GIS – Page 55 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

August 4, 2016

Agroforestry around the world

I’ve been looking for an excuse to play around with the Database of Places, Language, Culture and Environment (D-PLACE), which “contains cultural, linguistic, environmental and geographic information for over 1400 human ‘societies’”. It finally arrived today, in the form of a monumental study of carbon sequestration on farmland in Nature. The authors used remote sensing and fancy spatial modelling to work out the amount of tree cover, and hence the levels of biomass carbon, on agricultural land around the world. This is the global map they got for % tree cover in 2000 and 2010.

global tree cover

I was curious to see whether one could predict the areas of highest tree cover (or highest biomass C) from the much coarser data on agriculture that D-PLACE brings together from ethnographic studies. This is what the distribution of “major crop type” looks like, from D-PLACE.

agriculture-major-crop-type-map_1_

So the answer is no, I guess. It’s difficult to see any association between the amount of trees on farms and the main types of crops grown there, at least just by eyeballing the maps. There may be a hint of a preference for roots and tubers, but nothing really jumps out. I’ll keep playing though, there’s a whole range of cultural and ecological variables you can tweak.

July 25, 2016July 25, 2016

Brainfood: China cereal yield, US soybean breeding, Breadfruit genomics, Field app, Urban ag, Rose breeding, Strawberry cryo, Global biodiversity loss, Oceania bananas, Vegetable breeding, Badass Chinese sheep

Patterns of Cereal Yield Growth across China from 1980 to 2010 and Their Implications for Food Production and Food Security. There has been yield stagnation over about 50% of total area of rice and maize, 15% of wheat.
Genomic signatures of North American soybean improvement inform diversity enrichment strategies and clarify the impact of hybridization. 579 soybean varieties released 1940-2009 fall into 3 maturity groups, the overall diversity of which is not too different from the diversity of the ancestor landraces.
Low-Coverage, Whole-Genome Sequencing of Artocarpus camansi (Moraceae) for Phylogenetic Marker Development and Gene Discovery. There’s been a whole genome duplication in Artocarpus.
ColectoR, a Digital Field Notebook for Voucher Specimen Collection for Smartphones. So many of these things around.
Potential ecosystem services of urban agriculture: a review. Important at local scale, not so much at global scale.
Nineteenth century French rose (Rosa sp.) germplasm shows a shift over time from a European to an Asian genetic background. Ah, the lure of the exotic; 19 genetic groups, not corresponding to horticultural groups.
Cryopreservation of in vitro shoot tips of strawberry by the vitrification method — establishment of a duplicate collection of Fragaria germplasm. The German national collection, including wild relatives, is a bit safer.
Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment. Looks like it. Cross-reference with crop wild relatives?
Traditional Banana Diversity in Oceania: An Endangered Heritage. Out of New Guinea…
The contribution of international vegetable breeding to private seed companies in India. Vegetable breeding by AVRDC still has a role as R&D shifts to the private sector, but it’s different to what it was.
Whole-genome sequencing of native sheep provides insights into rapid adaptations to extreme environments. Genomes of 77 Chinese breeds from extreme environments reveal genes likely to be useful in extreme environments.

July 19, 2016

Nibbles: African fruits, Old apple, Ancient barley, GRAIN study, Desertification, Biodiversity loss

ICRAF helps us understand little-understood African fruit trees.
The apple is pretty well understood, but this one important, 200-year-old tree is dying. Tissue culture to the rescue.
I see your 200-year-old-tree and I raise you 6000-year-old barley.
GRAIN takes aim at FTAs.
Desertification may not be a thing.
Biodiversity loss is, though, right?

June 27, 2016June 27, 2016

Brainfood: Panicum diversity, Colocasia diversity, First farmers, Maize breeding, Soil data, Prunus domestication, Soya minicore

Evaluation of Genetic Diversity of Proso Millet Germplasm Available in the United States using Simple-Sequence Repeat Markers. Germplasm collection diverse, released cultivars not so much.
Genetic Diversification and Dispersal of Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). Most diverse in India, which is origin of W. African material, in contrast to the S. African, which comes from Japan. The Caribbean stuff comes from the Pacific, but the Central American from India.
The genetic structure of the world’s first farmers. Ancient DNA suggests agriculture arose separately in southern Levant and Iran. Or at least that the first farmers in those regions didn’t speak together much.
Current warming will reduce yields unless maize breeding and seed systems adapt immediately. Crop duration in Africa will decrease faster than you can breed for it.
Uncertainty in soil data can outweigh climate impact signals in global crop yield simulations. And then there’s the whole soil thing.
Evolutionary genomics of peach and almond domestication. Separated a long time ago, and fruit diverged before domestication, which occurred separately but in parallel.
Phenotypic evaluation and genetic dissection of resistance to Phytophthora sojae in the Chinese soybean mini core collection. Some new genes found, and geographic hotspots of resistance too.

April 19, 2016April 19, 2016

Nibbles: Vavilov double, Huge avocado, African urban ag, Agarwood threat, Double coffee, Sequencing beer, Sloane ranges, Chinese bees, Gendered breeding, Access to seeds/meds, Genebank funding, Quinoa prices, Organic ganja

VIR on Atlas Obscura, with pic goodness courtesy of yours truly. And on the same site, something Vavilov would have approved of: a very diverse Tajik apple orchard.
A new avocado to conjure by.
Urban agriculture won’t cut the mustard.
Trees that named Fragrant Harbour disappearing.
The downside of coffee. But never fear, there’s a strategy coming!
The beernome!
Happy birthday Sir Hans Sloane, for many botanical reasons!
Chinese pollinators in trouble. Enough of the exclamation marks.
Do you have any examples of “plant or animal breeding that has successfully incorporated gender considerations into its strategies and end products”? Contact these people.
Can seeds learn from meds, policy-wise?
Bioversity DG lobbies for genebanks.
Get your fill of quinoa, courtesy of Jeremy.
Sustainable pot. ‘Cause that’s the California Way, man.