GIS – Page 123 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

January 6, 2010February 10, 2014

Nibbles: Indian buffalo, Indian local crops, CBD, AgricultureBridge, Kew, Geo-referencing, Cyprus, China and climate change, CC icons, Chinese AnGR, FAO information, Rose symbolism, Pacific ethnobotany, Grape history and genetics, Taraxacum

Hold on to your hats, this will make up for lost time. Hope you all had a nice break, Happy New Year!

Video on the “Night Queen of Chilika.” Not what you think: it’s a buffalo breed.
Indian jury calls for more work on local crops. Wait, a jury?
Indian NGO says “[n]ational sovereignty over genetic resources could undermine food security.” Wow.
AgricultureBridge “connect[s] practitioners to each other and to leading universities to help resolve some of the world’s most pressing questions in agriculture and conservation.” We’ll see.
Big year for Kew: many new species described, including CWRs; many blogs launched; much geo-referencing done.
Not agrobiodiversity, but speaking of geo-referencing and the like…
Cypriot no man’s land good for biodiversity. Including crop wild relatives? I think we should be told.
Chinese farmers struggle to adapt to climate change. Plenty more of this kind of thing out there, no doubt. Like this, for instance?
And yet list of “climate change icons” only includes one plant. Something should be done.
Chinese researchers talk about animal genetic resources conservation. If you’re frustrated at missing that, get ready for Europeans talking about the Mediterranean pig. But meanwhile, get to grips with the FAO Animal Genetic Resources Information Bulletin.
Speaking of FAO info bulletins, feast on the ones on non-wood forest products and plant breeding.
A rose is a rose is a rose. But for the Romans?
Carcinogenic bark of endemic Pohnpei cinnamon not bad for you after all. If you boil it.
“It is ironic that the despised grape Gouais blanc was not just a parent for several of the world’s best-known and most important varieties, such as Chardonnay and Gamay noir, it was the maternal parent, providing additional DNA and potentially determining important characteristics of the offspring.” Oh, so, so ironic.
Natural rubber from weird dandelion? No, really, all kinds of boffins are working on it.

December 9, 2009December 9, 2009

Hi-tech helps crop wild relatives

Mr Peanut.png Our friend Andy Jarvis has been explaining to the readers of ICT Update not only how important crop wild relatives are, but also how geographic information systems can help conserve and make use of these important genetic resources. In the context of a longer article on Eco-efficient agriculture, Andy uses the peanut to point out that:

There are, for example, a total of 69 species of crop wild relatives that are in some way related to the cultivated peanut. Of these, 17 species are under significant threat of extinction from the expansion of the agriculture in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia. Our analyses have demonstrated that a further 15 species are significantly threatened with extinction from climate change.

Jarvis and his team at CIAT use GIS and data from existing specimens to predict where important species might be found.

Collectors can then use global positioning systems (GPS), loaded with the data, to locate the vulnerable species and collect their seed.

Will that be enough to preserve the crop wild relatives on which the future of agriculture depends? Who knows. But it is a start.

P.S. In the same issue, Kwesi Atta-Krah, Deputy Direcctor General of Bioversity International, answers some questions about biodiversity, “the richest natural resource“.

December 2, 2009December 2, 2009

Prize for GIS study of malnutrition and agrobiodiversity

Emmanuel Zapata Caldas, a geography student at the Universidad del Valle in Colombia, has won second prize at the XVIII National Geography Event for his work, carried out in collaboration with CIAT, on the spatial analysis of malnutrition in Latin America. Reproduced below are some of his results for Colombia, which he kindly made available to us (click to enlarge).

For this particular analysis, Emmanuel looked at the prevalence of anemia and used secondary data on poverty and agricultural production to identify sites in Colombia where the biofortification of different crops could have a significant impact on this aspect of malnutrition. Congratulations to Emmanuel for his prize, and his interesting work.

November 23, 2009November 23, 2009

Nibbles: Satellites, Nutmeg, Thanksgiving food, Fungi, Moroccan wine

Farming from space.
(Part of) the history of nutmeg.
“Eat Like a Pilgrim.”
Biggest fungal collection in the world created.
Loss of indigenous grape varieties not holding Moroccan winemakers back.

November 16, 2009November 16, 2009

Nibbles: Rice domestication, H5N1, Fisheries, Crop maps, Grafting, Livestock video, Perennial conference, Goat genetic patterns, Satellites, Large seeds, W4RA

Dorian Fuller rounds up rice domestication latest.
Deconstructing the persistence of H5N1.
Artisanal fisheries and climate change don’t mix. No-take reserves, anyone?
Mo’ better crop mapping.
Multi-variety fruit trees for sale. Perfect Christmas gift.
For your consideration: video on livestock science.
First International Perennial Grain Breeding Workshop. Tell us about it, please!
History of goat pastoralism. The revenge of geography.
SciDev on remote sensing for drought and other disasters. IWMI presumably knows all about that.
Boffins find seed size gene. Oregon State University Seed Laboratory doesn’t care.
Web Alliance for Re-greening Africa. New one on me.