- China’s capitalists gobble up agriculture. If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em.
- Making better seed of Artemisia available. And conserving its diversity?
- Mongolian pastoralists embrace collective action.
Champion goat photo bound to go viral
I KNOW you wanted another photo of that prize-winning Pakistani goat.
Nibbles: Parthenium, Squashes
- Parthenium hysterophorus is smothering Kenya. Somebody do something. And what’s that specific mean? Late-bearing?
- Cucurbits and American history.
- NordGen etc workshop on Socio-economic and Cultural Values of Farm Animal Breeds. And all the presentations are linked. But where are the stories?
Brainfood: Kids and veggies, Common names, Markets, Barley genetic history, Inbreeding depression
- Exclusive breastfeeding duration and later intake of vegetables in preschool children. More breastfeeding means more vegetables later on.
- Common names of species, the curious case of Capra pyrenaica and the concomitant steps towards the ‘wild-to-domestic’ transformation of a flagship species and its vernacular names. Applying the common name of a domestic species to a wild one can cause problems. Yeah but how do you get across the importance of wild relatives otherwise?
- Testing the central market hypothesis: a multivariate analysis of Tanzanian sorghum markets. Lots of fancy maths proves there are basically two sorghum markets in Tanzania. But what does that mean for diversity?
- Evolutionary history of barley cultivation in Europe revealed by genetic analysis of extant landraces. Nine geographically-based populations, which go back to the early days of the spread of agriculture. Now, tell me someone, do they correspond with the human genetic data?
- Genetic erosion impedes adaptive responses to stressful environments. Stress reduces variability, which reduces ability to respond to stress.
Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.
Livestock trifecta
Thanks to the hyperactive DAD-Net, three bits of news of interest for livestock diversity conservation:
- A report on Rare Breed International’s 8th Global Conference.
- New articles in the journal “Pastoralism” are open access online. But for how long?
- NordGen is seeking a leader of NordGen-Farm Animals. It says here there is more info online but I can’t find it. No doubt it’ll be up soon.
LATER: Oh, and here are the pictures from the Pakistani National Goat Show, including some of the winning entries.