Forests & trees – Page 119 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

November 14, 2011November 11, 2011

Brainfood: Beans, Tree erosion, Climate space, Ecosystem services, Conservation, Pest management, Phenomics, Oca, Biodiversity research

Seed Morphobiometry of Wild and Cultivated Taxa of Phaseolus L. (Fabaceae). Measurements confirm taxonomy; three big groups.
Meta-Analysis of Susceptibility of Woody Plants to Loss of Genetic Diversity through Habitat Fragmentation. Pollination mechanism makes little difference.
Running Out of Climate Space. Commentary on two paper in the same issue of Science; now, someone do the same for crops.
The Future of Payments for Environmental Services. Any ag? Only in a negative way.
Land, Food, and Biodiversity. Palm oil, pollution, pristine environments, population pressure.
Avian Conservation Practices Strengthen Ecosystem Services in California Vineyards. Birds eat insects shock.
Phenomics – technologies to relieve the phenotyping bottleneck. Just what we need for mo’ better characterization and evaluation.
Diversification of the American bulb-bearing Oxalis (Oxalidaceae): Dispersal to North America and modification of the tristylous breeding system. Oca fans everywhere are agog.
Global biodiversity research during 1900–2009: a bibliometric analysis. Somebody tell us; any ag?

Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.

November 7, 2011November 7, 2011

Nibbles: Rubber

Almost empty internets today

Jungle rubber bounces back with added biodiversity. Who could resist?

November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Nibbles: Oca, Blog, Phones, UPOV, Finding seeds

Someone else is interested in breeding oca for outside the Andes.
Not to be outdone, the World Agroforestry Centre has a blog.
Which somehow missed this story — Study finds mobile phones empower rural farmers — from World Agroforestry Centre.
The Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) has a new portal with added database goodness. Luigi dons his spelunking gear.
No thanks, no need. From now on, like this guy in Hawaii, I’m googling.

November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

Nibbles: Fish blog, El Guardabosques, Andean crops, Traditional knowledge

WorldFish director has a brand new blog with a fancy Latin tag. Expiscor: to fish out, to find out, and discover.
Cuba boasts home-grown Guardians of the Forests.
Promotion of Andean Crops for Rural Development in Ecuador. No idea what this is or why it popped up now, but worth sharing anyway.
Bioversity shares slides on The role of agricultural biodiversity in diets in the developing world: Improving diet diversity, quality and ecosystem sustainability.
IIED comes out for traditional methods to cope with climate change. Could we abandon this sterile dichotomy, please?

October 31, 2011October 29, 2011

Brainfood: Broomcorn millet, Domestication, Stand diversity, South African ornamentals, Rice wild relatives, Agriculture under climate change, Wheat domestication

Genetic diversity and phylogeography of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) across Eurasia. One origin or two? Moving east or west? We still don’t know, but crop wild relatives may tell us.
Next-generation sequencing for understanding and accelerating crop domestication. Those who understand history may be able to repeat it.
Competition among loblolly pine trees: Does genetic variability of the trees in a stand matter? Can’t really say either way.
The potential of South African indigenous plants for the international cut flower trade. Could do better.
Genetic variability of banana with ornamental potential. The Embrapa Musa collection has some really cool-looking plants.
Cytological Behavior of Hybridization Barriers Between Oryza sativa and Oryza officinalis. I guess that’s why they call it the tertiary genepool.
Ancient lipids reveal continuity in culinary practices across the transition to agriculture in Northern Europe. Crap on 6000-year-old ceramic vessels shows people in the Western Baltic continued to eat fish and clams even after agriculture arrived. Well do you blame them?
Options for support to agriculture and food security under climate change. Show ’em yer multi-pronged strategies, that’ll get their attention.
N.I. Vavilov’s Theory of Centres of Diversity in the Light of Current Understanding of Wheat Diversity, Domestication and Evolution. When genes flow from centre of origin, that centre will not coincide with centre of diversity.