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Global Forest Genetic Resources: Taking Stock

December saw the publication of a special, open access issue of Forest Ecology and Management on “Global Forest Genetic Resources: Taking Stock.” Ian Dawson, one of the editors, has blogged chez nous about a couple of the papers. Here is the full table of contents, with links to both the papers and Ian’s posts.

Loo J, Souvannavong O, Dawson IK (2014) Seeing the trees as well as the forest: the importance of managing forest genetic resources. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 1-8.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.08.014

Dawson IK, Leakey R, Clement CR, Weber JC, Cornelius JP, Roshetko JM, Vinceti B, Kalinganire A, Tchoundjeu Z, Masters E, Jamnadass R (2014) The management of tree genetic resources and the livelihoods of rural communities in the tropics: non-timber forest products, smallholder agroforestry practices and tree commodity crops. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 9-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.01.021

Koskela J, Vinceti B, Dvorak W, Bush D, Dawson IK, Loo J, Kjaer ED, Navarro C, Padolina C, Bordács S, Jamnadass R, Graudal L, Ramamonjisoa L (2014) Utilization and transfer of forest genetic resources: a global review. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 22-34.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.07.017

Graudal L, Aravanopoulos F, Bennadji Z, Changtragoon S, Fady B, Kjær ED, Loo J, Ramamonjisoa L, Vendramin GG (2014) Global to local genetic diversity indicators of evolutionary potential in tree species within and outside forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 35-51.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.05.002

Wickneswari R, Rajora OP, Finkeldey R, Aravanopoulos F, Bouvet J-M, Vaillancourt RE, Kanashiro M, Fady B, Tomita M, Vinson C (2014) Genetic effects of forest management practices: global synthesis and perspectives. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 52-65.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.06.008

Thomas E, Jalonen R, Loo J, Boshier D, Gallo L, Cavers S, Bordács S, Smith P, Bozzano M (2014) Genetic considerations in ecosystem restoration using native tree species. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 66-75.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.07.015

Alfaro RI, Fady B, Vendramin GG, Dawson IK, Fleming RA, Sáenz-Romero C, Lindig-Cisneros RA, Murdock T, Vinceti B, Navarro CM, Skrøppa T, Baldinelli G, El-Kassaby YA, Loo J (2014) The role of forest genetic resources in responding to biotic and abiotic factors in the context of anthropogenic climate change. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 76-87.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.04.006

Pritchard HW, Moat JF, Ferraz JBS, Marks TR, Camargo JLC, Nadarajan J, Ferraz IDK (2014) Innovative approaches to the preservation of forest trees. Forest Ecology and Management, 333, 88-98.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.08.012

I wonder how many of the recently-published top 20 research questions on forestry and landscapes we can now tick off.

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The Global Crop Diversity Trust meets its stakeholders at Green Week

Lots going on today.

The Crop Trust’s First Stakeholder Discussion will be held on 16 January 2015 in Berlin, Germany, in conjunction with the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), during the annual Green Week International Agricultural Fair. Its thematic focus will be on the central role of international crop collections in preserving crop diversity…

Screen Shot 2015-01-16 at 1.07.07 PMIt all starts at 4pm. Follow on Twitter, if you dare. And yes, that’s a new logo and website.

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Food Security and Genetic Diversity live, now

The Commission on Genetic Resources will hold its Fifteenth Regular Session from 19 to 23 January 2015 at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarter in Rome, Italy. But today, there’s a Special Event on Food Security and Genetic Diversity. Watch it live. And yes, there’s a hashtag.

The Special Event offers an excellent opportunity for delegates of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, policy makers and experts to discuss and exchange information and knowledge regarding linkages between the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources for food and agriculture and the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. It also allows exploring opportunities to strengthen and improve these linkages and to engage in a dialogue on genetic resources and food security.

And here’s a summary from IISD.

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All maize, all the time

Lots on maize on the interwebs lately. First, there was a Nature Plants paper on the origin of the crop in the southwestern US, comparing DNA from ancient cobs with that from Mexican landraces:

“When considered together, the results suggest that the maize of the U.S. Southwest had a complex origin, first entering the U.S. via a highland route about 4,100 years ago and later via a lowland coastal route about 2,000 years ago,” said Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.

A separate article in the journal summarized the results and set them in a wider context:

As genomic and palaeo-genomic studies have become more common, it has become increasingly clear that virtually every domestic plant and animal has incorporated genomes of numerous populations, including many that were not involved in the original domestication process. For example, although grapes, apples and pigs were domesticated outside of Europe, admixture with native wild European species has been so significant as to obscure the geographic origins of the modern domestic populations.

Meanwhile, the controversy over how to measure genetic erosion in maize continues, though I’m afraid in this case only the extract is free.

Which all means that the rather nice learning resource on maize domestication at the University of Utah, which I coincidentally recently came across, may need to be tweaked a bit.

Incidentally, if you plug Zea into the Native American Ethnobotany database at the University of Michigan, also a serendipitous find over the holidays, you’ll see that maize was far from being just a food plant.

There are even a couple of historical maize specimens included in the beta version of the new data portal of the Natural History Museum in London, which seems to be getting the softest of launches just now. Great to browse through. Not sure what kind of launch Brazil’s new(ish) biodiversity information system (SiBBs) got, but it too features maize records, over 400 in this case, though only 10 georeferenced. The source of most is given as “Dados repatriados – United States (no coordinates)”, which means that they came from GBIF, and in the case of maize are probably therefore mostly from GRIN. As I said a couple of posts ago for wheat, data sure does get around online.