- Genetic Cryopreservation of Rare Breeds of Domesticated North American Livestock: Smithsonian & SVF Biodiversity Preservation Project. 106,109 “units of germplasm” from 39 breeds.
- Interspecific hybridization facilitates niche adaptation in beer yeast. Chimerization is not a word I thought I would ever see in a beer context. Anyway, thank goodness for feral yeasts and their propensity for miscegenation.
- Predicted climate shifts within terrestrial protected areas worldwide. PAs in temperate and northern high-latitude will have high area proportions of novel climate conditions by the end of the century.
- Crop Genomics Goes Beyond a Single Reference Genome. Looks like we’ll always need another genome.
- Morphometric approaches to promote the use of exotic germplasm for improved food security and resilience to climate change: A kura clover example. Fancy maths used to describe the hell out of a small collection of an underused clover.
- Global distribution of earthworm diversity. Peaks at higher latitudes, but higher overall in the tropics.
- Natural genetic variation in photosynthesis: an untapped resource to increase crop yield potential? Sounds like it.
- Increasing Photosynthesis: Unlikely Solution For World Food Problem. Ok, maybe not.
- What role should randomized control trials play in providing the evidence base for conservation? A bigger role that currently, but watch out.
- Brown Rice, a Diet Rich in Health Promoting Properties. Mill less.
- Loss of diversity and accumulation of genetic load in doubled-haploid lines from European maize landrace. DH not a panacea.
- Maize agro-food systems to ensure food and nutrition security in reference to the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Using phenotypic distribution models to predict livestock performance. Niche models + performance.
Brainfood: Tree SDM, TR4 in Colombia, Genebanks double, Pacific ag, Gums, Defaunation, Oil palm, Agroforestry, Moldy cheese, Ecosystem services, Meat, Desert ag, Maize evolution
- Species distribution modelling to support forest management. A literature review. Embrace the uncertainty.
- First report of Fusarium wilt Tropical Race 4 in Cavendish bananas caused by Fusarium odoratissimum in Colombia. Inevitable.
- Seed Banking as Future Insurance Against Crop Collapses. “Although the basic technology of seed- (gene-)banking is relatively simple, there are nonetheless significant costs involved in effectively managing seed- (gene-)bank collections.” Elevator pitch desperately needed.
- Rapid loss of seed viability in ex situ conserved wheat and barley at 4°C as compared to −20°C storage. Colder the better.
- Origin and Development of Agriculture in New Guinea, Island Melanesia and Polynesia. Maybe 5-6 distinct stages since 7000 BP.
- Exotic eucalypts: From demonized trees to allies of tropical forest restoration? Maybe.
- Quantifying the impacts of defaunation on natural forest regeneration in a global meta-analysis. Forests need vertebrates. No word on where eucalypts stand.
- Market-mediated responses confound policies to limit deforestation from oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia. Bans are not enough…
- The ‘Capitalist Squeeze’ and the Rise and Fall of Sumatra’s Krui Agroforests. …you need active forest conservation too.
- Rapid Phenotypic and Metabolomic Domestication of Wild Penicillium Molds on Cheese. Wild molds adapt to cheese, can eventually make camembert.
- A global synthesis reveals biodiversity-mediated benefits for crop production. Need species richness for pollination, biological pest control and final yields.
- Animal source foods: Sustainability problem or malnutrition and sustainability solution? Perspective matters. Let them eat meat.
- The vitality of fruit trees in ancient Bedouin orchards in the Arid Negev Highlands (Israel): Implications of climatic change and environmental stability. Recycling centuries-old infrastructure in the desert.
- The Genomic Basis for Short-Term Evolution of Environmental Adaptation in Maize. Significant shift in adaptation of tropical landrace to temperate conditions in 10 generations with little loss of genetic diversity.
Nibbles: ISF & SDGs, Nutrition report, Plant blindness, Cowpea, Chefs, Ancient baking, Rotations, Blue maize, Forests & poverty, Food miles
- International Seed Federation secretary-general in podcast on seeds and the SDGs.
- Country nutrition profiles. Sobering.
- Share your plant stories on Herbaria 3.0.
- The secret history of the cowpea, from a chef: “Our peas were tiny little texts, and we didn’t even know it.”
- Speaking of chefs…
- More on that 4000-year-old baking yeast story.
- The economics of rotations.
- The economics of blue maize.
- Mapping the evidence base for the link between forests and poverty alleviation.
- Speaking of maps, here’s how food moves around the USA.
Nibbles: Colombian seeds, Seed diversity, Local crops & nutrition, Seed saving, Apple origins, Microbial collections, Dairy cows in USA, Bean sculptures, IPCC report, Potato linguistics, Piña cloth
- Climate-smartness and seeds in Colombia.
- Why do we need 158 varieties of cauliflower?
- Maybe it’s the nutrition? Gotta get those value chains working though: here’s how.
- Also, it will save the world.
- Biting hard into apple origins.
- Microbes need collections too.
- And cows.
- Inflatable beans. The jokes write themselves.
- Did I already link to my work blog post on the IPCC report?
- Papas or patatas? It’s…complicated.
- I want me a pineapple shirt.
Brainfood: Clean vines, Wild maize diversity, Heirloom beans, Domestication, Cryptic variation, African rice evaluation, Fall armyworm, Food prices, Human pathogens, Farm biodiversity, Microbiome, Infographics, Tea diversity, Mekong dietary diversity, Women & NUS
- Efficiency of insect‐proof net tunnels in reducing virus‐related seed degeneration in sweet potato. “Seed” meaning vines. And yes, those tunnels work.
- Divergence with gene flow is driven by local adaptation to temperature and soil phosphorus concentration in teosinte subspecies (Zea mays parviglumis and Zea mays mexicana). Genetic differences between the two subspecies is maintained by adaptive divergence despite gene flow.
- Agronomic Performance and Nitrogen Fixation of Heirloom and Conventional Dry Bean Varieties Under Low-Nitrogen Field Conditions. Not much difference, which is actually interesting.
- Evolutionary Insights into the Nature of Plant Domestication. It’s a long process, in which natural selection and interspecific hybridization play an important part, involving many of the same genes across species.
- Cryptic genetic variation accelerates evolution by opening access to diverse adaptive peaks. Add to the above? Ah no, only in bacteria so far.
- Screening African rice (Oryza glaberrima) for tolerance to abiotic stresses: III Flooding. From a collection of >2,000 to 11 better than Asian rice. You’re wondering about I and II, aren’t you?
- Understanding the factors influencing fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith) damage in African smallholder maize fields and quantifying its impact on yield. A case study in Eastern Zimbabwe. Differences among maize varieties, but weeding, tillage and intercropping also have an effect. Have yield losses been overestimated, though? Maybe.
- Natural selection contributed to immunological differences between hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists. But the evidence seems to be that the pathogen burden was higher for the hunter-gatherers, which goes counter to everything we’ve been taught by Jared Diamond.
- Increasing crop heterogeneity enhances multitrophic diversity across agricultural regions. More crops means more biodiversity in general.
- More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Microbiome Biodiversity as a Driver of Plant Growth and Soil Health. More microbes mean better plant growth.
- Science–graphic art partnerships to increase research impact. Free your inner artist.
- Genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium, and population structure analysis of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) from an origin center, Guizhou plateau, using genome-wide SNPs developed by genotyping-by-sequencing. Four groups: pure wild type, admixed wild type, ancient landraces and modern landraces.
- The Relative Caloric Prices of Healthy and Unhealthy Foods Differ Systematically across Income Levels and Continents. …and at least partially explain differences in undernutrition and overweight in adults. Here’s the infographic.
- Household-level drivers of dietary diversity in transitioning agricultural systems: Evidence from the Greater Mekong Subregion. It’s complicated and context-specific, but dietary diversity seems to generally increase with agricultural “development,” i.e. market orientation, specialisation, and intensification. Somewhat surprising? I’ve lost track, frankly.
- Potential role of neglected and underutilized plant species in improving women’s empowerment and nutrition in areas of sub-Saharan Africa. So is increasing cultivation of orphan crops a driver or a consequence of agricultural development? See what I mean? Anyway, useful review.