GIS – Page 106 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

March 18, 2011March 13, 2025

Training manual for GIS analysis of agrobiodiversity data

Great to see “Training Manual on Spatial Analysis of Plant Diversity and Distribution” finally out, courtesy of Bioversity International. Well worth the wait, and not just because I get called a pioneer in it. Congratulations to Xavier Scheldeman and Maarten van Zonneveld for addressing a very important need.

This manual has been published as a result of the increasing number of requests received by Bioversity International for capacity building on the spatial analysis of biodiversity data. The authors have developed a set of step-by-step instructions, accompanied by a series of analyses, based on free and publically available software: DIVA-GIS, a GIS programme specifically designed to undertake spatial diversity analysis; and Maxent, a species distribution modelling programme. The manual does not aim to illustrate the use of each individual DIVA-GIS and Maxent command/option, but focuses on using GIS tools to help answer common questions relating to the spatial analysis of biodiversity data. Throughout the manual, the importance of proper sampling is stressed; however, it is beyond the scope of the document to elaborate on sampling theories. The manual also does not discuss the statistical analysis of diversity data in detail; instead, when statistical methods and programmes are mentioned in the text, the reader is referred to alternative reference materials for further information.

March 15, 2011June 20, 2011

Yemen spatial data online, sort of

For what it’s worth, I have enormous admiration for IFPRI and its products. Not that they give a damn about that, but I just want to get it out of the way before slamming them. First, the news item on a new interactive atlas of food security in Yemen doesn’t have a link to the new interactive atlas of food security in Yemen. Not to worry, though, Google is your friend, ((Especially if they grant you a Google Earth pro license. Thanks, guys!)) and it’s not all that difficult to find the relevant page on the IFPRI website. But then the new interactive atlas of food security in Yemen turns out to be nice enough as to content, but highly frustrating to use. No way to download or export maps. I had to get the thing below (showing barley cultivation, for the record) through a screen grab. Yuch.

And no way to mash up the results with other stuff. Like, for example, barley accessions in Genesys. Which in contrast you can export in a number of ways.

Oh, sure, there are some words of explanation, if not excuse:

The online version does not require installing software but it is more limited in the sense that the underlying data cannot be accessed by the user (unlike in the case of the download of the data package).

But I don’t believe it would be that difficult to allow some sort of exporting online. Maybe I’m wrong. Someone tell me, please.

So, anyway, two maps which cry out to be looked at together, for example in Google Earth, and no way of doing so, at least that I can see. As I say, very frustrating. Who do I complain to? There someone in the CGIAR to whom I can go with a query about spatial data, right? Isn’t there?

March 10, 2011March 10, 2011

Maps of Russian agrobiodiversity online, again

We blogged about AgroAtlas some years back, but a big article in USDA’s newsletter gives us a welcome opportunity of pointing out again how cool it is. The much-awaited GIS layers are in a funny format, though, which I’d be interested to know how to convert to something that can be viewed in Google Earth.

February 28, 2011February 28, 2011

Nibbles: Flora, Agronomy podcasts, Stats, GFAR, Horses, Lettuce, Churst forests, Brazil nut, Grassland diversity, Baobab, Flotation, Botanic gardens and invasives, Nutrigenomics

Picture guide to West African plants. Includes agrobiodiversity!
Iowa State Agronomy podcasts. Some cool stuff. Check out the one on “Modeling Seed Germination Over Time to Decide When to Regenerate Seed Lots in Long-term Storage.”
A “formal global program to develop subnational agricultural land-use statistics“? Riiiiight.
GFAR meeting on sustainable use of agrobiodiversity says “[w]e need to initiate solid and inclusive actions to build concerted and practical actions on sustainable use.” Well they do say actions speak louder than words.
Researcher “trying to remove the perception that hackneys are ‘half-crazed.'” I’d rather pay to save them if they were crazy, but that’s me.
Romaine: germplasm to breeding lines. But to cultivars? Private sector to pick up the slack.
Crops not mentioned among species that save our lives.
Saving sacred groves in Ethiopia. By building pit latrines. Well why not?
Brazil nut spread by people.
A trade-off between species and genetic diversity? Say it
ain’t so!
Today’s iconic species threatened by climate change is the baobab.
An Egyptian archaeobotanical blog.
Botanic gardens can threaten biodiversity.
Nature has (or had, it’s a couple months old) a supplement on nutrigenomics.

February 25, 2011September 22, 2021

Agrobiodiversity and languages in danger

I’ve finally been able to obtain the dataset on which UNESCO’s interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger is based. ((Thanks, Kai.)) In the map below, which you’ll be able to see bigger if you click on it, you can see Chad’s endangered languages (brighter red means more endangered), mashed up with germplasm from Chad listed in Genesys.

Would it be sensible to give particular priority for germplasm collecting to areas where languages are threatened with extinction?