- Software will ease seed availability. No, really.
- Enforcement of organic regulations sometimes flawed. No really.
- Absinthism a myth. No, really.
- Potato film hits big time. No, really.
- “Influential” bulls sequenced. No, really.
- Tree diseases distribution will change under climate change. No, really?
- Boffins in drive to double rice production in Africa. No, really.
- Boffins and lawyers meet to sort out biodiversity access and benefit sharing thing. No, really. And, incidentally, what could possibly go wrong?
- H5N1 committee wonders whether they have sampled enough. No, really.
A trifecta of fishy stories
Lots of fish stuff on the tubes today, mainly from the CITES conference in Doha. There’s of course news of the rejection of the proposed ban on bluefin tuna. But the beluga is also in trouble. Why are such fish threatened? Increasing consumer demand large, predatory — and therefore rarer — species, says a study.
A study of a century’s worth of seafood recipes has revealed that big, predatory fish like salmon and tuna have grown in prestige, even as overfishing has caused their populations to plummet – sometimes to the point of endangerment.
Time for a move back down the food chain.
Nibbles: Fungi, Dogs, Protected areas, Banana, Ethiopia, Haiti
- Chromosomes can hop from one pathogenic fungus to another. Probably not a good thing.
- Dogs originated in the Middle East after all. Decide, already, will ya?
- IUCN also has a Protected Area of the Day. Genebank of the day, anyone?
- Problems with bananas in Uganda surprisingly mainly abiotic. Live and learn.
- Vaviblog celebrates Gary Nabhan’s birthday. Kinda. Which is also St Patrick’s Day? How cool is that?
- Report on Haiti’s seed security. Needs digesting.
The many uses of dung
Irish botanists are using fungi that grow on cattle and sheep dung to study the history of farming in the Burren. Interesting enough in its own right, but it also reminded me that coprophagus organisms have been used in another part of the world, to the same end.
Nibbles: Wild strawberries, Year of Biodiversity, Dog breeding, Vancouver’s Old Apple Tree
- NY Times does Svalbard.
- Gus Molina does agrobiodiversity.
- Dogs “continue to wither genetically.” Ouch.
- Rescuing an historical apple tree.