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April 24, 2012April 24, 2012

Tricky stuff, extinction rates

There’s a BBC radio programme called More or Less that I like a lot, mostly because it takes the trouble to think about things. A new series has just started, and I was thrilled to see that the programme was going to tackle extinction rates. Not anything as simple as extinction rates for crop seeds, or agricultural biodiversity in general (which is always 75%), but the biggie, the global extinction rate for (wild) species. All power to them, they really did try, at the same time having some fun with some of the more inane pronouncements on the topic. But I must say, even knowing a bit about the topic, I found it really hard to follow.

Not sure how widely available the programme will be, or for how long, so if it isn’t at the BBC, you can also find the relevant bits here.

And to repeat what the programme said, just because we don’t accurately know what the rates of extinction are, doesn’t mean that the loss is unimportant. Except that, really, it would be nice to know the birth rate of new bacterial biodiversity.

April 20, 2012April 21, 2012

Nibbles: Plant data, Wild relatives, Citizen science, Danish pig breed, Fruit names, Genebanks big and small, Taxonomy, Seaweed, Weather data, IPR training, Caribbean & Pacific, Potato research at Birmingham, Taro training in PNG, BioAreas

Latest Plant Press has interesting stuff on botanical data of various forms. Always worth a skim.
CSA pamphlet on the importance of crop wild relatives. Why does this feel like a bandwagon? And how long to the backlash?
And talking of bandwagons, here’s the latest from the one on citizen botany. Does indigenous tree knowledge count as citizen science? How about indigenous weed knowledge?
And how about using your pet pig to reinvigorate a breed?
Interesting take on fruit variety names. Can we crowdsource an answer?
Everything about the opening of that new Mexican mega-genebank. Including the speeches. Nice-looking building, I must say. And from IRRI an example of a genebank from the other end of the scale in the Philippines. And similar, but different, from ~~Canada~~ Colorado.
Biodiversity bigshots beg for naming blitz. Better hurry. And don’t forget the soil.
Sargasso Sea coming ashore in Ghana is bad news for fisherfolk. Can they not eat it? Is it bad to ask that?
How to find your way around weather data.
Swedes to provide IPR training for PGR types.
Island nations from opposite sides of the world brought together by agrobiodiversity. Full disclosure: I’ve worked with both regional PGR networks and want to again.
Brits who worked on spuds.
And Wontoks who worked on taro.
Privatizing conservation.

April 19, 2012April 19, 2012

Nibbles: Book, Watermelon, Pests & Diseases, Lime juice disinfectant, Seed laws, Bibliography

I’ve already pre-ordered Darwinian Agriculture, and now I can get a head start by downloading Chapter 1 for free.
Oxfam gives Vietnamese new watermelon seeds to combat climate change. But what kind of seeds?
Relive yesterday’s webinar on Managing pests and disease under climate change: What do we need to learn?
Speaking of which, a reminder of CABI’s New Pest & Disease Records.
New use for lime juice: disinfecting drinking water.
Fermentation Nation feat. my favorite microorganisms.
Mexico toys with new plant variety protection law, NGOs worried.
Finally, overworked person updates agrobiodiversity group on Mendeley.

April 18, 2012April 18, 2012

Calling all botany bloggers

This month’s Berry Go Round will be hosted by the illustrious founder of the internet’s best (and perhaps only) botanical carnival over at Seeds Aside. For some fun and inspiration, have a look at some of the other Berry Go Rounds hosted at Seeds Aside. You have until April 26th to get your plant-loving posts submitted. And if you would like to host this marvelous opportunity to share the botanical love, there’s a link for that too.

April 18, 2012April 20, 2012

One silly thing is said about agricultural biodiversity every single day

You know, I think communicating about agrobiodiversity is really important. That’s why I contribute to this blog. Among various other things. But when I see the collective communication efforts of the agricultural biodiversity community culminate in the statement, made apparently in all seriousness, that “One crop seed becomes extinct every single day,” I do wonder whether the game is worth the candle. ¹

LATER: Ok, maybe I was too sweeping in my vilification. Let me clarify. I don’t mind an editor crafting an attention-grabbing title for an article aimed at a popular audience. I can perhaps even live with a broad, “not even wrong” generalization about genetic erosion in such a title, if explained further in the text. No, what I really object to is the misuse of the word “seed” for “variety” in this particular context. Because it is unforgivably confusing, and simply not necessary. A seed, as the word is commonly understood, is just not something that goes extinct.