- Japan’s unemployed end up farming.
- Somewhat uninformed comments about the perfection of the banana.
- “…traditional genetic crosses outperform genetically modified crops by a wide margin.”
- Alice Waters takedown.
- Brits throw money at bees.
- Red squirrel missing link found through DNA fingerprinting. Red squirrel pie, anyone? Ok ok, make it grey.
- Mexican mangroves in trouble.
- “Indigenous Peoples have contributed the least to the global problem of climate change but will almost certainly bear the greatest brunt of its impact.”
- Go go goji.
- Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers and former Icelandic Prime Minister waxes lyrical about genebanks.
- So there’s a Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. No, not Golden Rice. Via.
- Help the Biodiversity Heritage Library decide on a citation format. Or not. whatever.
Another place where the buffalo roam
The post I did yesterday about a small chunk of prairie still to be found in Calvary Cemetery, within the confines of metropolitan St Louis, ((Ah, but is it a remnant? Check out the comments on the original Economist piece.)) prompted Jeremy to tell me about his own favorite prairie remnant.
That would be the one inside the accelerator ring at Fermilab near Batavia, Illinois. Where they do indeed have a herd of bison contributing to the management of the ecosystem, as I — facetiously, I thought — suggested they should in St Louis. Too bad the beasts can’t be seen on Google Earth.
It looks like the Fermilab prairie is used as a resource by local schools, which seems like a great idea. I don’t know whether the teachers make anything in particular of the fact that at least one crop wild relative is to be found at the site. Helianthus mollis is not what I would call a star among crop wild relatives. For a start, it’s pretty difficult to cross with domesticated sunflower. And I don’t think it’s endangered or anything (or not yet). But it could be useful in illustrating to school kids an ecosystem service that is often overlooked — provision of genetic diversity for crop improvement.
Another thing it may well help illustrate is climate change. It looks like there’s really detailed data on many species, and it will be interesting to see what will happen — is already happening? — to their abundance and distribution. Maybe H. mollis will disappear from the Fermilab prairie in due course. Will it be able to go elsewhere? Or will we need to manage its relocation? To Canada…?
A tale of two countries
Straight.com ((Vancouver’s Online Source, no less.)) had a longish piece about GMOs a few days back. Normally I wouldn’t bother noting such an occurrence here. I’m bored with the whole debate, frankly. But the article actually strives for balance, which is too unusual to let pass without mention.
Nibbles: Spuds, Bees, Strawberries
- Miss Hathorn plants true potato seed. Good luck.
- In the US? Got space? Grow sunflowers and count bees. Via.
- George Orwell clones Fragaria.
Nibbles: French fries, Maple syrup, Cooking heirlooms, Salmon, Ancient booze, Rice domestication
- India finally arrives, gets french fries.
- Sophisticated urbanites tap maples.
- Raise a rare heirloom breed. Then cook it.
- “Some might be hoping he will predict a return to the glory days of the “truly unique” strain of Petitcodiac salmon, which now likely exists only in a gene bank at the Mactaquac Fish Hatchery at this point.”
- Boffins identify world’s first cocktail.
- How people turned from nut collectors into rice farmers in China.
- Hungarians sacrificed dogs.