Luigi Guarino

July 23, 2009

Ex situ redux

After a period in which ex situ conservation has been downplayed by the conservation community (except for agrobiodiversity where it is still the main conservation strategy) ex situ conservation is now widely accepted as an increasingly necessary complement to in situ forms of conservation (IUCN 2002; BGCI 2000), especially protected areas (e.g. Abanades García & al. 2007).

That’s from a new report for the Council of Europe entitled “The impacts of climate change on plant species in Europe,” prepared by Prof. Vernon Heywood of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, with contributions by Dr Alastair Culham. You’ll find it on p. 39 after a very thorough review of the issues. Nice to see such a bold statement. The report is one of several prepared for the Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Thanks to Danny for the tip.

July 23, 2009July 23, 2009

Nibbles: Camel sweets, UG99, British woods, Rice, India and climate change, Soay sheep, Fish, Seed fair, Barn owls, Food maps, Earthworms

Chocolate made from camel milk for the first time. And last?
“Slow rusting” genes from Ethiopian wheat landraces.
Brits (and Yanks, for that matter) look for ancient trees in woodlands becoming ever less distinctive.
The world needs GM rice, but alas “the environment for accepting genetically modified crops is not as good as it should be.” Meanwhile, IRRI keeps hammering away at drought tolerance and resistance to other assorted stresses. It’s hard being rice.
ICAR looks at the likely effects of climate change on crops and what can be done about it.
Climate change making Soay sheep (and, incidentally, European fish too) not just smaller, also darker. Speaking of fish, there’s trouble in the Zambezi too, but not necessarily due to climate change. Although…
A Greek seed bazaar.
FAO turns to barn owls to stop Laotian rodent plague.
US food policy destinations on Google Maps.
Vermicomposting is good news for the Indian textile industry. Vermicomposting: I like saying that word.

July 19, 2009July 23, 2009

Commensal’s parasite driving human diversity?

So let me get this right. The parasite Toxoplasma gondii changes the behaviour of the rats it infects when they eat cat faeces by making said rats less scared of cats, which makes them more liable to be eaten by said cats, which is good for said parasite as it helps it complete its life cycle. More than weird enough. But the little bugger also affects the behaviour of the humans it infects, and may contribute to cultural diversity? Get outta here!

July 18, 2009July 19, 2009

Nibbles: Pigs, Spices, Climate change in Britain

Great photos of swimming pigs.
Great photos of Indian spice market.
British agriculture to go Mediterranean.

July 18, 2009

Featured: Breeding perennial grains

The article on perennials was really good, particularly the summary of what has been done. I just wish it wasn’t in ISIS. If the Land Institute wants to accomplish anything in the greater scheme of things, they have to crawl out of the holier than thou organic only everyting else be dammed mindset or they’ll just keep being ignored by mainstream breeders. It’s sad, really. We all need to work together.

Well why don’t you tell us how you really feel, Anastasia?