Wild relatives

September 11, 2020September 11, 2020

The latest biodiversity mega-papers, tweeted

Always great when someone summarizes three major biodiversity publications for you in one tweet.

Big hitters in #conservation today, in a nutshell:

1) #Biodiversity has declined globally for decades https://t.co/Hng7j2VU0n @WWF

2) but we've prevented some extinctions https://t.co/tx7WV77adh @ConLetters

3) and could reverse loss by 2050 https://t.co/0VmBfDOCBT @nature pic.twitter.com/TH3esC8wA9

— Joe W Bull (@wildbusiness) September 10, 2020

Just in case something happens to that tweet, here’s the text:

Big hitters in conservation today, in a nutshell:

Biodiversity has declined globally for decades https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-gb/

but we’ve prevented some extinctions https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12762

and could reverse loss by 2050 https://nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y

And thanks to Joe Bull for saving me a lot of work.

Oh, and here’s a further spoiler from Twitter for the last paper on the list.

Avoiding future biodiversity losses will require ALL of these: (i) sustainable agricultural intensification, (ii) trade, (iii) reduced food waste, (iv) more plant-based human diets, and (v) increased extent and management of protected areas.https://t.co/pqOiPBY7uv

— Olivier Honnay (@olivierhonnay) September 10, 2020

September 10, 2020September 8, 2020

Nibbles: Taxonomic web, Oz restoration tools, ABS in India, Colombian seeds, Old date, Diverse cereals

R package for roaming around the web and collating taxonomic information.
Cool tool for climate matching and tree restoration seed targeting in New South Wales. Probably needs more than a Nibble.
Results of webinar on ‘Implementation of Access to Plant Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS)’ in India. With video goodness.
The whole Colombian seed conservation network on one annoying website.
Those really old dates bear fruit at last. Do you remember the paper on the genetic diversity aspects?
Growing a rye landrace on a Swedish island for organically certified seed. And more.

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020

Nibbles: Horse cloning, Fish genes, Breeding manuals, Capsicum podcast

Boffins clone Przewalski’s horse.
Boffins start fish genebank. Cloning next?
Boffins deconstruct the breeders’ equation. Apply to fish next?
Boffin (and Jeremy) discusses how the chilli pepper got to China. Goes well with fish. The pepper, not the podcast.

September 7, 2020November 26, 2020

Brainfood: Millet yields, Millet review, Taro genome, Salty sunflower, WorldVeg network, Phylorelatives, Bovine domestication, Diet quality, Nutrition metrics, Aztec diets, Complementary conservation, Post-2020, Climate change breeding

Using remote sensing to assess the effect of trees on millet yield in complex parklands of Central Senegal. Tree cover in the landscape of up to 35% increases pearl millet yields.
Genetic and genomic resources for improving proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.): a potential crop for food and nutritional security. All that’s missing is the investment. And, possibly, the trees.
A high-quality genome of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott), one of the world’s oldest crops. Has benefitted from two whole-genome duplications. Now that this investment has been made, I expect to see the crop take off. And here’s a blast from the past on this subject.
Key traits and genes associate with salinity tolerance independent from vigor in cultivated sunflower. There is a way to increase yield under salinity stress without affecting yield under more benign conditions. Millets and taro should take note.
Sustainable Cucurbit Breeding and Production in Asia Using Public–Private Partnerships by the World Vegetable Center. WorldVeg presents improved lines and F1 hybrids of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), tropical pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula) and sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) to private sector breeders at Crop Field Days. Everybody wins. But are there any private sector breeders of millets and taro to take note?
Crop Wild Phylorelatives (CWPs): phylogenetic distance, cytogenetic compatibility and breeding system data enable estimation of crop wild relative gene pool classification. Predicting crossability of a crop with its wild relatives from whatever data is on hand.
Evolution and domestication of the Bovini species. They’ve been very promiscuous, and the results can be summarized in one illustration.
Defining diet quality: a synthesis of dietary quality metrics and their validity for the double burden of malnutrition. Seven dietary metrics out there, none of them perfect.
Assessing nutritional, health, and environmental sustainability dimensions of agri-food production. Here’s how to make nutrition and health metrics better. Maybe these guys should get together with the above?
Aztec diets at the residential site of San Cristobal Ecatepec through stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of bone collagen. The men drank more pulque than the women. I wonder if 500 years from now they’ll be judging us like this.
The unique role of seed banking and cryobiotechnologies in plant conservation. Good summary of the different ex situ approaches available for plants, none of them perfect. The existence of an Exceptional Plant Conservation Network and a Project Baseline for seed genebanks was news to me.
Making the post-2020 global biodiversity framework a successful tool for building biodiverse, inclusive, resilient and safe food systems for all. The CBD needs to learn to love mixed, diverse agricultural landscapes. And genebanks, natch. Maybe it should invest in dietary metrics.
The Role of Genetic Resources in Breeding for Climate Change: The Case of Public Breeding Programmes in Eighteen Developing Countries. Business as usual, except more intense. Oh, and perhaps more use of landraces. No word on dietary metrics.

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020

Nibbles: Robin Graham RIP, Fred Bliss award, Seed production, Chile spuds, Indian goats, Ancient bread, Horner Bier, Cheap food, Vigna, Singing dog, Fungal diversity

Remembering Robin Graham, prophet of biofortification.
Honouring plant breeder supreme Fred Blisss.
Need to produce seed of all those new varieties that breeders come up with.
And save the stuff they will replace: The Economist does the potatoes of Chiloé.
Hey, it’s not just about the crops: conserving goats on farm in India.
The experimental archaeology of bread thrives under corona. And if you were intrigued by the potato detoxification reference, find the details on Bill Schindler’s website. And not only bread and potatoes, also beer…
Like Mozart’s oat beer? Which was apparently killed off by lager back in Austria but is now available in Denver.
Food shouldn’t be cheap, it should be affordable, and not only for those who consume it. Ancient Egyptian bread will be exempted.
No way Kenyan coffee can be described as cheap. h/t Jeremy’s newsletter: have you subscribed yet?
I don’t know how cheap mungbean is in Myanmar, but it seems to be very valuable.
The PNG singing dog is not extinct in the wild after all? Priceless.
Combination of key and photo guide to the identification of European fungi. Worth its weight in truffles. Source.