Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021

Seed storage seminars

The second Plantum Seed Technology Webinar is online tomorrow, 11 February at 3-4 PM CET. Register here.

Jeremy Pardo (Van Buren lab, Michigan State University)
Co-option of seed dehydration pathways during drought and desiccation in grasses: Some grasses can survive typically lethal drought events through entering a dormant, desiccated state until the return of water. We aimed to find what distinguishes this unique desiccation tolerance response from conserved drought responses observed in all grasses. This study was done in collaboration with a.o. Henk Hilhorst (Wageningen University and Research).
Jae-Sung Lee (International Rice Research Institute)
Exploring anti-ageing properties in rice seeds: Specific seed metabolites such as anti-oxidants are known improve seed longevity. Based on metabolomic and genomic analyses, a few metabolites belonging to vitamin, flavonoid and amino acid groups were associated with seed longevity in rice. Using SNPs we identified the DNA-haplotypes regulating the accumulation of these metabolites. This study was done in collaboration with Fiona Hay (Aarhus University).

February 9, 2021February 10, 2021

Changing the food system, piece by piece

Hot on the heels of the Dasgupta Review ((On which more here.)), here comes Food System Impacts on Biodiversity Loss, courtesy of Prof. Tim Benton of Chatham House and co-authors. Dasgupta said that losing biodiversity is bad, and we should try to stop it, and now. Benton says that the food system is to blame for biodiversity loss, and we can do something about it: by changing diets, by setting aside areas of nature and by farming more sustainably. He calls on the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) to embed a ‘food systems approach’ across key international processes, including UN climate negotiations.

Lawrence Haddad of GAIN is chair of Action Track 1 of the Summit: Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all. So it’s likely he gets a lot of advice like Prof. Benton’s about what should be done. In a blog post, he says that suggested “game-changers” seem to fall into five groups, no less:

Rethinking current incentives
Not wasting the crisis
Breaking down barriers between fields
Doing the obvious things, better
Changing mindsets

It can all get a bit confusing, I have to say. So many ideas, options, trade-offs. Dr Haddad has multiple examples in each of those groups, and you and I could probably think of more. What’s to be done? How do we decide? Maybe, as the UNFSS process develops, some clear priorities will emerge. But perhaps we shouldn’t bank on that, nor do we need to. Perhaps, the thing to do… is to do everything. Certainly, we need to do something, and many, many little things might be easier to do, and better, than a few big things.

And to keep all our options open, to allow us to do everything we can think of, we’ll need all the crop diversity we can save, of course.

February 8, 2021January 26, 2021

Brainfood: Corona, Restoration, Georeferencing, Bee decline, Mustard breeding, Banana seeds, Micronutrient decline, Potato micronutrients, GWAS, Trade, Deforestation alerts, Review method

Rapid assessments of the impact of COVID-19 on the availability of quality seed to farmers: Advocating immediate practical, remedial and preventative action. Structural weaknesses ruthlessly exposed.
Initial Investment in Diversity Is the Efficient Thing to Do for Resilient Forest Landscape Restoration. Spend the money on securing diverse seeds up front, you cheapskates. No word on what the effect of the pandemic.
Ten golden rules for reforestation to optimize carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits. Right seeds, right species, right place, the right way. But save forests first.
The impact of near-real-time deforestation alerts across the tropics. Getting alerts saves forests, especially in protected areas, but only in Africa.
Integration of georeferenced and genetic data for the management of biodiversity in sheep genetic resources in Brazil. Travel 300 km for a genetically different sheep. I wonder if it’s the same for trees.
Worldwide occurrence records suggest a global decline in bee species richness. 25% fewer species in GBIF in past 25 years. Yeah but there may be alternative explanations for that, as a bee taxonomist points out. Non-Twitter link available too.
Investigating genetic relationship of Brassica juncea with B. nigra via virtual allopolyploidy and hexaploidy strategy. Wild relative could be used to synthesize some really cool mustards.
Seed storage behavior of Musa balbisiana Colla, a wild progenitor of bananas and plantains – Implications for ex situ germplasm conservation. Orthodox, but difficult to regenerate.
Mineral nutrient composition of vegetables, fruits and grains: The context of reports of apparent historical declines. No evidence for systematic declines in micronutrient concentrations.
A Study on the Biodiversity of Pigmented Andean Potatoes: Nutritional Profile and Phenolic Composition. Lots of diversity in micronutrients in traditional landraces. No word on temporal changes.
Status and prospects of genome‐wide association studies in plants. Dissecting complex traits has never been easier, and is getting easier. It says here.
A review of the interactions between biodiversity, agriculture, climate change, and international trade: research and policy priorities. Policy priorities? Increased recognition of international trade in biodiversity targets, goals, and policy; and increased communication of the impacts of food on biodiversity.
The Impact of Diversified Farming Practices on Terrestrial Biodiversity Outcomes and Agricultural Yield Worldwide: A Systematic Review Protocol. Looking forward to this one.

February 2, 2021March 29, 2023

The economics of biodiversity includes genebanks?

It’s 600-odd pages, but the Dasgupta Review on The Economics of Biodiversity, out today, may turn out to be worth reading in full, if these results of quick searches are anything to go by:

…widespread use of individual strains could deepen problems caused by the lack of genetic diversity in crops; introducing resistance into a wide variety of cultivars would counter this.

…future crop security in agriculture and industry is reliant on maintaining plant genetic diversity (Jump, Marchant, and Peñuelas, 2009). Another example of keeping our options open is the development of seed banks. Seed banks store the living genetic diversity of plants, in the form of seeds, to enable future use. Various types of seed bank exist, to support different sectors and interventions, e.g. agriculture, forestry, restoration and conservation. They provide a secure and relatively low-cost method of conserving a large amount of genetic material in a relatively small space.
…
The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project was a global initiative covering 24 countries that focused on the seeds of wild relatives of 29 of the world’s most important crop species (Castañeda-Álvarez et al. 2016). Participants in this project have conserved 242 taxa of crop wild relatives. These collections will be used to identify traits of value in crop breeding, such as tolerance of heat, drought, salinity and waterlogging, resistance to pests and diseases, resistance to root rot, and yield.
…
Sustainable intensification seeks to use contemporary methods to increase crop yields. For example, maintaining soil fertility, improving water use efficiency and reducing chemical inputs can be achieved through zero tillage or intercropping with two or more crops. Other approaches include plant breeding for temperature and pest tolerance, creating bio-controls for crop pests and pathogens, and reducing fossil fuel use in agriculture…

In the meantime, read the hot takes from The Guardian and Kew.

LATER:

February 1, 2021January 29, 2021

Brainfood: Livestock edition

Recent land use and management changes decouple the adaptation of livestock diversity to the environment. The diversity of traditional livestock breeds used to be closely related to climate in Spain, but this is breaking down.
Rationalizing ex situ collection of reproductive materials for endangered livestock breed conservation. Also in Spain, so I hope these guys are talking to the above.
Applying the zoo model to conservation of threatened exceptional plant species. Not to mention livestock in Spain? Basically talking about a pedigree-based approach.
Selection and drift reduce genetic variation for milk yield in Manech Tête Rousse dairy sheep. A bit like this (see above)?
Influence of land tenure interventions on human well-being and environmental outcomes. Fairly good evidence from meta-review that formal titling has good social and environmental outcomes. But what did it do for traditional breeds, right?
Lipid residues in pottery from the Indus Civilisation in northwest India. Not as much dairy as thought, and mainly non-ruminant fats. Definitely traditional breeds though.
Ancient proteins provide evidence of dairy consumption in eastern Africa. Starting when lactase persistence was still rare or absent.
Genome-scale sequencing and analysis of human, wolf and bison DNA from 25,000 year-old sediment. Sediment? Yep, sediment.
Effect of dry heat on seed germination of Desmodium and Stylosanthes species. Could be used rather than mechanical scarification, thus saving time and effort. Livestock gotta eat.