Nibbles – Page 472 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

August 28, 2007

BeeBase

All you need to know if you’re a beekeeperÂ in the UK.

August 28, 2007

Mutation breeding

Radiation breeding at the IAEA.

August 28, 2007

Floating cultivation

Growing crops on floating bedsÂ in Bangladesh.

August 24, 2007

Teach a man to fish…

Fish farming helps Malawians.

August 24, 2007

The state of animal genetic resources

FAO director general worries about animal genetic resources.

1. Sir Nathaniel Bacon’s painting records the arrival of American crops in early modern England. And the cookmaid gets equal billing.
2. North America’s bison survived near-extinction, but how much of its genetic diversity is left? Past and present DNA is helping reconstruct what was lost, with implications for how what remains is conserved and managed.
3. China’s wild rice collection in Hainan now holds more than 15,000 samples. A genetic treasure trove, but its value ultimately depends on what breeders can make of it. Much like what’s left of bison diversity.
4. Mycorrhizal fungi form vast underground networks that support plant life and store carbon. A new global map begins to show their extent, and just how much of this biodiversity remains overlooked.
5. Africa’s herbaria hold centuries of botanical history, much of it still effectively invisible. Specimens can reveal shifting plant distributions and overlooked species. First, though, someone has to do the painstaking work of getting the data online.
6. Africa has done painstaking work on seed laws, but getting good seed to farmers remains hard in practice. The gap between policy and delivery is stark, and commercial companies need to work alongside farmer-managed seed systems, not pretend they don’t exist.
Published on October 14, 2026