- Catastrophic Declines in Wilderness Areas Undermine Global Environment Targets. 10% of supposedly remote wilderness areas gone since the early 1990s.
- Genetic diversity trend in Indian rice varieties: an analysis using SSR markers. The diversity of rice varieties released in India has been decreasing, but only of late.
- Genotypic and phenotypic changes in wild barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum) during a period of climate change in Jordan. There were changes in climate on one side and phenotype and genotype on the other, but it was difficult to find a connection between the two.
- EST-SSR Based Genetic Diversity and Population Structure among Korean Landraces of Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica L.). As is often the case, there’s no geographic structure, unless there is.
- Domestication of jute mallow (Corchorus olitorius L.): ethnobotany, production constraints and phenomics of local cultivars in Ghana. Let the breeding begin.
- Similar estimates of temperature impacts on global wheat yield by three independent methods. Down by about 5% for a 1°C global temperature increase, no matter how you slice it.
- Genome-wide association mapping of provitamin A carotenoid content in cassava. SNPs associated with carotenoid content in cassava roots found in vicinity of known gene responsible for increase in accumulation of provitamin A carotenoids in cassava roots.
Nibbles: Yeast phylogeny, Jurassic beer, Welsh drink, Italian fruits, Vinegar museum, Lethal yellowing, Wilderness loss
- Beer yeast was domesticated in the 1600s. Or maybe not.
- I see that and raise you 65 million years.
- If you don’t like beer, try Lurvill’s Delight, but it’s only about 100 years old, I warn you.
- Preserving ancient fruits in an Italian orchard.
- And how many different types of vinegar do you think the vinegar museum has?
- The Caribbean coconut is under attack.
- We’ve been such bastards to the environment.
Brainfood: Organic penalty, Rye gaps, Sustainable diet indicators, Wheat evolution
- Commercial Crop Yields Reveal Strengths and Weaknesses for Organic Agriculture in the United States. The headline will be that organic yield is 80% of conventional, but the results are far more nuanced than that suggests.
- Genetic Distinctiveness of Rye In situ Accessions from Portugal Unveils a New Hotspot of Unexplored Genetic Resources. More collecting needed.
- A Consensus Proposal for Nutritional Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of a Healthy Diet: The Mediterranean Diet as a Case Study. 13 indicators of sustainability described, from “Vegetable/animal protein consumption ratios” to “Diet-related morbidity/mortality statistics.”
- Reconciling the evolutionary origin of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum). One slightly changed ancestral subgenome, one much-changed ancestral subgenome, and one weird hybrid subgenome involving the previous two plus another. Basically, we were insanely lucky to get wheat.
Brainfood: Ryegrass genome, Pest distributions, German oregano, Pápalos distribution, Chinese pea, Dutch cattle, Animal biobanking, Legumes everywhere, Crop diversification in China, Asian fermentation
- An ultra-high density genetic linkage map of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) using genotyping by sequencing (GBS) based on a reference shotgun genome assembly. Zzzzzzz.
- Future Risks of Pest Species under Changing Climatic Conditions. We’re doomed.
- Antioxidant capacity variation in the oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) collection of the German National Genebank. It’s huge. Fantastic. The best variation you’ve ever seen, I guarantee it.
- The distribution of cultivated species of Porophyllum (Asteraceae) and their wild relatives under climate change. New one on me.
- Biodiversity analysis in the digital era. Using the Atlas of Living Australia as an example.
- Large-scale evaluation of pea (Pisum sativum L.) germplasm for cold tolerance in the field during winter in Qingdao. 214 out of 3672, mainly coming from, wait for it, the winter production regions.
- Conservation priorities for the different lines of Dutch Red and White Friesian cattle change when relationships with other breeds are taken into account. 5 out of 7 genetic lines don’t need to be conserved.
- Domesticated Animal Biobanking: Land of Opportunity. “…journals should apply the same standard to samples and associated data, as they currently apply to molecular data, in terms of storage in formalized repositories prior to publication.”
- Neglecting legumes has compromised human health and sustainable food production. Includes nice summary of genebank holdings, using Genesys as a source of information.
- Crop Diversity and Land Simplification Effects on Pest Damage in Northern China. Diversity to the rescue. But…
- Ethnic Fermented Foods and Alcoholic Beverages of Japan. Just one chapter in a whole book on fermentation in Asia.
Nibbles: Fundament edition
- Badass sheep genomes sequenced.
- FAO assesses drylands.
- Sun shines on enkir again.
- Beans good for anemia. Keep you regular too.
- Jacksy‘s the next breadfruit.
- De-extinction is no back door to conservation.