Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
An interview with Robert N. Spengler III, author of Fruit from the Sands: The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat ((And also the paper Origins of the Apple: The Role of Megafaunal Mutualism in the Domestication of Malus and Rosaceous Trees, which is nicely summarized here and we included in Brainfood.)) reminds me …
Crop domestication: anthropogenic effects on insect–plant interactions in agroecosystems. Domestication can upset trophic webs. Poor dears. The soybean experiment ‘1000 Gardens’: a case study of citizen science for research, education, and beyond. 2492 gardens, in fact. The evolutionary road from wild moth to domestic silkworm. Domestication in China, followed by multiple independent spreads and differentiation. …
Molecular markers as a tool for germplasm acquisition to enhance the genetic diversity of a Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus syn. Pennisetum purpureum) collection. Win-win for the ILRI and Embrapa genebanks. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya. 1% increase in women’s empowerment led to a 6-16% …
Nomadic ecology shaped the highland geography of Asia’s Silk Roads. Goat Roads doesn’t have the same ring to it. Agro-biodiversity has increased over a 95 year period at sub-regional and regional scales in southern Quebec, Canada. It’s all in the definition. Trees for life: The ecosystem service contribution of trees to food production and livelihoods …
Recent demography drives changes in linked selection across the maize genome. Only a small part of teosinte contributed to maize. Changing year-round habitat use of extensively grazing cattle, sheep and pigs in East-Central Europe between 1940 and 2014: Consequences for conservation and policy. Animals don’t graze as much, or the same habitats, as they used …