Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

February 23, 2013February 23, 2013

Caledonian Tomato!??!?

Today’s agricultural biodiversity mystery:

OK, so I know the quality’s not up to snuff, but I just grabbed this image in my local bar. And I have questions. What on earth is a caledonian tomato? Helpfully, the Italian below offers pomodoro and sapori di Scozia. But could some Italian, preferably, explain to me why Caledonia and the taste of Scotland might have great marketing appeal.

February 21, 2013

Simply awesome vegetable poster

Worth way more than a nibble, which is why it is out here. Run, don’t walk, to Popchartlab’s poster which is:

The most extensive mapping of vegetables ever! We have lovingly illustrated and charted over 400 crops, from Root Vegetables like Potatoes and the Prairie Turnip to lesser-known verified veggies like Courgette Flowers and the Ghostbuster Eggplant to the very many vegetables which are, botanically speaking, actually fruits.

Now, how do we persuade them to go global?

February 21, 2013February 20, 2013

I’ve got your key right here

You just know it’s going to be that sort of day when you see articles appearing in your RSS feed within minutes of each other saying first that no-till farming and then sustainable tuna hold the key to global food security. Whatever next, I wonder. Quinoa? No, wait…

#goodread: Quinoa – How an ancient crop can contribute to world food security http://t.co/z2Etbr33 #IYQ13

— Quinua FAO (@aiq2013) February 20, 2013

Bolivia's Evo Morales & @UN @secgen launching 2013 as Int'l Year of Quinoa @FAOnews http://t.co/1YcZ2PfZ #iyq13 pic.twitter.com/dZ2GNWfx

— Eduardo Milton (@jet_milton) February 20, 2013

February 20, 2013

United colours of Quinoa

Excitement here is mounting as we wait for the UN officially to open the International Year of Quinoa in New York at 10 am EST, in just half an hour. To calm down, I had a quick look at FAO’s own paean to quinoa. Coming fresh to the subject, you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about.

Jolly farmers ploughing behind stolid oxen, gene-bankers in the cold, scientists in white coats, smiling multicoloured children, uplifting royalty-free music. What’s not to like?

Well, those jolly ploughmen; where are the tractors and disc harrows that other people say are ruining the soil? The gene-bankers, with their 3000 varieties; are they freely available to researchers and safely duplicated elsewhere? The scientists, finding new uses for quinoa byproducts; could that have unintended consequences? And the smiling children; no sign of malnutrition there, are you sure?

Many questions; and there are answers out there. But to do justice to them will take time.

We have all year.

February 18, 2013February 15, 2013

Brainfood: Understanding conservation, Melon diversity, Brassica viruses, Livestock domestication, Parks and conservation, Intensification, Wild apple, Conservation planning, Pepper diversity, Silene diversity, Connectivity in restoration, Paying for conservation, Dog evolution, Pasture productivity

Four barriers to the global understanding of biodiversity conservation: wealth, language, geographical location and security. Probably not a bad list for agricultural biodiversity either.
SNP genotyping in melons: genetic variation, population structure, and linkage disequilibrium. Two main population, 5 sub-populations, no surprises. Oh hum.
Turnip Mosaic Potyvirus Probably First Spread to Eurasian Brassica Crops from Wild Orchids about 1000 Years Ago. Which corresponds to the expansion of agriculture in Europe as a result of a warming phase.
The Prey Pathway: A Regional History of Cattle (Bos taurus) and Pig (Sus scrofa) Domestication in the Northern Jordan Valley, Israel. Domestication in 8th millennium, preceded by overhunting. And all figured out without recourse to DNA.
The Effects of Isolation and Natural Park Coverage for Landrace In situ Conservation: An Approach from the Montseny Mountains (NE Spain). Do farmers in parks conserve landraces because they are isolated, or because they are in parks? Both, it seems.
Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Doubling in food demand from 2005 to 2050 predicted. Current trends of intensification in rich countries and expansion in not-so-rich bad, moderate intensification everywhere good.
Postglacial recolonization history of the European crabapple (Malus sylvestris Mill.), a wild contributor to the domesticated apple. Differentiation in 3 separate glacial refugia, then expansion and admixture at boundaries.
Testing Surrogacy Assumptions: Can Threatened and Endangered Plants Be Grouped by Biological Similarity and Abundances? No.
Characterization of Capsicum annuum Genetic Diversity and Population Structure Based on Parallel Polymorphism Discovery with a 30K Unigene Pepper GeneChip. The hot ones are more diverse.
Agronomical use as baby leaf salad of Silene vulgaris based on morphological, biochemical and molecular traits. Some populations are nicer than others.
Patterns of contemporary gene flow suggest low functional connectivity of grasslands in a fragmented agricultural landscape. When restoring a species at a site, it is better if the new population is near a large existing population.
Using choice experiments to understand public demand for the conservation of nature: A case study in a protected area of Chile. Visitors willing to pay $2-9 per visit, depending on the ecosystem service provided, which didn’t alas include CWRs.
Y chromosome analysis of dingoes and Southeast Asian village dogs suggests a Neolithic continental expansion from Southeast Asia followed by multiple Austronesian dispersals. Dogs arose independently in SE Asia and displaced older lineages to the N and W.
More Stable Productivity of Semi Natural Grasslands than Sown Pastures in a Seasonally Dry Climate. Over the course of a year that is, presumably due to species diversity. And the odd tree helps towards the end of the dry season. Which is why ICRAF is all over it.