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The rich tapestry of life

I hope I can finish posting this before the battery runs out on my laptop. It’s been one long power cut after another for the past couple of days and the one we’re experiencing at the moment started more than three hours back. Anyway, I thought this piece in EurekAlert really interesting and I couldn’t wait to blog about it. There’s this rare endemic plant on Mauritius called Trochetia blackburniana, you see, and it happens to be pollinated by the equally endemic gecko Phelsuma cepediana. But this is a day gecko, which means that to avoid predators they have to spend a lot of time hiding, and their favourite place for doing that is among the spiky leaves of Pandanus shrubs. Now, I’m not sure about Mauritius, but in lots of other places around the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Pandanus is a really useful plant: the fruits are eaten, the leaves woven into mats, people recognize and maintain dozens of varieties etc etc. So here’s something else that Pandanus is important for: protecting the pollinators of a rare Mauritian endemic.

P.S. Incidentally, Trochetia blackburniana, which is in the Malvaceae, seems to be one of the very few species of plants with coloured nectar.

Correction: Trochetia is actually in the Sterculiaceae. Apologies. Please read the comments for more interesting stuff on this genus.

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Coconut information exchange

Google Groups and Yahoo Groups are really useful tools for networking and exchanging information on specific topics. There’s a Google Group on coconut which is really active and lively, and definitely worth keeping an eye on – and indeed joining – if you’re into things Cocos. All the more so as there’s a new addition to the information available, in the form of what promises to be a regular update from COGENT, the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network, on its poverty reduction activities. You can see the first newsletter here. Among various Yahoo Groups on coconut subjects there is the “People and Coconuts” group, which is described as being for people with “interesting coconut conundrums requiring answers.”

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Enola bean update

Coincidentally, it seems, our favorite IPR-blogger Kathryn recently decided to take a look at the status of the famous Enola bean case. And lo! Just a week ago the US Patent and Trademark Office rejected yet again Larry Proctor’s patent claim on these beans.

Which won’t mean anything to anyone who has not been following the story. But no matter. Kathryn provides and excellent summary that will bring you up to speed, and resources to pursue things further. What I find most intriguing is her summary of the value of biodiversity, as demonstrated by the case:

One final point is that it seems fairly evident that Proctor’s accessing of the beans was contrary to the CBD – although there could be some debate as to whether he was accessing genetic resources or accessing biological resources. What impact have his actions had on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity? I don’t have any specific information on this but I can offer some theories.

Certainly, Proctor’s work points to the value of biodiversity. As his selective breeding of the beans went on, he found that “the roots ran deeper than other bean plants; the pods were more hardy, more resistant to moisture.” But his attempts to keep the value of the biodiversity to himself could be counter-productive to protecting biodiversity. With no benefits returning to Mexico, the incentives for the country and its farmers to protect biodiversity are diminished. Indeed, by economically harming Mexican farmers by trying to prevent the importation of yellow beans to the US, Proctor could be harming biodiversity if the farmers are forced to turn to more environmentally-harmful ways of earning a living. On the other hand, if the farming of yellow beans for export became very lucrative, this could also harm biodiversity if fields are devoted to monocultures of yellow beans with other varieties abandoned.

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Mushrooming success

M Id 5649 Sometimes it is hard to keep up with the pace of news. A week ago The Indian Express ran a story about Lal Muni Devi, a poor landless woman who had made a great success of turning wheat waste into mushrooms. Lal Muni had not even heard of mushrooms four years ago. Researchers from the Indian Institute for Agricultural Research turned up and trained 25 women from her village to grow mushrooms, and she was one of the most successful. Reason enough to report. But the reason The Indian Times seems to have published the story now is that Lal Muni Devi featured in a news story from CIMMYT, the International Centre for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat, more than a year ago! No matter, it is always good to read about successes in diversifying species to boost incomes.

Photo by Paras Nath from The Indian Express