Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

August 8, 2019

Rapid calculation of threat status online

Do you need to get a quick idea of the threat status of a species in the wild? Well, there’s now an online tool that does it for you in a jiffy: Rapid Least Concern. You just type in a species name or import a batch of names, and the thing goes off to GBIF and returns with a bunch of records which it then uses to calculate 4 different indicators, including Area of Occupancy (AOO) and Extent of Occurrence (EOO). It also gives you a map. Here’s the result for Solanum cajamarquense, a wild potato relative. Looks like it could be in trouble…

August 8, 2019

A diversity of soil biodiversity maps

A tweet reminds me that we now have global maps for the diversity of the following organisms in soils, with more coming:

Very cool.

August 5, 2019August 6, 2019

Brainfood: Food system, Ethiopian durum, Enset, Legume seeds, Salinity, Ryegrass genomics, Weeping lovegrass genomics, Pest occurrences, Golden Rice, Cattle origins, Pollinator & diversity, Production shocks, Production & diversity

Transforming agricultural land use through marginal gains in the food system. A nudge here, a nudge there, pretty soon you’re talking about a revolution.
Exploitation of diversity within farmers’ durum wheat varieties enhanced the chance of selecting productive, stable and adaptable new varieties to the local climatic conditions. Some landraces are pretty good.
Enset in Ethiopia: a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple. Some local crops are pretty good.
Market‐led options to scale up legume seeds in developing countries: Experiences from the Tropical Legumes Project. Ah yes, PPPs.
Global mapping of soil salinity change. A billion hectares and increasing. We’re going to need all the above.
Integrating a newly developed BAC-based physical mapping resource for Lolium perenne with a genome-wide association study across a L. perenne European ecotype collection identifies genomic contexts associated with agriculturally important traits. “Clearly this is not an end-point for L. perenne genomics…” Ok, call me when you get there.
A high-quality genome of Eragrostis curvula grass provides insights into Poaceae evolution and supports new strategies to enhance forage quality. “Understanding and subsequently manipulating the genetic drivers underlying apomixis could revolutionize agriculture.” Ok, call me when you get there.
Many unreported crop pests and pathogens are probably already present. Especially in China, India, southern Brazil and some countries of the former USSR.
Compositional Analysis of Genetically Engineered GR2E “Golden Rice” in Comparison to That of Conventional Rice. Only difference is beta-carotene. But that was never the issue.
Ancient cattle genomics, origins, and rapid turnover in the Fertile Crescent. aDNA shows origin from multiple populations, and separate introgressions from aurochs, then an influx of zebu bulls from the Indus Valley in the Bronze Age. Basically a Zeus-and-Europa scenario.
Global agricultural productivity is threatened by increasing pollinator dependence without a parallel increase in crop diversification. Agricultural diversification going up weakly, possibly undermining pollinators, while proportion of pollinator-dependent crops increasing strongly.
Food production shocks across land and sea. There are shock hotspots, and overall the frequency of shocks is going up. Whatever can be done?
National food production stabilized by crop diversity. I wonder.
The SDG of zero hunger 75 years on: Turning full circle on agriculture and nutrition. No longer just calories.

July 29, 2019August 6, 2019

Brainfood: Biodiversity & production, Tertiary tomato, Maya collapse, Restoration opportunities, Mixtures, Synchronous crop failure, Boswellia future, Soya diversity, Genetic load, Domestication, Ag & biodiversity, Cotton domestication, Food preservation

Contributions of biodiversity to the sustainable intensification of food production. They are various and considerable, but context-specific. See additional data here. See also everything below…
Development of interspecific hybrids between Solanum lycopersicum L. and S. sisymbriifolium Lam. via embryo calli. Tertiary genepool? No problem.
The Role of Diet in Resilience and Vulnerability to Climate Change among Early Agricultural Communities in the Maya Lowlands. More diverse diets allowed Maya to survive the droughts of the Late Pre-Classic Period (AD 100–300) better than those of the Terminal Classic Period (AD 750–1000).
Global restoration opportunities in tropical rainforest landscapes. Massive mashing up of spatial datasets concludes that top 10% areas for potential return of benefits and feasibility of forest restoration are located largely within conservation hotspots and in countries committed to the Bonn Challenge, but cover only a small portion of the Key Biodiversity Area network.
Plant domestication disrupts biodiversity effects across major crop types. Wild relatives are better at living in diverse mixtures than their descendant crops.
Synchronous crop failures and climate-forced production variability. ENSO has caused global crop failures. Which are likely to get more frequent.
Frankincense in peril. Because of cows and fire.
Identification of Loci Controlling Adaptation in Chinese Soybean Landraces via a Combination of Conventional and Bioclimatic GWAS. Three geographic sub-populations among 2000 diverse landraces; 12 SNPs associated with variation in 3 bioclimatic variables at collecting sites.
Estimates of genetic load in small populations suggest extensive purging of deleterious alleles. Counterintuitively, rapid declines cause worse genetic load for more diverse species.
Grazing animals drove domestication of grain crops. Small-seeded herbaceous annuals were mainly animal-dispersed, which meant they grew in dense stands on nitrogen hotspots near water sources, making them easily harvested. Hey presto, crops!
Global impacts of future cropland expansion and intensification on agricultural markets and biodiversity. Expansion mostly threatens biodiversity in Central and South America, intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa, India and China. Prices lower everywhere.
Domestication and varietal diversification of Old World cultivated cottons (Gossypium sp.) in the Antiquity. G. arboreum first domesticated in Baluchistan 8000 years BP, G. herbaceum much later in Nubia. But they’re really difficult to tell apart in archaeological remains.
‘Preserve or perish’: food preservation practices in the early modern kitchen. The housewife as natural philosopher.

July 22, 2019July 22, 2019

Brainfood: Maya gardens, Bangladeshi jackfruits, Swedish plums, Pear core, Land sparing, Participatory trials, Cosmetics, Biodiversity & drought, Monitoring diseases, Predicting food insecurity, Kavaluation, Canola evolution, Temperate adaptation

Learning from the Ancient Maya: Conservation of the Culture and Nature of the Maya Forest. Teaching forest gardening, before it’s too late.
Genetic Diversity of Bangladeshi Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) over Time and Across Seedling Sources. Downward trend in time, but no difference between growers and nurseries.
Plum Cultivars in Sweden: History and Conservation for Future Use. From 70 varieties in nurseries, to 45 in the genebank.
Integration of expert knowledge in the definition of Swiss pear core collection. Let stakeholders choose a few, it won’t make too much of a difference to the overall diversity, and they’ll be pleased.
Can agricultural intensification help to conserve biodiversity? A scenario study for the African continent. Land sparing is better for biodiversity and food production.
Influence of experimental design on decentralized, on-farm evaluation of populations: a simulation study. Replicate populations of interest rather than controls, and environments.
Botanicals used for cosmetic purposes by Xhosa women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. 16 plants, 14 families, bark the most common component, skin complexion the most common use.
Droughts, Biodiversity, and Rural Incomes in the Tropics. More access to natural biodiversity means smaller effect of drought during the growing season on income from crops.
A global surveillance system for crop diseases. Could be extended to other threats to crop diversity?
A data-driven approach improves food insecurity crisis prediction. Market data, rainfall, geography and demography predict food insecurity at village level in near real time.
Rapid detection of stressed agricultural environments in Africa under climatic change 2000–2050 using agricultural resource indices and a hotspot mapping approach. Increasing trouble for Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and to a lesser extent Ethiopia. But will biodiversity, disease monitoring and food insecurity prediction help?
Kavalactones and Flavokavins Profiles Contribute to Quality Assessment of Kava (Piper methysticum G. Forst.), the Traditional Beverage of the Pacific. High-throughput HPTLC will do the job.
Transcriptome and organellar sequencing highlights the complex origin and diversification of allotetraploid Brassica napus. 6 genetic groups: Winter rapeseed in Europe and America, Rutabaga, Spring rapeseed, Siberian kale, Winter rapeseed in East Asia, and Winter rapeseed in Europe and South Asia. No evidence of multi-origin.
Parallels between natural selection in the cold‐adapted crop‐wild relative Tripsacum dactyloides and artificial selection in temperate adapted maize. Artificial selection for temperate adaptation in maize involved the same genes as natural selection for temperate adaptation in Tripsacum.