suggests agriculture arose separately in southern Levant and Iran. Or at least that the first farmers in those regions didn’t speak together much.
Current warming will reduce yields unless maize breeding and seed systems adapt immediately. Crop duration in Africa will decrease faster than you can breed for it.
Uncertainty in soil data can outweigh climate impact signals in global crop yield simulations. And then there’s the whole soil thing.
Evolutionary genomics of peach and almond domestication. Separated a long time ago, and fruit diverged before domestication, which occurred separately but in parallel.
Phenotypic evaluation and genetic dissection of resistance to Phytophthora sojae in the Chinese soybean mini core collection. Some new genes found, and geographic hotspots of resistance too.