- An analysis of genetic diversity actions, indicators and targets in 114 National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity. It is not well done, but the authors were surprised to see it done at all.
- Essential indicators for measuring site‐based conservation effectiveness in the post‐2020 global biodiversity framework. Remote sensing will save us. But see above.
- Pervasive cropland in protected areas highlight trade-offs between conservation and food security. Remote sensing (et al.) in action.
- Conserving intraspecific variation for nature’s contributions to people. Well, yeah. But can remote sensing help?
- SeedExtractor: An Open-Source GUI for Seed Image Analysis. Somebody mention intraspecific variation? Here’s a way to cope with seed variation.
- The processed food revolution in African food systems and the double burden of malnutrition. There’s bad processing, and good processing, even the bad processing has some upsides, but really we should try to have only good processing.
- Expression of internal reproductive barriers in a germplasm bank accession of the wild potato Solanum chacoense Bitter in three ex situ regeneration cycles. Ne < N.
- Effects of Iron and Zinc Biofortified Foods on Gut Microbiota In Vivo (Gallus gallus): A Systematic Review. Biofortified foods are good for gut health. In chickens.
- Experimental evidence of microbial inheritance in plants and transmission routes from seed to phyllosphere and root. Plants get their microbiome from the seeds whence they came, not just the environment.
- A stable antimicrobial peptide with dual functions of treating and preventing citrus Huanglongbing. From a wild relative, natch.
- Wheat rust epidemics damage Ethiopian wheat production: A decade of field disease surveillance reveals national-scale trends in past outbreaks. Boom-and-bust is alive and well.
- Honey bee hives decrease wild bee abundance, species richness, and fruit count on farms regardless of wildflower strips. And the good news just keeps on coming.
- Pollination strategies in the face of pollinator decline. The really good news is that plants may adapt to pollinator decline.
- Genomic Selection for Any Dairy Breeding Program via Optimized Investment in Phenotyping and Genotyping. You don’t need more money, you just need to reallocate some of the phenotyping money to genotyping, genotypers say.
- Runs of homozygosity provide a genome landscape picture of inbreeding and genetic history of European autochthonous and commercial pig breeds. Local breeds around Europe have similar genetic structures.
Nibbles: Bean atlas, Community seedbanks double, Canadian stamps
- New edition of the Atlas of Common Bean Production in Africa still doesn’t have localities of genebank accessions.
- Community seed banks have genebank accessions in Kenya and India.
- Canadian stamps have crabapple varieties that are probably genebank accessions somewhere.
Bean there, done that
Back in the day, together with co-authors Nigel Maxted and Edwin Chiwona, I used maps from the Atlas of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Production in Africa ((Wortmann CS, Kirby RA, Eledu CA, Allen DJ. 1998. CIAT, Cali, Colombia. pp. 133)) in a little thing called A Methodological Model for Ecogeographic Surveys of Crops. I don’t remember what software we used, and how difficult it was to do, as it was getting on for 25 years ago, but I suspect it was a bit of struggle mashing up the maps with genebank accession locality data.
Well, there’s a new edition of the atlas out, and, thanks to Genesys and Google Earth, it’s not quite so difficult (the colours represent ecologically distinct bean production areas).
Which is not to say it couldn’t be a bit easier. I mean, why not allow people to import their own data on the atlas’ nifty online interactive maps?
Oh, and BTW, only a tiny percentage of bean accessions from Kenya are geo-referenced, so that hasn’t changed much in 25 years.
Brainfood: Rewilding, Neotropical domestication, Teosinte hybrids, Milpa, Wild grapes, Wild banana, Wild rice, European landrace trifecta, Ethiopian coffee double, Eco-anger
- Agricultural wilding: rewilding for agricultural landscapes through an increase in wild productive systems. But would it be sparing or sharing?
- Disentangling Domestication from Food Production Systems in the Neotropics. “Wild” is a contested concept in the Neotropics anyway.
- Evidence for Multiple Teosinte Hybrid Zones in Central Mexico. Maize systems are already pretty wild in Mexico.
- Maize intercropping in the milpa system. Diversity, extent and importance for nutritional security in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. And they’re doing pretty well, thank you very much.
- Extensive introgression among North American wild grapes (Vitis) fuels biotic and abiotic adaptation. Plenty of wilding in American grapevines too.
- Conservation status assessment of banana crop wild relatives using species distribution modelling. There’s a danger of banana de-wilding.
- A route to de novo domestication of wild allotetraploid rice. The upside of dewilding.
- Landrace added value and accessibility in Europe: what a collection of case studies tells us. Landraces can maybe help with that rewilding of agriculture in Europe, as they are mostly adapted to marginal, low-input systems.
- The Analysis of Italian Plant Agrobiodiversity Databases Reveals That Hilly and Sub-Mountain Areas Are Hotspots of Herbaceous Landraces. Like I said, landraces can help.
- Locally Adapted and Organically Grown Landrace and Ancient Spring Cereals—A Unique Source of Minerals in the Human Diet. Plus they’re good for you.
- Not my cup of coffee: Farmers’ preferences for coffee variety traits – Lessons for crop breeding in the age of climate change. Which is not to say landraces don’t need improvement every now and then.
- The potential for income improvement and biodiversity conservation via specialty coffee in Ethiopia. But in the end, it’s about the value added.
- From anger to action: Differential impacts of eco-anxiety, eco-depression, and eco-anger on climate action and wellbeing. Does any of the above make you angry? Good!
Brainfood: GBIF, CWR hotspots, Feralization, Gene editing, Japanese seeds, Campesino maize, Tunisian wheat, Dietary diversity, Seed storage, GHUs
- Data integration enables global biodiversity synthesis. Biodiversity data is not enough.
- Review of congruence between global crop wild relative hotspots and centres of crop origin/diversity. Vavilov is enough.
- Feralization: Confronting the Complexity of Domestication and Evolution. Centres of diversity are not enough.
- De novo domestication of wild species to create crops with increased resilience and nutritional value. Conservation is not enough.
- Evaluating plant genetic diversity maintained by local farmers and residents: A comphrehensive assessment of continuous vegetable cultivation and seed-saving activities on a regional scale in Japan. Economic incentives are not enough.
- Beyond subsistence: the aggregate contribution of campesinos to the supply and conservation of native maize across Mexico. Small farmers could be enough.
- Unlocking the Patterns of the Tunisian Durum Wheat Landraces Genetic Structure Based on Phenotypic Characterization in Relation to Farmer’s Vernacular Name. Small farmers could be enough.
- Linkages between dietary diversity and indicators of agricultural biodiversity in Burkina Faso. Production of diverse crops could be enough.
- Seed longevity of two nutrient-dense vegetables (Amaranthus spp.). 5°C and aluminium packets are enough.
- Phytosanitary Interventions for Safe Global Germplasm Exchange and the Prevention of Transboundary Pest Spread: The Role of CGIAR Germplasm Health Units. Genebanks are not enough.