The latest Nature has a paper on mapping endangered animal species in a couple of different groups and relating what might be called “extinction threat hotspots” to “biodiversity hotspots.” The paper is getting a lot of media attention, for example here and here. Perhaps not surprisingly, the two types of hotspots do not match up, so a focus solely on protecting biodiversity in the well-known global hotspots is perhaps not going to be as effective as one might wish. No word on whether someone is doing similar work on plants, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the results were to turn out similar. But what about crops? I can think up theoretical arguments why centres of genetic diversity of crops might also be at particular risk from genetic erosion, but as for empirical data the problem is that information on genetic erosion tends to be anecdotal and patchy.
Blind dates
According to this article, the number of date palms in Morocco has declined from 15 million at the end of the 19th century to 4.5 million now, mainly due to desertification. That has to have had some effect on genetic diversity, and I’m willing to bet there are data out there on the numbers of varieties at different times in the past.
Stop press: crops need pollinators
The National Research Council in the US has published a report on the importance of pollinators for crop production funded by the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, National Academies and the Research Council’s Division on Earth and Life Studies and requested by The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, representing agencies and organizations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. According to this story, “the report pointed out that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants — including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs, and fuel — rely on pollinators for fertilization” and “a decline in pollinators may spell trouble for crops.” Well alrighty then. Among the recommendations:
- the Agriculture Department should increase research into pest management and bee breeding practices
- long-term studies must be done on the populations of wild bee species and some butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, and the United States should collaborate with Canada and Mexico to form a network of long-term monitoring projects
- landowners should take simple steps to make habitats more “pollinator friendly,” for instance by growing native plants
When added value loses value
There’s a conflict between helping farmers to get more value from niche varieties or neglected species and ensuring that the market does not become oversupplied as a result of others emulating that success. BBC News reports on the plight of vanilla growers in the Comoros Islands as the rest of the world cashes in on high vanilla prices.
Typhoon destroyed Philippine genebank
Typhoon Xangsane (known locally as Milenyo) damaged almost all of the material stored at the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory in the Philippines, according to a report in the Philippine Daily Enquirer. All of the root crops were buried in mud. The International Rice Research Institute has temporarily allowed the Phillipine national system to use its facilities while it assesses the damage. IRRI genebank head Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton said:
We are committed to doing everything we can to help our local colleagues get through this difficult period.
IRRI’s facilities were also extensively damaged by the typhoon, although the genebank emerged unscathed. Jose E. Hernandez, of the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, said that he expected the Philippine facilities to be back to normal within about six weeks.