- How much evidence do you need that farming came into Europe with farmers?
- Defra report on the UK’s animal genetic resources. Interestingly enough, no edible horse breeds listed.
- CIP et al. set up network for the nutritional enhancement of toots and rubers.
- So apparently sustainable diets need a business case. Ah, the sorry failed lexicon of contemporary managerialism!
- USAID thinks the pomegranate is an exotic fruit in Azerbaijan.
Nibbles: Maize genes, Livestock domestication, Guinea fowl, Plant identification, Juniper conservation, Cacao conservation, Seed talk, IPBES report, Global consultation
- Today’s genomic breakthrough involves kernel number in maize.
- Neolithic people overhunted, then thought better of it.
- Was guinea fowl ever domesticated, I wonder?
- How to figure out if you’ve looked hard enough. For plants, that is. And some discussion.
- Gin is in trouble. But help is at hand.
- A workshop on chocolate and vanilla. My kinda event. And chocolate does need help. Gin, chocolate. Pretty soon life wont be worth living.
- Simran Sethi’s Twitter chat after TEDxManhattan was storified, but it’s gone now of course. Try this instead.
- Final say on that IPBES-1 gabfest.
- And the first say on that “Global Consultation on agricultural biodiversity for sustainable food security” thing.
Prof. Ford-Lloyd speaks!
Brian Ford-Lloyd recently added Professor of Plant Conservation Genetics to the titles of Director of the University Graduate School and Deputy Head of the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham. Well, when I say recently, it was three years ago. Anyway, when you become a professor like that, you’re supposed to give an inaugural lecture. And Brian finally did that last week. By special arrangement, here’s his presentation, entitled “Options for conserving agrobiodiversity in a rapidly changing world.” Now go pre-order his book. Congratulations, Brian!
Brainfood: Cotton hybrids, Lentil drought phenotyping, Wild Prunus, Italian food discourse, Disturbance and diversity, Olive domestication, Rhizobium diversity, Intensification, Niche model uncertainty
- Interspecific hybridization in Gossypium L.: characterization of progenies with different ploidy-confirmed multigenomic backgrounds. They can be made, with some difficulty, and could be useful.
- A new phenotyping technique for screening for drought tolerance in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.). In hydroponics. Seems to work.
- Polyploidy and microsatellite variation in the relict tree Prunus lusitanica L.: how effective are refugia in preserving genotypic diversity of clonal taxa? The island populations are particularly important.
- Trade-off or convergence? The role of food security in the evolution of food discourse in Italy. The food crisis had quite an impact.
- Diversity loss with persistent human disturbance increases vulnerability to ecosystem collapse. Suppression of fire in a species-rich grassland has resulted in a very low diversity but highly productive vegetation. Unfortunately, when you re-introduce fire, the whole thing collapses.
- The complex history of the olive tree: from Late Quaternary diversification of Mediterranean lineages to primary domestication in the northern Levant. Don’t forget the 3 refugia in Middle East, Aegean and Gibraltar. And, coincidentally, more.
- Isolation and characterization of salt-tolerant rhizobia native to the desert soils of United Arab Emirates. I hope someone conserves them.
- The compatibility of agricultural intensification in a global hotspot of smallholder agrobiodiversity (Bolivia). Peaches for cash didn’t do anything nasty to the diverse maize landraces. Which are in any case conserved ex situ, just to be on the safe side? Right?
- Detrital diversity influences estuarine ecosystem performance. Diverse mud makes for healthier seagrasses and mangroves.
- Conservation Planning with Uncertain Climate Change Projections. Gotta look at those sensitivities.
Nibbles: Fisheries, Aquaculture, Oman GR centre, Neighbourhood farm, Striga control, Quinoa blog
- Indonesians integrate biodiversity with development.
- Aquaculturists integrate catfish and tilapia with carp.
- Omanis want to integrate genetic resources conservation regionally.
- A community integrates around a neighbourhood farm.
- Integrated solutions needed for Striga? Push-pull, anyone?
- New blog aims to integrate quinoa into Chilean diets.