Category: Genetic diversity

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Sorghum endures

How much crop genetic diversity have we lost? At one level, the question is easy to answer: three quarters over the last century. That’s certainly the number that’s most often quoted.

But that doesn’t make it right. In particular, I have it on very good authority that the figure may in fact be traceable back — a la Chinese whispers — to a statement in Fowler & Mooney’s 1990 book Shattering: “As the mid-1970s were reached, three-quarters of Europe’s traditional vegetable seed stood on the verge of extinction.”

Not quite the same thing. Anyway, be that as it may, the existence of a dominant narrative hasn’t stopped people going out into the field and — the horror! — actually collecting data.

Continue reading “Sorghum endures”

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Nibbles: Migration, Micronutrients, Taste, Kava, News, Data, Ozone, Chillis

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Where to find seeds

This just in:

Thanks for putting Semilla Besada on your list of seed suppliers. I noted your comment that you could not find a list of seeds, and I am writing to explain why:) As our seeds are heritage or heirloom varieties, they are not on the EU approved list, so it is illegal to make them available for sale. So we have created a Heritage Seed Library, and are offering the opportunity for people living in dryland environments to swap seeds, so that we can keep the genetic biodiversity going, and extend those climate adapted varieties that suit dryland conditions to similar environments. Anyone interested should simply email us through the website. In the meantime, I will put up a link as Seed Swap Club so people can see more clearly how to contact us.

all the best,

Aspen

You can find Semilla Besada among the many links on our Seeds page. And if you know of sources that aren’t there, please share.

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They shoot horses, don’t they?

Ok, that’s just a provocative way of introducing an interesting review in Trends in Ecology and Evolution describing how harvesting from animal populations can affect their genetic make-up. ((Fred W. Allendorf, Phillip R. England, Gordon Luikart, Peter A. Ritchie, Nils Ryman (2008) Genetic effects of harvest on wild animal populations. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Volume 23(6):327-337.)) The following three types of genetic change are highlighted:

  1. strengthening or collapse of population structure
  2. genetic erosion
  3. selection

The take-home message is that management plans should recognize that harvesting changes not just the demography but also the genetics of populations. Very important for sustainable management of fisheries etc., but I bring it up here because it got me thinking: are any wild relatives of livestock exploited through harvesting? Things like these cute pigs, for example. And would the conclusions be very different for plants?