- Rethinking peanut genetic diversity. All you need is a new marker.
- Saving the English hay meadow. Hey, there’s a few crop wild relatives in there, apart from anything else!
- 30,000 year-old fibres not flax after all?
- Today’s modifier for “Green Revolution” is “old-fashioned.”
- Maize evolution is a tale of chromosome doubling and subsequent divergence of the two sets.
The ups and downs of trees
I’m really not sure how good an idea it is, but this “Great Green Wall of Africa” that people are talking about will certainly be a sight to see. And a bit of a food resource too if the indicative list of the species that will be used is anything to go by. While I was wondering whether to write about this, four other tree-related stories popped up in my feed reader, which convinced me. So apparently “between 1980 and 1997 England saw a 64% drop in trees,” which sounds pretty incredible, but is probably nothing compared to what is going on in southern Congo. On the plus side, Argentina seem to be building its own green wall down south. Although there’s nothing in the press piece about what species will be used. And finally, in Liberia, old rubber trees are being uprooted and recycled, hopefully as a prelude to replanting something.
LATER: And another, from Tasmania.
Nibbles: Agricultural landscapes, Seed banks, Maize genetics, Food diversity, Ancient food, Micronutrients status report, Seed systems, Punjab Agricultural University, Arable land, Dutch elm disease
- “Priortizing restoration across agricultural landscapes.” Nothing to do with agriculture, though.
- “Gene banks to rescue local crops.” Nothing to do with genebanks, though.
- “‘Psychedelic’ maize may help increase crop and biofuel yields.” Nothing to do with LSD, though.
- Scotland gets a national genebank. Well, not really, but anyway.
- Malawi schoolchildren sing about food diversity. No, really.
- Homo erectus ate fish as part of a pretty diverse diet. Had to wait about 2 million years for chips.
- Report for 10-Year Strategy for Reduction of Vitamin & Mineral Deficiencies. “…activities to enhance dietary diversification are an attractive option for improving micronutrient status, but these have proved difficult to evaluate.” Ouch.
- “Integrating Genetic Resource Conservation and Sustainable Development into Strategies to Increase the Robustness of Seed Systems.” You’ll need to pay to find out how, though. I’ll try to get a pdf, some of the authors are friends.
- The role of Punjab Agricultural University in the Green Revolution. And in genetic erosion?
- Enough arable land to feed world, says new French study. But not here, say Indians.
- Reviving the elm in Britain one sapling at a time. How long till the next disaster, though, with such a narrow genetic base?
Nibbles: Ecosystem vulnerability, Mayan chocolate, Natural dyes, Japanese art
- Climate change affecting ecosystems. Well I never. Mashup with crop wild relative distributions needed!
- Hershey scientist studies ancient chocolate.
- Natural dyes in Indonesia. Temptation to pun successfully resisted for once.
- Agrobiodiversity in art: The Old Plum.
Nibbles: Rice panicles, Cassava brown streak, NTFP
- Gene controlling rice architecture may hold promise for increased yield. Unless, of course, it doesn’t.
- Attempts to control a deadly cassava virus in central Africa. I hope someone is conserving those susceptible varieties. They may be useless now, but who knows what the future will bring? And more questions.
- And following the Kibale post, more on non-timber forest products and their trade.