- At last, sustainable clarinets!
- Hummus war gets serious. All that seratonin not helping?
- “Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men.” Simon Schama on Quercus robur. Note to BBC: learn how to write species names.
- Pop quiz: Some 20,000 tons of this seed were delivered by Aztec farmers in annual tribute to their emperor, Montezuma. Now big in the US, according to NYTimes piece. From 1984.
Gulf oil spill not much of a threat to one crop wild relative
The Gulf oil spill is threatening some Globally Important Bird Areas, according to the LA Times:
And other protected areas too. Unfortunately, we don’t have a similar map for crop wild relatives, at least not just yet, at least not so easily available. So it’s hard to estimate the overall threat posed by the oil spill on these genetic resources — which are arguably of greater importance than most birds, but there you go. What we can do — just about — is look at the distribution of individual species. And that is what our friend Julian at CIAT has done for a wild bean, Phaseolus polystachyus.
Not in any particular danger, though one or two coastal populations may be affected, I suppose. But I just wonder if one day the LA Times will publish a map showing the Globally Important Crop Wild Relative Areas threatened by some calamity or other.
CABI suggests global database of plant health
CABI will create a comprehensive global database of plant health, underpinned by CABI’s ever-growing collection of the world’s most extensive and trusted agricultural content. This currently comprises eight million records in CAB Abstracts, 30,000 pest datasheets from the Crop Protection Compendium, thousands of images, and almost 2,000 distribution maps. These will be augmented with research project findings, book content, sanitary and phytosanitary legislative standards, and open access data from authoritative partners. These include the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Plant Protection Convention, and various national plant protection organizations.
A great starting point for the assessment of future breeding needs as well genetic erosion threats? Attentive readers will remember we’ve blogged about CABI’s pest/disease distribution maps before.
Nibbles: Asses, Mapping pathogens, Oysters, Tea, Turkish biodiversity hotspot, Dolmades and sage, Yams festival, Pollen video, Agriculture and mitigation, Rarity, School feeding, Sheep
- Jeremy probes into wild asses at Vaviblog.
- Mapping the evolution of pathogens. And in kinda related news…
- The European oyster needs diversity. Well, natch.
- The tree forests of Yunnan, and, concidentally, the story of how the secret of their product got out.
- The Kaçkar Mountains at Yusufeli, northeast Turkey are in trouble. Any crop wild relatives there, among the bears and other charismatic megafauna?
- Speaking of Turkey, here’s how to make one of its delicacies. But hey, if you don’t have vine leaves, you can use this.
- Having fun with yams.
- Drori does pollen.
- FAO’s Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) Project. Any agrobiodiversity-related stuff? Need to explore…
- “…conserving species may only require specific activities, such as collect and distributing seeds.”
- African school feeding programme uses “local” products. What would Paarlberg say? You can find out here, if you have 90 minutes to spare.
- British boffins breed self-shearing sheep. No, really.
Mining the internet for threats to agrobiodiversity
Late last year I blogged about what an early warning system for erosion of agricultural diversity might look like. I was thinking of an active reporting system, but today Conservation Maven reminds me of a paper published a few months ago that suggests that a more passive approach might also be possible. The authors ask the question: Can researchers who are interested in ecological monitoring tap into … increased flows of information by “mining” the internet to detect “early-warning” signs that may signal abrupt ecological changes? The paper is behind a paywall, but I’ve ordered it. Once I read it, I’ll report back whether web crawlers have a future in genetic erosion monitoring.