Sandy Knapp is a botanist at the Natural History Museum in London. She’s currently in the field in China investigating the domestication of aubergines with Wang JinXiu from the Institute of Botany in Beijing. You can follow their exploits on her blog, which features on the museum’s NaturePlus compendium of online fora.
Nibbles: Rhubarb and the EU, Mexican biodiversity Qat in Yemen, Organic cubed
- Rhubarb safe at long last. Rejoice! The BBC does, sort of.
- Biodiversidad Mexicana website lists plants with centres of origin/diversity in that country, with references.
- Sometimes agrobiodiversity is downright bad for you.
- And here’s today’s story on the “organic” urban vegetable gardens of Havana.
- But China?
- Oh, and, apparently, the US midwest too. And they just had a conference there.
Nibbles: Community genebank, Traditional medicine, Agarwood, Radish introgression, Kentucky bluegrass, Frison, Vavilov, Pollinators, Collecting strategy
- Bamboo microscope used to document rice varieties at Indian village genebank. Want one.
- And more documentation and conservation of traditional knowledge in India: this time it’s medicines.
- Nigel Chaffey’s latest botanical buffet table at the Annals of Botany has stuff on nomenclature and genomes. Always worth following.
- Latest on saving agarwood. And more. Thanks to twittering by @AsiaForestry.
- Biofortified blogs research on geneflow between crops and their wild relatives.
- Kentucky bluegrass pix. Botany Photo of the Day is also worth following. You guys all use Google Reader, right?
- “Any serious discussion of biodiversity conservation must include the diversity of crops and livestock…” Right on.
- Vavilov hits Abyssinia. Another one for Reader.
- Pollinator trends in Europe and the world. It ain’t good.
- Your botanic gardens needs at least 15 individuals of that palm.
Nibbles: Genomes, Sorghum squared, Tropical forests, UG99, Vanilla, Himalayan agriculture
- And today’s 500 genomes are … h/t OpenHelix.
- FAO uses sorghum to deliver food security in Matabeleland North.
- Meanwhile … science alert: sorghum’s family tree delineated, scope for breeding from wild relatives.
- Small family farms can provide lots of food and preserve tropical forest biodiversity, say researchers. Actual paper not yet available.
- Wired magazine does UG99 wheat rust. Read it and weep.
- And in other fungus news, Fusarium hits vanilla in Kerala.
- “Ladakh’s youth … are increasingly switching from backbreaking agriculture in the harsh terrain to more profitable jobs in the booming tourism industry.” Twas ever thus.
Nibbles: Potato, Research, Tobacco, Bees squared, Seed diversity, Declaration
- “The Jersey Royal is the only potato that enjoys protected designation of origin…”
- Agricultural research not enough?
- Wild crop relative switches pollinator to escape nasty caterpillars.
- Bushmeat hunters become beekeepers.
- And here’s why beekeeping is such a good thing.
- Diversity deemed a good thing, even for crazed monoculturists.
- ‘Keep biodiversity or face hunger’. Yet another Chennai Declaration.