- Truffle genome (about to be) sequenced. Pigs unimpressed.
- Lunar influence on botanicals. Fascinating.
- Cell phones for germplasm documentation and taxonomic identification.
- Video of John Hoddinott of IFPRI discussing award-winning Lancet article on the effects of child nutrition on adult income.
- Climate-ready cacao, anyone?
- GEF agrobiodiversity project in Georgia a success story. See why.
Nibbles: ICUC as was, Rice in Africa, Gardens, Botanical news, Durian, Fish and climate change, Nutrition in India video, Viruses in sweet potatoes, CBD, Wild tomatoes, Forst-tolerant apricots
- Change at the helm at Crops for the Future. Best wishes to all concerned.
- African Rice Congress wraps up. Successfully, no doubt.
- Tell you Sacred Garden story. Go on then…
- Nigel Chaffey rounds up botanical news. The best of the kind, for my money.
- The art of eating durian.
- Bye, and thanks for the fish.
- DFID on undernutrition in India. Very short on specifics. Where’s the varied diets stuff?
- Gotta virus clean those heirloom sweet potatoes.
- Latest from CBD ABS negotiations in Cali. Anybody there want to give us the scoop?
- Endemic wild tomato relatives from Atacama Desert… I dunno…investigated I guess.
- Russian boffin grows apricots in Siberia.
Nibbles: Seeds, Organics, Absinthe, Potato, Cattle genome, Tree diseases, Rice, ABS, Avian flu
- Software will ease seed availability. No, really.
- Enforcement of organic regulations sometimes flawed. No really.
- Absinthism a myth. No, really.
- Potato film hits big time. No, really.
- “Influential” bulls sequenced. No, really.
- Tree diseases distribution will change under climate change. No, really?
- Boffins in drive to double rice production in Africa. No, really.
- Boffins and lawyers meet to sort out biodiversity access and benefit sharing thing. No, really. And, incidentally, what could possibly go wrong?
- H5N1 committee wonders whether they have sampled enough. No, really.
Paper on climate change and species distributions attains classic status
Conservation.Bytes features a landmark 2004 paper on the projected effect of climate change on species distributions as its latest Conservation Classic. It also points to a 2008 summary of such studies over at BraveNewClimate. Regular readers will know that there have been studies which have focused specifically on the wild genepools of different crops.
Nibbles: Boswellia, Nepali rice, Andes, Pacific nutrition, Wild rice, Coffea, Kashmir, Fibres, Fermentation
- Saving Dhofar’s frankincense tree. Evocative things they are too.
- The rich may have trouble getting into heaven, but they manage more agrobiodiversity. At least of rice. At least in Nepal.
- Gotta be careful with niche modeling in mountain areas. Well, duh.
- New Pacific food leaflets from SPC.
- Ok, how weird is it that I have a personal connection of sorts to all of the above? Probably not much.
- Ex situ not enough for wild rice. Say it ain’t so!
- The evolution of coffee.
- “If the rains do not fall we may face problems with certain crops.” Right.
- Network on natural fibres proposed by Industree Craft Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Sounds like fun.
- Screening lactic acid strains for sorghum beer making. Well, kinda. Somebody please fund this vital research!