Climate change

May 6, 2020

Our climate envelope takes a licking

The headlines for coverage of the paper “Future of the human climate niche” will no doubt be about the fact that over the coming 50 years, absent migration or mitigation, 1 to 3 billion people look like they’ll end up living outside the climatic conditions our species has gotten used to over the past 6000 years. But I can’t help thinking about something else. What are those bits of the human climate envelope where there is currently so little agriculture and livestock? I’ve drawn little white ovals around them in this figure from the paper.

April 21, 2020April 20, 2020

Nibbles: Tissue culture, Kenya pulses, Remote sensing, Planetary Computer, CIAT genebank, Faba bean, Cassava breeding, European re-wilding, Russian citrus, Green wine

Special Issue “Role of Plant Tissue Culture in Agricultural Research and Production.” Deadline: 15 September. This year, I imagine.
Kenya decolonizing it’s pulse sector.
And it may be visible from space.
Somebody mention space? Microsoft is way ahead of you.
CIAT’s genebank working through lockdown, denies Phaseolus is colonial.
How about soya then? That’s pretty colonial, surely? Ah, but faba is the new soya. Census takers unavailable for comment.
Speaking of CIAT and its genebank, the rise and rise of cassava in Asia. And Nigeria? Let the neo-colonialism discourse begin.
Re-wilding is not colonialism, is it?
You can grow your lemons underground if it’s cold. Or just for the hell of it, frankly, because why not? Oh, yeah, there’s also breeding.
Booze goes green. But not so green as to support genebanks.

April 20, 2020April 20, 2020

Brainfood: Shiny seeds, Mexican maize, Olive plague, Pulse CWR, Climate change & biodiversity, Soybean diversity, Wild tomato, Brassica evaluation, Horizontal gene transfer, Wild Cajanus, Agroforestry benefits, Fishy diets, Symbiosis, Ancient Amazonia, Animal domestication

Delayed luminescence of seeds: are shining seeds viable? Maybe, but more research needed.
Explaining the spatial scale of campesino agriculture in Mexico: Implications for the supply and conservation of native maize. Maize is not just for subsistence; never has been.
Impact of Xylella fastidiosa subspecies pauca in European olives. Fancy maths says olives are doomed. But we knew that, right?
Potential and limits of exploitation of crop wild relatives for pea, lentil, and chickpea improvement. Amazingly, still more collecting is needed.
The projected timing of abrupt ecological disruption from climate change. And this is why.
The climatic association of population divergence and future extinction risk of Solanum pimpinellifolium. Its range may expand in some places, shrink in others. so it’s not like all bad news then? At least you know where to collect it from.
Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia. REALLY early agriculture in the Llanos de Moxos. Any collecting there, I wonder?
Exploring the genetic base of the soybean germplasm from Africa, America and Asia as well as mining of beneficial allele for flowering and seed weight. The African material is not very diverse, but is very different
Novel Source of Biotic Stress Resistance Identified from Brassica Species and its Wild Relatives. From 3000 to about 10 “useful” accessions.
Horizontal gene transfer of Fhb7 from fungus underlies Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat. Thinopyrum elongatum got head blight resistance from the fungus Epichloë. GMOs unimpressed.
A Wild Cajanus scarabaeoides (L.), Thouars, IBS 3471, for Improved Insect-Resistance in Cultivated Pigeonpea. It has multiple disease resistance mechanisms against pod borer. And here it is.
A Planetary Health Perspective on Agroforestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Trees on farms are good for you. Here come the data.
Dietary diversity and fish consumption of mothers and their children in fisher households in Komodo District, eastern Indonesia. Infants and young children are not getting enough of all the fish.
Agriculture and the Disruption of Plant–Microbial Symbiosis. Agronomy, ecology and breeding can screw up microbial symbioses in cultivated plants, and that’s not good. But it is expected.
Animal domestication in the era of ancient genomics. “By documenting how livestock populations endured both past epidemics and environmental change, ancient genomics can provide invaluable information that can be used to address current and future societal challenges.” Can.

April 3, 2020April 3, 2020

Nibbles: Fennel, Cicer, OPV, Monoculture, Gene editing policy, Post 2020, Polman

Oh no, fennel is in trouble now.
Aussies using chickpea wild relatives.
Seeds are the new toilet paper.
Backing up potatoes.
What has the Green Revolution ever done for us?
Getting away from bipolarity in discussing gene editing.
Paul Smith challenges biodiversity conservation NGOs.
Ex CEO of Unilever challenges business to align with SDGs.

March 19, 2020

Nibbles: Darshan Brar, Pest & diseases, Niebé, Indian mango, Botany school

Pioneering IRRI rice breeder passes away.
Climate change makes pests and diseases worse. Why we need the above.
Cowpea gets a boost. Again why we need breeders.
Everything about mango in India. Literally everything, I’m not kidding.
Materials for teaching botany. Alas, not much on breeding and agriculture. At least for now.