- And…we’re back!
- Nice new infographics derived from that classic paper “Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security.”
- Video on a millet community seedbank in India.
- I hope all these healthy Indian rices are in seedbanks somewhere, community or otherwise.
- Kazakhstan is getting a new genebank, and I don’t mean a community one.
- yeah but genebanks are not enough: enter INCREASE.
- Wait, there’s a World Localization Day?
- Looks like white sage might need less localization and more seedbanks.
- I see your Mexican white sage and raise you the Calabrian white olive.
- The Telangana equivalent of white sage is probably safe, though, if this collecting programme is anything to go by.
- IFAD pushes nature-based farmers. White sage unavailable for comment.
- The localization narrative meets Italian food. And yes, spoiler alert, Italian food does exist. Despite the increasing homogeneity in global food supplies. And it doesn’t need white olives either.
- Let the hand-wringing about the Italian-ness (Italianity?) of citrons commence. But not until I’ve left the room.
- Ah, but is there such a thing as Indian food? I mean, if there’s quinoa in it. I look forward to the eventual quinoa community seedbanks.
- All those crops are not being locally grown for food anyway.
- Have a happy new globalizing, localizing year, everyone.
Brainfood: Neolithic microbiomes, Transeurasian languages, Rice history, Chinese Neolithic, Indo-European origins, Chalcolithic stews, Indus Valley hydrology, Bronze Age opium, Cassava storage
- Ancient oral microbiomes support gradual Neolithic dietary shifts towards agriculture. The adoption of agriculture was gradual.
- Triangulation supports agricultural spread of the Transeurasian languages. The ancestors of the speakers of 98 related languages — including Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic — were the first millet farmers gradually spreading across Northeast Asia.
- Modelling the chronology and dynamics of the spread of Asian rice from ca. 8000 BCE to 1000 CE. Deep breath. Rice domestication originated in eastern China (7430 BCE) and northeastern South Asia (6460 BCE). Then gradually spread in 2 waves: (1) in the 4th-3rd millennia BCE to the rest of China and SE Asia, associated with millet cultivation (Transeurasian speakers?), and (2) in 1st BCE-1st CE to Liao River region, Central Asia, and Africa.
- Plant foods consumed at the Neolithic site of Qujialing (ca. 5800-4200 BP) in Jianghan Plain of the middle catchment of Yangtze River, China. Not just rice and millets but also job’s tears, lotus roots, yam, acorns and beans.
- Indo-European cereal terminology suggests a Northwest Pontic homeland for the core Indo-European languages. The speakers of Proto-Indo-European, on the other hand, gradually making their way from the steppes, were not farmers.
- Revealing invisible stews: new results of organic residue analyses of Beveled Rim Bowls from the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora, Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Not by bread alone… Iconic, hastily-made, throw-away pottery bowls from 3500 BCE were not bread moulds but rather held tasty stews. No job’s tears and lotus roots, alas, though.
- Phytoliths as indicators of plant water availability: The case of millets cultivation in the Indus Valley civilization. Sorghum and millets were growing under water stress at several Mature Harappan (2500–1900 BCE) sites. But they could take it.
- Opium trade and use during the Late Bronze Age: Organic residue analysis of ceramic vessels from the burials of Tel Yehud, Israel. People were getting high in the 14th century BCE. And who can blame them, after millennia of domesticating plants and gradually spreading around the world.
- Adaptations of Pre-Columbian Manioc Storage Techniques as Strategies to Adapt to Extreme Climatic Events in Amazonian Floodplains. Some current agricultural practices can be seen in the archaeological record. And not just getting high on opium.
- See you in the new year, everyone!
A chat with ChatGPT about genebanks
Along with everyone else, or so it seems, I’ve been playing with AI-based text generators. In particular, OpenAI’s conversational model ChatGPT. I started with the question: What is a genebank?
A genebank is a type of repository that stores genetic material, typically in the form of seeds or other plant material, for the purpose of conservation and preservation. Genebanks play an important role in protecting the diversity of plant species and maintaining the genetic resources that are essential for agricultural production and the development of new plant varieties. In addition to storing seeds, genebanks may also provide facilities for research and education, and may offer services such as seed testing and variety identification.
Allrighty then. Followed that up with a question about the disadvantages of genebanks.
There are a few potential disadvantages to genebanks. One is that the long-term preservation of genetic material can be challenging, and there is always a risk of samples being lost or degraded over time. Additionally, the use of genebanks can raise ethical concerns, particularly when it comes to the storage and use of genetic material from endangered or protected species. There can also be practical challenges associated with the distribution and access to genetic material in genebanks, as well as issues related to intellectual property and benefit sharing. Overall, while genebanks provide a valuable resource, it is important to carefully consider and address these potential disadvantages.
Damn. So is in situ conservation better?
In situ conservation refers to the preservation of plants and animals in their natural habitats, rather than in artificial environments like genebanks. In many cases, in situ conservation can be a more effective approach to preserving biodiversity, as it allows species to continue to thrive in their natural environments. This can also help to preserve the relationships between species and their ecosystems, which is important for the long-term health of the ecosystem. However, in situ conservation is not always possible, and genebanks can play an important role in preserving genetic material for future use. Both in situ conservation and genebanks can be important tools for conservation efforts, and the best approach will depend on the specific circumstances and goals of the conservation effort.
But which approach does ChatGPT prefer?
As a language model trained by OpenAI, I do not have personal preferences or opinions. My purpose is to provide accurate and reliable information to the best of my ability. In the case of conservation efforts, the most effective approach will depend on the specific goals and circumstances of the situation. Both in situ conservation and genebanks can be valuable tools, and the best approach may involve using a combination of both methods. Ultimately, the goal of conservation is to protect and preserve the diversity of life on Earth, and the most effective approach will depend on the unique needs of each species and ecosystem.
Ok, fair enough, let’s get a little more specific then: What’s the best way to conserve apple diversity?
There are several ways to conserve apple diversity, and the best approach will depend on the specific goals and resources available. Some potential strategies include:
In situ conservation: This involves preserving apple trees and their associated ecosystems in their natural habitats. This can help to protect the full range of genetic diversity within a species, as well as the relationships between apples and other species in the ecosystem.
Ex situ conservation: This involves collecting and storing samples of apple genetic material in a genebank for future use. This can help to preserve genetic diversity that may be lost in the wild, and can provide a valuable resource for research and breeding efforts.
Collaborative conservation efforts: This involves working with farmers, researchers, and other stakeholders to conserve apple diversity and promote sustainable apple production. This can include initiatives such as breeding programs, farm management practices, and education and outreach efforts.
Supporting conservation organizations: One of the best ways to support apple conservation is to donate to organizations that are working on apple conservation efforts. This can help to fund research and conservation efforts, and can make a real difference in protecting apple diversity.
Uff. Time to retire, methinks.
Nibbles: Fancy fungus, Fancy CWR book, Fancy dataset, Fancy food, Fancy wheat collection, Fancy diet, Fancy seeds, Fancy agriculture
- Symbiotic fungus can help plants and detoxify methylmercury.
- Very attractive book on the wild tomatoes of Peru. I wonder if any of them eat heavy metals.
- There’s a new dataset on the world’s terrestrial ecosystems. I’d like to know which one has the most crop wild relative species per unit area. Has anyone done that calculation? They must have.
- Iran sets up a saffron genebank. Could have sworn they already had one.
- The Natural History Museum digs up some old wheat samples, the BBC goes a bit crazy with it.
- Paleolithic diets included plants. Maybe not wheat or saffron though.
- Community seedbanks are all the rage in Odisha.
- Seeds bring UK and South Africa closer together. Seeds in seedbanks. Not community seedbanks, perhaps, but one can hope.
- Can any of the above make agriculture any more nutrition-sensitive? I’d like to think yes. Maybe except for the mercury-eating fungus, though you never know…
Brainfood: Coconut in vitro, Clean cryo, Chickpea & lentil collections, Genebank data history, Eurisco update, Mining genebank data, TIK, Sampling strategy, Drones, GIS, Mexican CWR, Post-2020 biodiversity framework
- Thiamine improves in vitro propagation of sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] – confirmed with a wide range of genotypes. Getting there, keep tweaking…
- Minimizing the deleterious effects of endophytes in plant shoot tip cryopreservation. Something else to tweak.
- Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources: An Overview of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) Worldwide Collections. Thankfully not much in vitro and cryo involved. The main tweak necessary is to share more characterization data with breeders.
- Data, Duplication, and Decentralisation: Gene Bank Management in the 1980s and 1990s. Ah, but do calls for more data also reflect attempts to cut costs and build political bridges? And would that be so bad?
- EURISCO update 2023: the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources, a pillar for documentation of genebank material. Arguably, Eurisco tries to do all of the above, and pretty well.
- Bioinformatic Extraction of Functional Genetic Diversity from Heterogeneous Germplasm Collections for Crop Improvement. You need fancy maths to make sense of all that data. And use it.
- Research Status and Trends of Agrobiodiversity and Traditional Knowledge Based on Bibliometric Analysis (1992–Mid-2022). Not much traditional knowledge in those databases, though, eh? That would be one hell of a tweak.
- Species-tailored sampling guidelines remain an efficient method to conserve genetic diversity ex situ: A study on threatened oaks. Meanwhile, some people are still trying to figure out the best way to tweak sampling strategies to add diversity to genebanks. Spoiler alert: you need data on individual species.
- Collecting critically endangered cliff plants using a drone-based sampling manipulator. You also need drones.
- Application of Geographical Information System for PGR Management. One thing you can do with all that data is map stuff. So at least the drones know where to go.
- Incorporating evolutionary and threat processes into crop wild relatives conservation. The only thing that’s missing from this is traditional knowledge. And maybe drones.
- Conserving species’ evolutionary potential and history: opportunities under the new post-2020 global biodiversity framework. All these data will allow us to measure how well we’re doing. And whether we can ask for cryotanks, drones, and better databases.