Nibbles – Page 490 – Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

IITA cores its yams

A core collection has been identified for West African yams.

June 28, 2007August 11, 2009

Cattle and biodiversity

Cattle grazing sustains plant diversity in Dutch dune ecosystems.

Hot is cool

Great opportunities for spices.

June 28, 2007June 28, 2007

Rooibos and climate change

The wild relative might offer some additional options to rooibos tea farmers in South Africa as climate change hits.

June 28, 2007September 24, 2007

Biofuels in the UK

Sunflower in the UK? Yep, and then some!

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? Historic 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 into farmers’ hands remains. 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