Climate change

May 10, 2017May 10, 2017

An Indian pigeonpea GIF for the ages

Thanks to GIFmaker for allowing me to produce a, well, GIF, out of those maps of the distribution of India’s pigeonpea collection that I put up yesterday. I think you’ll need to click on it to get the full benefit.

Look at those swathes of green becoming orange, i.e. going up 2 degrees in mean maximum temperature during June-January. Will pigeonpea be able to adapt in situ? Or will there have to be a transfer of material from the currently orange areas? And what to do about the areas becoming red? Not much pigeonpea in the currently red areas…

April 30, 2017April 28, 2017

Nibbles: Australian, US, ILRI genebanks, Species movements

Oz genebanks to the rescue.
Loving the USDA genebanks to death?
More on the new ILRI genebank.
One of the reasons why we need genebanks.

April 24, 2017April 10, 2017

Brainfood: Tomato chemicals, Photoperiod, Grain phenotyping, Hawaiian ag, Domestication primer, Symbionts, Turkish wheat, Yam bean diversity, Crop health, Walnut diversity, Agrobiodiversity theorising, Sea pigs, NERICA impacts, Nutrient production

Multi-perspective evaluation of phytonutrients – Case study on tomato landraces for fresh consumption. Fancy maths proves different tomato varieties taste different.
Adaptation to the Local Environment by Modifications of the Photoperiod Response in Crops. It’s all down to a few mutations in all crops.
Evaluation of the SeedCounter, A Mobile Application for Grain Phenotyping. Seems like a lot of work to just be able to measure wheat seeds, but boys will have their toys.
Indigenous Polynesian Agriculture in Hawaiʻi. Both intensive and extensive.
How to make a domesticate. It takes a long time, and involves lots of genes.
Symbiosis limits establishment of legumes outside their native range at a global scale. Non-symbiotic legumes have spread further than symbiotic ones into non-native areas.
Wheat Landraces Currently Grown in Turkey: Distribution, Diversity, and Use. More than half of morphotypes (59%) lost since 1920 overall, but none in some areas.
Ecotypic differentiation under farmers’ selection: Molecular insights into the domestication of Pachyrhizus Rich. ex DC. (Fabaceae) in the Peruvian Andes. Separate Amazonian and Andean lineages, and P. tuberosum arising from P. ahipa.
Crop health and its global impacts on the components of food security. To better understand acute impacts, model systemic ones.
Climate-Related Local Extinctions Are Already Widespread among Plant and Animal Species. About half of about 1000 species showed local extinction.
Rethinking the history of common walnut (Juglans regia L.) in Europe: Its origins and human interactions. Expansion from glacial refugia, followed by human exploitation. Compare and contrast with Asia. Or read about the whole thing in AramcoWorld.
Agrobiodiversity and a sustainable food future. Apparently all you need to do to support the “use of biological diversity in sustainable agricultural and food systems” is to recognize that there are 4 interconnected themes: (1) genetic resources, ecology and evolution; (2) governance policy, institutions and legal agreements; (3) food, nutrition, health and disease; and (4) global change drivers with social ecological interactions.
Eastern Mediterranean Mobility in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages: Inferences from Ancient DNA of Pigs and Cattle. Anatolia to southeastern Europe and back to the Levant across the Bronze-Iron Age transition. The Sea Peoples had pigs?
Contribution of improved rice varieties to poverty reduction and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. NERICA adoption increased annual per capita income by US$4 per year from 2000, despite yields going down a bit.
Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis. Need to try to maintain production diversity as farm size increases. But let Jess Fanzo explain it better.

April 17, 2017March 4, 2026

Brainfood: Insurance value, Forages/invasives, Chenopod crops, Non-descript goats, Holy grapes, Black maize, Wild rice diversity, Cassava seedlings, Knotweed domestication syndrome, Wild potato use, Farmers/researchers, Winged yam diversity, Genes to ecosystems, Wild carrots

The Value of Biodiversity as an Insurance Device. So apparently the “Epstein-Zin-Weil specification of the utility function allows us to disentangle the effects of risk aversion and aversion to fluctuations.” Good to know.
The Invasive Legacy of Forage Grass Introductions into Florida. Sometimes biodiversity is bad for you, Epstein-Zin-Weil specification or not.
Cultigen Chenopods in the Americas: A Hemispherical Perspective. Why did the North American one not do a quinoa?
The potential of landscape genomics approach in the characterization of adaptive genetic diversity in indigenous goat genetic resources: A South African perspective. “[N]on-descript indigenous veld goats” no longer.
Collection and characterization of grapevine genetic resources (Vitis vinifera) in the Holy Land, towards the renewal of ancient winemaking practices. Some of the local varieties could make a decent tipple.
Genetic studies regarding the control of seed pigmentation of an ancient European pointed maize (Zea mays L.) rich in phlobaphenes: the “Nero Spinoso” from the Camonica valley. But do we really want to promote a landrace as a functional food?
Genetic diversity patterns in ex situ collections of Oryza officinalis Wall. ex G. Watt revealed by morphological and microsatellite markers. Malesia separates out from SE Asia, and similarities between PNG and Philippines points to long-distance dispersal by birds. Or germplasm collectors.
Perceptual selection and the unconscious selection of ‘volunteer’ seedlings in clonally propagated crops: an example with African cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) using ethnobotany and population genetics. Occasional seedlings are allowed to survive not so much because they look different, but because they look similar, to existing landraces, even though they may be genetically distinct.
Evolutionary “Bet-Hedgers” under Cultivation: Investigating the Domestication of Erect Knotweed (Polygonum erectum L.) using Growth Experiments. Experimental domestication pretty quickly gets rid of that peskily bet-hedging germination heteromorphism.
Are We Getting Better at Using Wild Potato Species in Light of New Tools? Not until we move on from conserving populations and start documenting individual plants in depth.
Crucible of Crop Diversity: Forging Partnership with Farmer Breeders and Innovators for Higher Climate Resilience. Experience of the Honey Bee Network in bringing together farmers and researchers.
Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of yam (Dioscorea alata L.) using microsatellite markers. 17 groups among 384 global accessions, reflecting geography, ploidy and morpho-agronomy.
Harnessing diversity from ecosystems to crops to genes. “…currently, approximately 75% of the genetic diversity of crops may have been lost.” I do like that “may.”
Multivariate analysis of morphological diversity among closely related Daucus species and subspecies in Tunisia. The revenge of morphology: D. sahariensis, plus 4 subspecies of D. carota.

April 13, 2017March 4, 2026

Nibbles: SSE, Chilli collection, Kelp & C, David Spooner, Heritage breeds, SE Asian agroforestry

The great Tim Johnson, (soon to be) formerly of the Seed Savers Exchange, on conserving heritage seeds.
“Peppy professor ponders a peck of pepper possibilities.”
Kelp will save us.
David Spooner: “Ever since I could remember all I ever wanted to be was a botanist.” From potatoes to carrots…
Veterans help save livestock breeds.
Agroforestry is a big hit in Vietnam.