GIS – Page 97 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

October 27, 2011October 30, 2011

AfricaRice’s African rice collection

Nice video. Note the reference, towards the end, to the systematic characterization of AfricaRice‘s collection of 2,500 Oryza glaberrima accessions. Interestingly, Genesys says the Centre has 3,796 accessions. I wonder what’s happened to the rest. Here’s a map of the 863 accessions from 129 sites with georeferences.

LATER: Compare with the map of African rice cultivation in Diana Buja’s post.

October 24, 2011October 19, 2011

Brainfood: Football nutrition, Sorghum markers, Alpine herb, Gap analysis, Evolutionary breeding, Aphids, Birds and farmland, Cameroon forests

Nutrition and culture in professional football: A mixed method approach. Footballers need a more diverse diet. Well, kinda. I just wanted to get this paper in here because wouldn’t it be cool if we could get Lionel Messi to talk about agrobiodiversity-rich diets?
Diversity analysis using ISSR markers for resistance to shoot pests in sorghum. There may be a diversity of resistance mechanisms.
Domestication of Alpine blue-sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr.): six year trial results. I know. Why would you want to, right? Takes all sorts to make a diverse diet, I guess. Maybe we can get Lionel Messi to eat it?
Improving representativeness of genebank collections through species distribution models, gap analysis and ecogeographical maps. Fancy GIS-based prioritization results in more, better germplasm collecting. Nice to have the data.
Evolutionary Plant Breeding in Cereals—Into a New Era. Martin Wolfe and colleagues lay it on the line; why it is a good idea, and what the obstacles are.
Genetic interactions influence host preference and performance in a plant-insect system. Aphids and barleys have genetic preferences for one another.
Pasture area and landscape heterogeneity are key determinants of bird diversity in intensively managed farmland. As in the northern hemisphere, so too in Argentina.
Tree diversity and conservation value of Ngovayang’s lowland forests, Cameroon. Both high, and I’m betting some economically important trees are among them.

October 17, 2011October 16, 2011

Brainfood: Ectomycorrhiza, Synthetic peanuts, Ancient Greek amphorae, European bison, Pea breeding, Animal domestication

Ectomycorrhizas and climate change. One more damn thing to worry about.
Meiotic analysis of the hybrids between cultivated and synthetic tetraploid groundnuts. It’s normal. The meiosis I mean. Why isn’t this sort of thing done with more crops?
Aspects of Ancient Greek trade re-evaluated with amphora DNA evidence. More than just wine and olive oil.
Reconstructing range dynamics and range fragmentation of European bison for the last 8000 years. More eastern and northern than thought, and more affected by the spread of farming than climate change in the Holocene.
Resistance to downy mildew (Peronospora viciae) in Australian field pea germplasm (Pisum sativum). It comes from Afghanistan.
Deciphering the genetic basis of animal domestication. Despite all that selection and all those bottlenecks, they really are diverse.

Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.

October 9, 2011October 9, 2011

Nibbles: Map, Ice age nettles, Floral garlands, Land sparing, EU seed laws, FAO forecasts the future, Sugar, Vavilov

Hey Luigi, wherever you are, here’s news of another map for you to pour (cold water) over.
New Scientist on nettles that grow at the back of caves and that may be relict populations. Odd.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International wants children to design “local” floral garlands for olympic athletes. Taking localism too far? What’s wrong with laurel?
Journalist explores biodiversity vs food security arguments in Ecuador. It’s still complicated.
Bifurcated Carrots is kind enough to link to the index for Replies to the Online Consultation on the review of the EU legislation on the marketing of seed and plant propagating material. Now, who’s going to do the analysis?
FAO’s 1964 view of how agriculture would need to change in the following 20 years. Fifty years on, where are we?
Not so sweet: the Samurais of Sugar.
In Chicago next month? Go and see a play based on a book based on the scientists at the Vavilov Institute during the siege of Leningrad. Then write us a review?

October 6, 2011October 6, 2011

Nibbles: Vigna umbellata, Afghanistan wheat catalogue, Pingali, Camptotheca, Water stress, Organic Farming for Health and Prosperity

Crops for the Future finds a nice ricebean project.
The wheats of Afghanistan.
A former ICRISAT intern speaks. The world listens.
Collecting the Happy Tree of China.
Global water stress maps. Does CCAFS know? Or care?
Rodale hearts organic.

1. What’s wrong with supermarkets.
2. Cate Blanchett on the Millennium Seed Bank. Attitude to supermarkets unknown.
3. Access & Benefit Sharing 101. Cate Blanchett unavailable for comment.
4. Experts weigh in on how we should change how we eat. Nobody but Cate Blanchett will listen, but supermarkets and seeds feature, for what it’s worth.
5. How they ate in the Middle Ages without supermarkets. Or at least harvested.
6. After we’re done with medieval haymaking, let’s bring back the aurochs too. And put it in a supermarket?
7. Yeah but what is a breed anyway? Or an aurochs, for that matter.
Published on September 9, 2025