- Dynamics and driving forces of agricultural landscapes in Southern Ethiopia – a case study of the Chencha and Arbaminch areas. It’s the population pressure, stupid. No word on what expansion of agriculture and decrease in holding size is doing to agricultural biodiversity. Or wild relatives, for that matter.
- The potential of pale flax as a source of useful genetic variation for cultivated flax revealed through molecular diversity and association analyses. Levels of diversity similar in wild and cultivated, but strong differentiation between the two.
- Microsatellite analysis of genetic relationships between wild and cultivated melons in Northwest and Central China. For the true wild melons, go to the NW. Others may be escapes and introgressions.
- Evaluation of cauliflower genebank accessions under organic and conventional cultivation in Southern Germany. Genotype performance differs depending on cultivation method. But if you want to breed specifically for organic conditions, here’s what to use.
- Mission and Modern Citrus Species Diversity of Baja California Peninsula Oases. Lots of unique types in the mission oases and surrounding ranches. For how long? Well, here’s the baseline. I’d like to know about the agritourism potential.
- Evaluation of mungbean genotypes for salt tolerance at early seedling growth stage. From the Indian core collection. Some good stuff found.
- Implementing the dynamic conservation of elm genetic resources in Europe: case studies and perspectives. Genebanks are not enough. But then again, nobody ever said they were.
- Future distributions of Fusarium oxysporum f. spp. in European, Middle Eastern and North African agricultural regions under climate change. Some countries are in big trouble.
- Use of wheat genetic resources to develop biofortified wheat with enhanced grain zinc and iron concentrations and desirable processing quality. CIMMYT has used a range of wild species to increase the Zn and Fe content of high-yielding, high-quality bread wheat lines.
- Expressing the public value of plant genetic resources by organising novel relationships: The contribution of selected participatory plant breeding and market-based arrangements. PPB can help smallholders manage the indirect and option value of agrobiodiversity, but it needs new types of property rights and networked governance. Whatever that is, it can take a variety of forms. All this from China, of all places.
Nibbles: Palms, Walnuts, Gardening game, Measuring biodiversity, Promoting biodiversity, Restoring land, Honeybee evolutions, Amaranth recipes, Cider communication
- Someone you know might need to know the difference between a coconut palm and an oil palm.
- Or between English walnuts and French walnuts (and much more besides).
- Is an interactive game really the best way for children to learn about organic gardening?
- Canadian Cattlemen magazine shares a woman scientist’s deep insights into measuring biodiversity.
- And Indian priests used Konnsanchem fest to urge the revival of agrobiodiversity.
- Other Indians are restoring their land by getting rid of an interloper crop.
- DNA suggests a new ancestral home for the honeybee.
- Now I know what to do with the amaranth blocking every pavement in Rome: how to cook this prolific leafy green.
- Nominally about cider and apples, Pete Brown downs Strongbow’s communications in a few quick drafts.
Brainfood: Dryland protected areas, Breeding olives, Tomato cryo, Bacterial diversity, Beta diversity, Old hops, Wild strawberries, Sea bass genome, Forest management, Sorghum biomass
- The role of protected areas in supplying ten critical ecosystem services in drylands: a review. Let the communities take the lead, be inventive about governance.
- Breeding Oil and Table Olives for Mechanical Harvesting in Spain. 19,000 seedlings, 481 preselections in intermediate field trials, 31 advanced selections in a network of field trials, 1 new protected cultivar Sikitita (Chiquitita in USA).
- Phenotypic and molecular characterization of plants regenerated from non-cryopreserved and cryopreserved wild Solanum lycopersicum Mill. seeds. Oops, SSRs pick up some changes.
- Pollen Cryopreservation to Support Maintenance of a Wild Species Collection of the Genus Allium. Variable success. And no word on somaclonal variation.
- Epiphytic bacteria biodiversity in Brazilian Cerrado fruit and their cellulolytic activity potential. No fewer than 29 bacterial genera on 32 native fruits, 30% producing cellulase.
- Fine-scale spatial genetic structure of common and declining bumble bees across an agricultural landscape. Not much structure, due to queen dispersal. Declining species less diverse.
- Genetic Diversity in Remnant Swedish Hop (Humulus lupulus L.) Yards from the 15th to 18th Century. The old varieties are still there, having gone feral in abandoned yards because, unlike for 450 years until 1860, Swedish farmers are, alas, no longer obliged to grow the stuff.
- A comparison of wild and cultivated strawberries for nitrogen uptake and reduction. Some wild accessions might be better at assimilating N.
- Advances in European sea bass genomics and future perspectives. There’s a sequenced genome, but nobody’s using it.
- Genetic effects of forest management practices: Global synthesis and perspectives. There’s no excuse for not doing the right thing now.
- Exploring the variability of a photoperiod-insensitive sorghum genetic panel for stem composition and related traits in temperate environments. You can improve biomass quantity and quality simultaneously. Stem composition variability follows genetic origin.
Brainfood: Azeri grapes, Biodiversity & ecoservices, Ivorian melons, Omani chickens, Insecticides & pollinators, Czech wild wheat, African yams, Livestock breeding, Natural selection, Bean proteins
- Biodiversity and breeding of grapes: a study in Azerbaijan. Long history, 2 main wild types, 600 cultivated varieties, 100 of them threatened.
- Linkages between biodiversity attributes and ecosystem services: A systematic review. Mainly, but not exclusively, positive. Always complicated.
- Genetic relationships among accessions of African indigenous melons (Cucumis melo L. ssp. agrestis) using AFLP markers. Vegetable and soup thickener types separate genetically.
- From India to Africa across Arabia: An mtDNA assessment of the origins and dispersal of chicken around the Indian Ocean Rim. Arabian chickens come from India, Somali chickens from SE Asia.
- A restatement of the natural science evidence base concerning neonicotinoid insecticides and insect pollinators.. Here’s the data. Make up your own mind.
- Aegilops conservation and collection evaluation in the Czech Republic. 1 species in situ, 21 ex situ.
- Next-generation sequencing based genotyping, cytometry and phenotyping for understanding diversity and evolution of guinea yams. Both wild and cultivated species form distinct groups, except for Dioscorea rotundata, which is a mishmash of stuff.
- Issues and concerns in smallholder livestock genetic improvement programs in Africa. Got to select for multiple uses under less-than-ideal conditions. Not easy.
- Exploring natural selection to guide breeding for agriculture. Survival in the wild is not the same as performance in a cultivated field, but understanding the basis of adaptation can still help in breeding.
- Evaluating Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis Profiles of the Protein Phaseolin as Markers of Genetic Differentiation and Seed Protein Quality in Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Back to the future. Who needs DNA when you have proteins.
Remembering Dorothy Tamasia, barefoot banana curator of the Solomon Islands
Some bad news from Tony Jansen, via Facebook. He has kindly given us permission to reproduce his post here. This comes after more sad news from the Pacific just a few weeks ago.
I’m very sad to hear the tragic news that my very good friend Dorothy Tamasia has died. I dont know the hows or whats, only that she was too young. She was the true embodiment of the barefoot curator and lived out her life in very basic conditions with her people in the highlands of central Makira and passionately collected, protected and shared across her island and throughout the Solomon Islands over 108 varieties of bananas that she took part in collecting with Kastom Gaden Association. She was trained in morphological descriptors and management of germplasm collections despite having little formal education. Her work in documenting and maintaining her banana collection led to Solomon Islands being recognised as holding one of the largest remaining and least documented collection of banana diversity in the world – and she was a leading figure in a revival in banana diversity and its cultural connections in Makira through diversity fairs and other events.
Banana is the staple food in Makira. Dorothy was a hero for conservation in use of plant genetic resources and she dedicated much of her too short life to that purpose. She took part in pioneering work to test and promote high vitamin A fei banana varieties. A poster from that work can be seen here and she was part of banana diversity work supported variously by ACIAR, the SPC Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) and Seed Savers Network.
I last saw her in late 2011 after making the 4 hour walk to her village from the coast — which has no roads and is one of the most remote parts of a remote country. She was happy, and had recently started a bush early-childhood pre-school in a leaf house in a remote riverside location where she lived on her own with her children. The room was full of brightly coloured creations from nearby village children who came to her school — and surrounded by her bananas and her cacao farm. She was excited to be studying early childhood education. She was also busy duplicating, on her own, the banana collection she had maintained for almost a decade — back breaking work with no reward other than the custodianship that she treasured. She had a deep grasp of the issues including the controversy around crop genetic resources. She chose to keep above all of it and just continue her humble work that she knew was the right thing and a useful thing to do.
Dorothy was a beautiful person and a kind hearted and generous soul. I hope that in her death her life work and commitment to the Solomon Islands indigenous plant genetic resources and to food security for her people will be acknowledged and that the collections she had maintained will be supported to continue.