Threats

December 10, 2008

Agriculture good for nature after all

Yes indeed, and let me count the ways:

That’s just what’s been in the news in the past few days. I smell a trend…

December 8, 2008December 8, 2008

Nibbles: String, Lake District, Apples, Biochar, Display, Firs, Sweet potato, Rice, Bison

Lots of agrobiodiversity in one little piece of Neolithic string.
Traditional cow breed saves plant saves rare moth. The elusive agrobiodiversity win-win-win?
Centenarian arboreal agrobiodiversity artfully pruned.
Burning agrobiodiversity. But in a good way. And for a good cause.
Plant parts create Yuletide fantasy.
Speaking of Yuletide, Christmas trees need diversity too. And Michigan State is there.
Sure, it’s impressive, but is it a potato?
Farming on the edge … of a large reservoir. Life has its ups and downs.
Aristotle on bison faeces. Yes, that Aristotle.

December 1, 2008December 1, 2008

Nibbles: Carbon, Oaks, SALT, Gardens, Wild horses, Rural depopulation, Finnish cows, Dabai

You can monitor carbon dioxide from fossil fuels by analyzing wine (and maize leaves for that matter).
Yes, we have no acorns.
“Salt is sort of a diversified farming system.”
“There’s a lot to learn from the past and how Native cultures have gardened“
The end of the mustang?
Urbanization and biodiversity conservation.
Convicts conserve cows.
Freezing technique opens door to commercialization of Canarium odontophyllum in Sarawak.
Zero Mile Diet Seed Kit.

November 26, 2008November 26, 2008

Nibbles: Info-fest, Medicinals, Wiliwili, Fish, Salinity

10,000,000 pages of biodiversity: among them 84 articles on agriculture.
The road to scientific expertise for Maryam Imbumi began with a stomach ache.
It’s wasp versus wasp to save native wiliwili.
Domesticating big fish in the Amazon. Really big.
Indian institute churning out salt-tolerant varieties.

November 24, 2008November 24, 2008

Overexploiting crop wild relatives?

One of the seven plants studied in a recent IUCN report on overexploitation of wild medicinal plants in India is in a genus (Dioscorea) with a number of cultivated species. How many wild medicinal plants worldwide could also be classed as crop wild relatives?