Nibbles – Page 435 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

January 20, 2008January 19, 2008

The phylogeny of a human disease

The Columbian Exchange included syphillis.

January 20, 2008

Farmer breeder recognized

Indian farmer shows breeders a thing or two.

January 20, 2008

The story of the St Bernard

There’s a stuffed St Bernard called Barry in a museum in Berne.

January 19, 2008

The Vanishing of the Bees

Colony Collapse Disorder gets a documentary. Maybe.

January 19, 2008

Cattalo complicating plans to restore Great Plains

More on the bison‘s polluted genome.

1. Ancient farmers didn’t have to wait for the genetic diversity that made domestication possible. They selected from variation already present in wild plants, including the ancestors of rice and maize. Domestication was as much about spotting (or happening upon) useful differences as creating new ones.
2. English colonists in America called Indigenous dogs “wolves,” revealing as much about colonial perceptions as about the animals themselves. This history of Indigenous dogs shows how unfamiliar animals were classified through peculiarly European ideas about wildness.
3. Austria is bringing forgotten apple varieties back to life. Saving old varieties in genebanks is one thing: getting people to grow, sell and eat them is another, but it can be done. Or at least tried.
4. Jordan’s olive-oil heritage centres on traditional varieties such as Nabali and ancient Rumi trees, but most production is consumed locally, leaving exports limited and making provenance, cultivar and harvest date important indicators for buyers. Compare and contrast with Austrian apples.
5. Small island developing states have distinctive food cultures and ingredients, but face particular challenges in building sustainable and resilient food systems. FAO’s A Taste of SIDS explores the connections between island food, biodiversity and culinary heritage. Nice to see diversity within crops considered, though a few local variety names would have been nice.
Published on October 21, 2026