Does this avalanche of news articles about frankincense happen every year around Christmas?
Talking about FIGS
We’ve blogged here once or twice before about Focused Identification of Germplasm (FIGS). This is a GIS-based strategy pioneered at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas for choosing genebank accessions based on where they were collected, which in many cases seems to yields a significantly improved chance of landing the trait you want. Well, a new paper is out applying the method successfully to wheat stem rust resistance. But a press release on the ICARDA blog also tells us that “the FIGS team is now launching an international consultation to help spread this practice among the global scientific community, and to learn together to further improve the FIGS tool.” If you want to join in, contact Ken Street (k.street AT cgiar.org) at ICARDA.
Tracking down White Park cattle
This call for information from Lawrence Alderson at Rare Breeds International just came through on DAD-Net. Minus the link, which I’ve added. Can anyone help?
The White Park is an ancient British breed of cattle. It was recorded at Dynevwr in the reign of Rhodri Fawr at least 1,150 years ago, and anecdotally maybe 1,000 years earlier than that. It is a distinctive long-horned animal, porcelain white with coloured points except for the tail which is white. It now is valued as a heritage breed, noted for its high-quality marbled beef and its efficiency of conversion of coarse herbage. It is endangered but has been exported to several countries including USA, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Germany.
A current project coordinated by Rare Breeds International is studying the degree of divergence between national populations. It already has demonstrated that descendants of cattle exported 50 years ago still have the same DNA profile as the current population in UK. In the course of this research RBI has discovered references in the twentieth century (1930s to 1990s) to White Park animals (also referred to as Park or English Park, and Ancient White Park in North America) in several zoological gardens in Europe, including Copenhagen, Prague, Riga, London and Berlin. We are interested to pursue further this thread of research to explore the possibility that the White Park was found more widely in zoological gardens. We request anyone with relevant information to contact RBI at rbisecretariat@mail.com and will be most grateful for your assistance.
Revised Global Plan of Action hits the newstands
What’s this, the Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is out? Why wasn’t I told? No, wait, I was. The first GPA came out 15 years ago. This one has a new, improved bit on plant breeding. Among other things.
Brainfood: Early farmers, Ecological restoration, IPRs, Soil bacterial diversity, Perenniality, Carrot diversity, Earthworm mapping
- Ancient DNA from an Early Neolithic Iberian population supports a pioneer colonization by first farmers. People, not just crops, moved.
- Genetic consequences of using seed mixtures in restoration: A case study of a wetland plant Lychnis flos-cuculi. After a few generations of use for seed production, it’s best to abandon ex situ stocks and go back to the wild populations.
- Creative Commons licenses and the non-commercial condition: Implications for the re-use of biodiversity information. It’s complicated. I wonder if the multi-headed hounds who guard the gates to GBDBH are aware of this. Here’s a blog post.
- Is diversification history of maize influencing selection of soil bacteria by roots? Kinda.
- A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2012. Perennial cereals make the cut.
- How pristine are tropical forests? An ecological perspective on the pre-Columbian human footprint in Amazonia and implications for contemporary conservation. It doesn’t matter.
- Genetic diversity of carrot (Daucus carota L.) cultivars revealed by analysis of SSR loci. Western and Asian groups, the latter more diverse, because of landraces. But 88 accessions does seem a bit few. And no wilds.
- Mapping of earthworm distribution for the British Isles and Eire highlights the under-recording of an ecologically important group. 28 species! But many gaps. No diversity map. Will send them DIVA-GIS for Christmas.