T. Couvreur, Nayeli Jijon, R. Montúfar, Paula A. Morales‐Morales, M. J. Sanín, J. C. Copete, Alix Lozinguez, Álvaro J. Pérez, E. Beech
Palms provide vital plant resources and ecosystem services to people across the tropics. To improve conservation guidance, a “health check” of palms in two highly threatened biodiversity hotspots in Colombia and Ecuador was undertaken. Palms are very diverse in these regions, but over one third are threatened with extinction now, especially among endemic species. Widespread and useful palms are also under intense human pressure and need to be prioritized in terms of sustainable management practices. Given the importance of palms for humans, inclusive conservation actions should be continued in both countries in order to safeguard this resource. Palms provide central plant resources to societies in the tropics, especially in the Global South. The western Pacific and Andean regions of Colombia and Ecuador host two hotspots of biodiversity. To prioritize conservation policies towards palms, we undertook a conservation assessment of species in the region. We compiled a taxonomically verified database of specimens collected in both hotspots. We inferred preliminary conservation assessments using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Criteria B. In addition, we evaluated the level of exposure of palms to human use and population density using the anthrome concept. We documented 144 native palm species in 33 genera occurring in both hotspots of Colombia and Ecuador. Of these, 55 are endemic to this region. We recorded 133 species for Colombia, 43 endemic, and 71 species for Ecuador, 9 endemic. A third of all palm species in the region are potentially threatened with extinction (50/144) and 12 as preliminary Critically Endangered. Aiphanes and Geonoma have the highest number of threatened species. In total, 60% of palm specimens were collected in the “low human impact” anthrome type. In contrast, 41% of specimens occur in high human density areas. The two hotspots of biodiversity in Colombia and Ecuador are very diverse in palms. However, we show that this diversity is under threat and is predominantly found in areas impacted by human activities. Extinction risk is highest in endemic species in both countries. Widespread and useful palm species also face threats linked to overexploitation or habitat loss. Inclusive conservation measures should be designed to conserve, together with communities, this plant resource.
{"title":"Diversity and conservation status of palms (Arecaceae) in two hotspots of biodiversity in Colombia and Ecuador","authors":"T. Couvreur, Nayeli Jijon, R. Montúfar, Paula A. Morales‐Morales, M. J. Sanín, J. C. Copete, Alix Lozinguez, Álvaro J. Pérez, E. Beech","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10506","url":null,"abstract":"Palms provide vital plant resources and ecosystem services to people across the tropics. To improve conservation guidance, a “health check” of palms in two highly threatened biodiversity hotspots in Colombia and Ecuador was undertaken. Palms are very diverse in these regions, but over one third are threatened with extinction now, especially among endemic species. Widespread and useful palms are also under intense human pressure and need to be prioritized in terms of sustainable management practices. Given the importance of palms for humans, inclusive conservation actions should be continued in both countries in order to safeguard this resource.\u0000\u0000Palms provide central plant resources to societies in the tropics, especially in the Global South. The western Pacific and Andean regions of Colombia and Ecuador host two hotspots of biodiversity. To prioritize conservation policies towards palms, we undertook a conservation assessment of species in the region.\u0000We compiled a taxonomically verified database of specimens collected in both hotspots. We inferred preliminary conservation assessments using International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Criteria B. In addition, we evaluated the level of exposure of palms to human use and population density using the anthrome concept.\u0000We documented 144 native palm species in 33 genera occurring in both hotspots of Colombia and Ecuador. Of these, 55 are endemic to this region. We recorded 133 species for Colombia, 43 endemic, and 71 species for Ecuador, 9 endemic. A third of all palm species in the region are potentially threatened with extinction (50/144) and 12 as preliminary Critically Endangered. Aiphanes and Geonoma have the highest number of threatened species. In total, 60% of palm specimens were collected in the “low human impact” anthrome type. In contrast, 41% of specimens occur in high human density areas.\u0000The two hotspots of biodiversity in Colombia and Ecuador are very diverse in palms. However, we show that this diversity is under threat and is predominantly found in areas impacted by human activities. Extinction risk is highest in endemic species in both countries. Widespread and useful palm species also face threats linked to overexploitation or habitat loss. Inclusive conservation measures should be designed to conserve, together with communities, this plant resource.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"89 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140736070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gabriela Castellanos‐Morales, X. Aguirre-Dugua, Enrique Scheinvar, J. Gasca-Pineda, Guillermo Sánchez‐de la Vega, Erika Aguirre‐Planter, R. Lira‐Saade, Luis E. Eguiarte
The genetic variation of crop wild relatives will be key for our survival, as environmental change represents an increasing global threat for agriculture and food security. Cucurbita lundelliana and Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii are wild relatives of cultivated squashes and pumpkins that could be used for crop improvement. A genomic approach was used to characterize genetic resources in these taxa, that is, to identify candidate sites in the genome involved in responses to abiotic stress, and to understand the roles of gene flow and environmental differentiation in their divergence. This study highlights the importance of conserving these two species as phytogenetic resources for crop improvement. Crop wild relatives (CWR) are reservoirs of genetic diversity and they are important for the maintenance of crop evolutionary potential. Mexico is the centre of domestication and diversity for many CWR. The genus Cucurbita originated in America, where at least six independent domestication events took place. Nonetheless, Cucurbita CWR have been seldom studied. In the present study, we test the role of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and secondary contact in the divergence of C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii and C. lundelliana. Additionally, we seek to understand the role of environmental differentiation in their divergence. We obtained 1,638 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for 107 individuals from the most recently diverged wild species in this genus, encompassing 25 localities of C. lundelliana and nine localities of C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii in Mexico. We found higher genetic variation in C. lundelliana (HE = 0.227) than in C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii (HE = 0.187). Each taxon constitutes a well‐differentiated genetic group, with an area of introgression in Pantanos de Centla. We found candidate loci associated to hydric and thermal stress, which could be valuable for crop improvement. Our study supported a scenario of ILS followed by secondary contact, where divergence was probably driven by Pleistocene climate change. These CWR represent important phytogenetic resources for crop improvement given their high levels of genetic variation and differentiation and their SNPs associated to different climatic variables.
作物野生近缘植物的遗传变异将是我们生存的关键,因为环境变化对农业和粮食安全构成了日益严重的全球性威胁。Cucurbita lundelliana 和 Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii 是栽培南瓜和南瓜的野生近缘种,可用于作物改良。该研究采用基因组学方法描述了这些类群的遗传资源特征,即确定基因组中参与非生物胁迫反应的候选位点,并了解基因流和环境分化在其分化中的作用。作物野生近缘植物(CWR)是遗传多样性的宝库,对保持作物的进化潜力非常重要。墨西哥是许多 CWR 的驯化和多样性中心。葫芦属植物起源于美洲,在那里至少发生了六次独立的驯化事件。然而,对葫芦属 CWR 的研究却很少。在本研究中,我们测试了不完全品系分类(ILS)和二次接触在 C. okeechobeensis subsp.此外,我们还试图了解环境分异在它们的分化中所起的作用。我们从该属中最近分化的野生种的 107 个个体中获得了 1,638 个单核苷酸多态性(SNPs),其中包括 25 个 C. lundelliana 的地点和 9 个 C. lundelliana 的地点。我们发现 C. lundelliana 的遗传变异(HE = 0.227)高于 C. okeechobeensis subsp.每个分类群都构成了一个分化良好的遗传群体,在 Pantanos de Centla 有一个引入区。我们发现了与水压和热压相关的候选基因位点,这对作物改良很有价值。我们的研究支持先ILS后二次接触的假设,其中的分化可能是受更新世气候变化的驱动。
{"title":"High levels of genetic variation and differentiation in wild tropical gourds provide a novel resource for cucurbit crop improvement","authors":"Gabriela Castellanos‐Morales, X. Aguirre-Dugua, Enrique Scheinvar, J. Gasca-Pineda, Guillermo Sánchez‐de la Vega, Erika Aguirre‐Planter, R. Lira‐Saade, Luis E. Eguiarte","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10488","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10488","url":null,"abstract":"The genetic variation of crop wild relatives will be key for our survival, as environmental change represents an increasing global threat for agriculture and food security. Cucurbita lundelliana and Cucurbita okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii are wild relatives of cultivated squashes and pumpkins that could be used for crop improvement. A genomic approach was used to characterize genetic resources in these taxa, that is, to identify candidate sites in the genome involved in responses to abiotic stress, and to understand the roles of gene flow and environmental differentiation in their divergence. This study highlights the importance of conserving these two species as phytogenetic resources for crop improvement.\u0000\u0000Crop wild relatives (CWR) are reservoirs of genetic diversity and they are important for the maintenance of crop evolutionary potential. Mexico is the centre of domestication and diversity for many CWR. The genus Cucurbita originated in America, where at least six independent domestication events took place. Nonetheless, Cucurbita CWR have been seldom studied. In the present study, we test the role of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and secondary contact in the divergence of C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii and C. lundelliana. Additionally, we seek to understand the role of environmental differentiation in their divergence.\u0000We obtained 1,638 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for 107 individuals from the most recently diverged wild species in this genus, encompassing 25 localities of C. lundelliana and nine localities of C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii in Mexico.\u0000We found higher genetic variation in C. lundelliana (HE = 0.227) than in C. okeechobeensis subsp. martinezii (HE = 0.187). Each taxon constitutes a well‐differentiated genetic group, with an area of introgression in Pantanos de Centla. We found candidate loci associated to hydric and thermal stress, which could be valuable for crop improvement. Our study supported a scenario of ILS followed by secondary contact, where divergence was probably driven by Pleistocene climate change.\u0000These CWR represent important phytogenetic resources for crop improvement given their high levels of genetic variation and differentiation and their SNPs associated to different climatic variables.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"1115 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140749250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B. Ayalew, K. Hylander, Lowe Börjeson, G. Adugna, Dinkissa Beche, Francesco Zignol, A. J. Tack
Adapting agriculture to climate change requires an understanding of the long‐term relationship between climate, disease dynamics, and yield. While some countries have monitored major crop diseases for decades or centuries, comparable data is scarce or non‐existent for many countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. For this, a novel approach was developed to reconstruct climate‐mediated changes in disease dynamics and yield. Here, a case study on Arabica coffee in its area of origin demonstrates how to combine local knowledge, climate data, and spatial field surveys to reconstruct disease and yield time series and to postulate and test hypotheses for climate–disease–yield relationships. While some countries have monitored crop diseases for several decades or centuries, other countries have very limited historical time series. In such areas, we lack data on long‐term patterns and drivers of disease dynamics, which is important for developing climate‐resilient disease management strategies. We adopted a novel approach, combining local knowledge, climate data, and spatial field surveys to understand long‐term climate‐mediated changes in disease dynamics in coffee agroforestry systems. For this, we worked with 58 smallholder farmers in southwestern Ethiopia, the area of origin of Arabica coffee. The majority of farmers perceived an increase in coffee leaf rust and a decrease in coffee berry disease, whereas perceptions of changes in coffee wilt disease and Armillaria root rot were highly variable among farmers. Climate data supported farmers' understanding of the climatic drivers (increased temperature, less rainy days) of these changes. Temporal disease‐climate relationships were matched by spatial disease‐climate relationships, as expected with space‐for‐time substitution. Understanding long‐term disease dynamics and yield is crucial to adapt disease management to climate change. Our study demonstrates how to combine local knowledge, climate data and spatial field surveys to reconstruct disease time series and postulate hypotheses for disease‐climate relationships in areas where few long‐term time series exist.
{"title":"Using local knowledge to reconstruct climate‐mediated changes in disease dynamics and yield—A case study on Arabica coffee in its native range","authors":"B. Ayalew, K. Hylander, Lowe Börjeson, G. Adugna, Dinkissa Beche, Francesco Zignol, A. J. Tack","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10510","url":null,"abstract":"Adapting agriculture to climate change requires an understanding of the long‐term relationship between climate, disease dynamics, and yield. While some countries have monitored major crop diseases for decades or centuries, comparable data is scarce or non‐existent for many countries that are most vulnerable to climate change. For this, a novel approach was developed to reconstruct climate‐mediated changes in disease dynamics and yield. Here, a case study on Arabica coffee in its area of origin demonstrates how to combine local knowledge, climate data, and spatial field surveys to reconstruct disease and yield time series and to postulate and test hypotheses for climate–disease–yield relationships.\u0000While some countries have monitored crop diseases for several decades or centuries, other countries have very limited historical time series. In such areas, we lack data on long‐term patterns and drivers of disease dynamics, which is important for developing climate‐resilient disease management strategies.\u0000We adopted a novel approach, combining local knowledge, climate data, and spatial field surveys to understand long‐term climate‐mediated changes in disease dynamics in coffee agroforestry systems. For this, we worked with 58 smallholder farmers in southwestern Ethiopia, the area of origin of Arabica coffee.\u0000The majority of farmers perceived an increase in coffee leaf rust and a decrease in coffee berry disease, whereas perceptions of changes in coffee wilt disease and Armillaria root rot were highly variable among farmers. Climate data supported farmers' understanding of the climatic drivers (increased temperature, less rainy days) of these changes. Temporal disease‐climate relationships were matched by spatial disease‐climate relationships, as expected with space‐for‐time substitution.\u0000Understanding long‐term disease dynamics and yield is crucial to adapt disease management to climate change. Our study demonstrates how to combine local knowledge, climate data and spatial field surveys to reconstruct disease time series and postulate hypotheses for disease‐climate relationships in areas where few long‐term time series exist.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"83 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140752880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Multiple cropping, the cultivation of several crops on the same land in a year, occupied an important part of Taiwan's agricultural research from 1950 to 1970. This research originated in the context of Taiwan's land reform and diversification programs and their connections to the government's political ambition to maximize food production. The study of how multiple cropping was politicized and depoliticized by different actors helps to expand the narratives of the Green Revolution in Asia, analyze their legacies, and highlight Taiwan's role in the international exchange of visions of agricultural development during the Cold War. Scholars have recently expanded the history of the Green Revolution to move beyond the narrative of North–South technological diffusion. This article enriches the scholarship with the case of multiple cropping in Taiwan and its connection to Cold War geopolitics. Rice productivity in postwar Taiwan was boosted through a land reform launched by the Sino‐American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR) in the 1950s. Backed by American aid and staffed by scientists from the Republic of China (ROC) government, the JCRR envisioned to turn tenant farmers into landowners so as to encourage labor input and adoption of seeds and fertilizers. By 1960, the JCRR presented its reform as a “bloodless social revolution” and extended its focus to multiple cropping through a diversification program. The JCRR further created the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in 1971 to spread Taiwan's breeding and cropping techniques. The ROC's diplomatic isolation in the 1970s, however, prompted the center to reinterpret Taiwan's success in multiple cropping from a political achievement to a technological triumph, thus reinforcing the technology‐driven narrative used by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). Through Taiwan's influences on IRRI's rice breeding and multiple cropping research, this paper illustrates that the history of the Green Revolution requires more complex narratives. In addition, with Taiwan's political and economic transition since the 1980s, farmers began to reclaim their voice and influence agricultural policies. The case thus highlights the need of democratic participation in agricultural research, a concern that remains relevant today.
{"title":"“A bloodless social revolution”: Land reform and multiple cropping in Cold War Taiwan, 1950–1979","authors":"Leo Chu","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10511","url":null,"abstract":"Multiple cropping, the cultivation of several crops on the same land in a year, occupied an important part of Taiwan's agricultural research from 1950 to 1970. This research originated in the context of Taiwan's land reform and diversification programs and their connections to the government's political ambition to maximize food production. The study of how multiple cropping was politicized and depoliticized by different actors helps to expand the narratives of the Green Revolution in Asia, analyze their legacies, and highlight Taiwan's role in the international exchange of visions of agricultural development during the Cold War.\u0000Scholars have recently expanded the history of the Green Revolution to move beyond the narrative of North–South technological diffusion. This article enriches the scholarship with the case of multiple cropping in Taiwan and its connection to Cold War geopolitics.\u0000Rice productivity in postwar Taiwan was boosted through a land reform launched by the Sino‐American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR) in the 1950s. Backed by American aid and staffed by scientists from the Republic of China (ROC) government, the JCRR envisioned to turn tenant farmers into landowners so as to encourage labor input and adoption of seeds and fertilizers.\u0000By 1960, the JCRR presented its reform as a “bloodless social revolution” and extended its focus to multiple cropping through a diversification program. The JCRR further created the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) in 1971 to spread Taiwan's breeding and cropping techniques. The ROC's diplomatic isolation in the 1970s, however, prompted the center to reinterpret Taiwan's success in multiple cropping from a political achievement to a technological triumph, thus reinforcing the technology‐driven narrative used by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).\u0000Through Taiwan's influences on IRRI's rice breeding and multiple cropping research, this paper illustrates that the history of the Green Revolution requires more complex narratives. In addition, with Taiwan's political and economic transition since the 1980s, farmers began to reclaim their voice and influence agricultural policies. The case thus highlights the need of democratic participation in agricultural research, a concern that remains relevant today.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"94 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140370851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andreas Hagenbo, P. Fransson, L. Menichetti, K. Clemmensen, Madelen A. Olofsson, Alf Ekblad
Efficient mitigation of climate change requires predictive models of forest ecosystems as sinks for atmospheric carbon. Mycorrhizal fungi are drivers of soil carbon storage in boreal forests, yet they are typically excluded from ecosystem models, because of a lack of information about their growth and turnover. Closing this knowledge gap could help us better predict future responses to climate change and guide policy decisions for sustainable management of forest ecosystems. This study provides new estimates of the production and turnover of mycorrhizal mycelial biomass and necromass. This information can facilitate the integration of mycorrhizal fungi into new predictive models of boreal forest soils. In boreal forests, turnover of biomass and necromass of ectomycorrhizal extraradical mycelia (ERM) are important for mediating long‐term carbon storage. However, ectomycorrhizal fungi are usually not considered in ecosystem models, because data for parameterization of ERM dynamics is lacking. Here, we estimated the production and turnover of ERM biomass and necromass across a hemiboreal Pinus sylvestris chronosequence aged 12 to 100 years. Biomass and necromass were quantified in sequentially harvested in‐growth bags, and incubated in the soil for 1–24 month, and Bayesian calibration of mathematical models was applied to arrive at parametric estimates of ERM production and turnover rates of biomass and necromass. Steady states were predicted to be nearly reached after 160 and 390 growing season days, respectively, for biomass and necromass. The related turnover rates varied with 95% credible intervals of 1.7–6.5 and 0.3–2.5 times yr−1, with mode values of 2.9 and 0.9 times yr−1, corresponding to mean residence times of 62 and 205 growing season days. Our results highlight that turnover of necromass is one‐third of biomass. This together with the variability in the estimates can be used to parameterize ecosystem models, to explicitly include ERM dynamics and its impact on mycorrhizal‐derived soil carbon accumulation in boreal forests.
{"title":"Ectomycorrhizal necromass turnover is one‐third of biomass turnover in hemiboreal Pinus sylvestris forests","authors":"Andreas Hagenbo, P. Fransson, L. Menichetti, K. Clemmensen, Madelen A. Olofsson, Alf Ekblad","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10508","url":null,"abstract":"Efficient mitigation of climate change requires predictive models of forest ecosystems as sinks for atmospheric carbon. Mycorrhizal fungi are drivers of soil carbon storage in boreal forests, yet they are typically excluded from ecosystem models, because of a lack of information about their growth and turnover. Closing this knowledge gap could help us better predict future responses to climate change and guide policy decisions for sustainable management of forest ecosystems. This study provides new estimates of the production and turnover of mycorrhizal mycelial biomass and necromass. This information can facilitate the integration of mycorrhizal fungi into new predictive models of boreal forest soils.\u0000In boreal forests, turnover of biomass and necromass of ectomycorrhizal extraradical mycelia (ERM) are important for mediating long‐term carbon storage. However, ectomycorrhizal fungi are usually not considered in ecosystem models, because data for parameterization of ERM dynamics is lacking.\u0000Here, we estimated the production and turnover of ERM biomass and necromass across a hemiboreal Pinus sylvestris chronosequence aged 12 to 100 years. Biomass and necromass were quantified in sequentially harvested in‐growth bags, and incubated in the soil for 1–24 month, and Bayesian calibration of mathematical models was applied to arrive at parametric estimates of ERM production and turnover rates of biomass and necromass.\u0000Steady states were predicted to be nearly reached after 160 and 390 growing season days, respectively, for biomass and necromass. The related turnover rates varied with 95% credible intervals of 1.7–6.5 and 0.3–2.5 times yr−1, with mode values of 2.9 and 0.9 times yr−1, corresponding to mean residence times of 62 and 205 growing season days.\u0000Our results highlight that turnover of necromass is one‐third of biomass. This together with the variability in the estimates can be used to parameterize ecosystem models, to explicitly include ERM dynamics and its impact on mycorrhizal‐derived soil carbon accumulation in boreal forests.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"59 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140376336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Alemu, Shiran Ben‐Zeev, Timo Hellwig, V. Barak, G. Shoshani, A. Chen, Stephane Razzon, Ittai Herrmann, Alexandra Vorobyova, Sariel Hübner, Y. Saranga
Underutilized species (also known as orphan crops) present opportunities to increase crop diversity and food security. Such crops lack modern genetic tools and knowledge to facilitate efficient modern breeding approaches. A wide collection of tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) genotypes was used to identify genomic regions associated with productivity, lodging, and morpho‐physiological traits under contrasting water availabilities. The obtained results are expected to enhance modern breeding and improve tef productivity under traditional and modern cropping systems, thus improving farmers' livelihood and food security. Tef (E. tef (Zucc.) Trotter) is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 40) C4 cereal crop, endemic to Ethiopia and mainly cultivated in the Horn of Africa. Tef is characterized by high grain and feed nutritional qualities and resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses; thus, it holds great potential to sustain food and nutrition security in Africa and other parts of the world. The objective of this study was to identify genomic regions associated with responses to contrasting water regimes, as a basis for future improvement. A tef diversity panel was genotyped with 28,837 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and phenotyped for productivity, lodging, and morpho‐physiological traits along two seasons (2020 and 2021) under well‐watered and water‐limited treatments. A genome‐wide association study was performed to identify genomic regions associated with key traits for tef breeding. A total of 107 SNPs were associated with one or more of the studied traits, resulting in 138 marker–trait associations (MTAs) detected under both water treatments. Of these, 22 SNPs were associated with more than one trait, showing either multiple trait (pleiotropic) or multiple environment associations or both. A particularly strong association was found between grain yield, lodging, and time to heading. These findings open new avenues to further research on the genetic basis and physiological mechanisms underlying major traits in tef, as well as to marker‐assisted breeding of drought‐resilient tef cultivars.
{"title":"Genomic dissection of productivity, lodging, and morpho‐physiological traits in Eragrostis tef under contrasting water availabilities","authors":"M. Alemu, Shiran Ben‐Zeev, Timo Hellwig, V. Barak, G. Shoshani, A. Chen, Stephane Razzon, Ittai Herrmann, Alexandra Vorobyova, Sariel Hübner, Y. Saranga","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10505","url":null,"abstract":"Underutilized species (also known as orphan crops) present opportunities to increase crop diversity and food security. Such crops lack modern genetic tools and knowledge to facilitate efficient modern breeding approaches. A wide collection of tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) genotypes was used to identify genomic regions associated with productivity, lodging, and morpho‐physiological traits under contrasting water availabilities. The obtained results are expected to enhance modern breeding and improve tef productivity under traditional and modern cropping systems, thus improving farmers' livelihood and food security.\u0000Tef (E. tef (Zucc.) Trotter) is an allotetraploid (2n = 4x = 40) C4 cereal crop, endemic to Ethiopia and mainly cultivated in the Horn of Africa. Tef is characterized by high grain and feed nutritional qualities and resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses; thus, it holds great potential to sustain food and nutrition security in Africa and other parts of the world. The objective of this study was to identify genomic regions associated with responses to contrasting water regimes, as a basis for future improvement.\u0000A tef diversity panel was genotyped with 28,837 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and phenotyped for productivity, lodging, and morpho‐physiological traits along two seasons (2020 and 2021) under well‐watered and water‐limited treatments. A genome‐wide association study was performed to identify genomic regions associated with key traits for tef breeding.\u0000A total of 107 SNPs were associated with one or more of the studied traits, resulting in 138 marker–trait associations (MTAs) detected under both water treatments. Of these, 22 SNPs were associated with more than one trait, showing either multiple trait (pleiotropic) or multiple environment associations or both. A particularly strong association was found between grain yield, lodging, and time to heading.\u0000These findings open new avenues to further research on the genetic basis and physiological mechanisms underlying major traits in tef, as well as to marker‐assisted breeding of drought‐resilient tef cultivars.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":" 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140382070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Noro Fenitra Harimbao Randrianarimanana, N. Rakotomalala, L. MacKinnon, M. Rakotoarinivo, J. Randriamampianina, Hélène Ralimanana, Philippa Ryan, M. Vorontsova
Plants and agricultural practices are an integral part of human food systems and well‐being. Here, an example of an ethnobotanical research approach is provided to increase our understanding of the relationship between plants and human activities in Madagascar, where the agricultural sector is the local economy basis. This research examines weeds of the Poaceae family, assessing their recognition and societal impacts, and quantifying farmers' perception of the Poaceae weed's status in cropping systems. A better understanding of farmers' weed knowledge will strengthen our ability to inclusively support rural highland Malagasy food systems, incorporating science with traditional knowledge. Research on the perceptions and knowledge of Poaceae weeds was conducted in three areas of Madagascar's central highlands: Itremo massif, Ambohidray village and Vakinankaratra region. This work aims to identify the best‐known species and understand their roles in crop and livestock systems. Additionally, it presents detailed data on Digitaria species. The approach was based on field surveys and farmer's interviews, with plant voucher specimens and photographs to facilitate identification. Relative frequency of citations, confidence interval, and use values indexes were calculated to assess cultural significance. We carried out 111 interviews, where 87 taxa were mentioned, of which 51 are Poaceae, including 11 Digitaria species. Farmers classify the Poaceae weeds in three ways: their impacts on agricultural activities, use category and vegetative growth patterns, the latter especially significant for Digitaria. Locally common grasses are perceived as weeds when they are abundant and cause yield loss. The most damaging species is Digitaria humbertii, confirmed by half of the interviews. More than 40% of the farmers use Poaceae weeds in composting, more than 20% as fodder, and more than 8% as medicine. Overall, 67% of the species mentioned are judged useful. The diversity of useful species and the associated indigenous knowledge is important to the local communities, but, weeds are still perceived as negative generally. The Poaceae are overall neglected in Malagasy ethnobotany, and an in‐depth analysis of farmer knowledge is needed. The data obtained will be useful for future studies and the conservation of agrobiodiversity, especially endemic species that are not widely known.
{"title":"Local perceptions of the benefits versus negative impacts of weedy grasses in central Madagascar, with a focus on the genus Digitaria","authors":"Noro Fenitra Harimbao Randrianarimanana, N. Rakotomalala, L. MacKinnon, M. Rakotoarinivo, J. Randriamampianina, Hélène Ralimanana, Philippa Ryan, M. Vorontsova","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10495","url":null,"abstract":"Plants and agricultural practices are an integral part of human food systems and well‐being. Here, an example of an ethnobotanical research approach is provided to increase our understanding of the relationship between plants and human activities in Madagascar, where the agricultural sector is the local economy basis. This research examines weeds of the Poaceae family, assessing their recognition and societal impacts, and quantifying farmers' perception of the Poaceae weed's status in cropping systems. A better understanding of farmers' weed knowledge will strengthen our ability to inclusively support rural highland Malagasy food systems, incorporating science with traditional knowledge.\u0000Research on the perceptions and knowledge of Poaceae weeds was conducted in three areas of Madagascar's central highlands: Itremo massif, Ambohidray village and Vakinankaratra region. This work aims to identify the best‐known species and understand their roles in crop and livestock systems. Additionally, it presents detailed data on Digitaria species.\u0000The approach was based on field surveys and farmer's interviews, with plant voucher specimens and photographs to facilitate identification. Relative frequency of citations, confidence interval, and use values indexes were calculated to assess cultural significance.\u0000We carried out 111 interviews, where 87 taxa were mentioned, of which 51 are Poaceae, including 11 Digitaria species. Farmers classify the Poaceae weeds in three ways: their impacts on agricultural activities, use category and vegetative growth patterns, the latter especially significant for Digitaria. Locally common grasses are perceived as weeds when they are abundant and cause yield loss. The most damaging species is Digitaria humbertii, confirmed by half of the interviews. More than 40% of the farmers use Poaceae weeds in composting, more than 20% as fodder, and more than 8% as medicine.\u0000Overall, 67% of the species mentioned are judged useful. The diversity of useful species and the associated indigenous knowledge is important to the local communities, but, weeds are still perceived as negative generally. The Poaceae are overall neglected in Malagasy ethnobotany, and an in‐depth analysis of farmer knowledge is needed. The data obtained will be useful for future studies and the conservation of agrobiodiversity, especially endemic species that are not widely known.\u0000","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"28 15","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140225988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Plant biology is an essential discipline for addressing global challenges from food security to climate change. In order to achieve this, we need to educate plant biologists who can contribute to research, enterprise, policy, public engagement and beyond. This article explores the potential of competency‐based education, which emphasises what students can do rather than what we know. A flexible and adaptable model of competency based plant biology education is presented, along with practical suggestions and examples. This provides a framework through which we can educate plant biologists equipped to address major scientific and societal challenges of the future.Plant biology is an essential discipline for addressing global challenges from food security to climate change. In order to achieve this we need to educate plant biologists who can contribute to research, enterprise, policy, public engagement and beyond. In this article, I explore some of the issues and challenges facing plant biology education from authentic research driven curricula to the impact of AI. In order to effectively educate the plant biologists of the future I propose moving to a competency based approach to education. Competency based education emphasises what students can do rather than what they know. I present a three‐domain competency model for plant biology, structured around (i) knowledge and information literacy (ii) disciplinary and professional experience and (iii) self‐awareness and personal development as three interdependent aspects of competency. I accompany this with twelve proposed competencies for plant biologists. The model is flexible, robust and adaptable to specific local requirements and future demands of plant biology education. In reimagining plant biology education in this way we can present our discipline as exciting and relevant to students, and equip them with the capabilities required to contribute to plant biology activity from research to public policy.
{"title":"Plant biology education: A competency‐based vision for the future","authors":"Katharine E. Hubbard","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10503","url":null,"abstract":"Plant biology is an essential discipline for addressing global challenges from food security to climate change. In order to achieve this, we need to educate plant biologists who can contribute to research, enterprise, policy, public engagement and beyond. This article explores the potential of competency‐based education, which emphasises what students can do rather than what we know. A flexible and adaptable model of competency based plant biology education is presented, along with practical suggestions and examples. This provides a framework through which we can educate plant biologists equipped to address major scientific and societal challenges of the future.Plant biology is an essential discipline for addressing global challenges from food security to climate change. In order to achieve this we need to educate plant biologists who can contribute to research, enterprise, policy, public engagement and beyond. In this article, I explore some of the issues and challenges facing plant biology education from authentic research driven curricula to the impact of AI. In order to effectively educate the plant biologists of the future I propose moving to a competency based approach to education. Competency based education emphasises what students can do rather than what they know. I present a three‐domain competency model for plant biology, structured around (i) knowledge and information literacy (ii) disciplinary and professional experience and (iii) self‐awareness and personal development as three interdependent aspects of competency. I accompany this with twelve proposed competencies for plant biologists. The model is flexible, robust and adaptable to specific local requirements and future demands of plant biology education. In reimagining plant biology education in this way we can present our discipline as exciting and relevant to students, and equip them with the capabilities required to contribute to plant biology activity from research to public policy.","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"3 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140241768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jill Sekely, P. Marchelli, Verónica Arana, Benjamin Dauphin, María Gabriela Mattera, M. Pastorino, Ivan Scotti, C. Soliani, K. Heer, L. Opgenoorth
Forest trees tend to be strongly genetically adapted to their local environments, but climate change will probably subject trees to novel combinations of precipitation, temperature, and photoperiod. Local adaptation was investigated in the ecologically and economically important Patagonian tree species Nothofagus pumilio by characterizing its genetic diversity in relation to the varied environmental conditions across its range. These insights are useful for conservation and management decisions, for example by identifying suitable populations to establish seed source plantations for restoration and characterizing relationships with environmental drivers of selection to better understand how this species will respond to climate change.Nothofagus pumilio is a foundation tree species that inhabits a 2000‐km‐long range in the southern Andes, a region with two perpendicular environmental gradients: temperature and photoperiod (North–South), and precipitation (West–East). We investigated local adaptation patterns by searching for relationships between environmental clines and signatures of adaptation in candidate genes related to stress response, growth, and phenology. Using a paired site sampling design within a landscape genome analysis, we analyzed 493 adult N. pumilio trees in 20 sampling sites across the species' latitudinal range. We screened 47,336 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci in 1632 contigs (i.e., coding regions along the genome). Population structure and genetic diversity analyses preceded four genome scan analyses using genetic and environmental data. Population structure and genetic diversity are mainly oriented along the latitude axis. Genome scans identified 445 outlier SNPs, which are loci showing signatures of selection. Temperature and photoperiod variables were associated with notably more outliers than precipitation. However, the most frequent biological functions among genes were water deprivation response and cold response, suggesting that stress response is comprised of complex and polygenic traits that are affected by many environmental variables. Our findings suggest that N. pumilio shows signatures of local adaptation to extant climate conditions, including temperature, photoperiod, and precipitation. However, climate change is likely to alter existing relationships among environmental conditions to which this species is currently adapted. These changes may have unpredictable consequences for the species' future survival, adaptation potential, and the people who depend upon these forests.
{"title":"Genomic responses to climate: Understanding local adaptation in the Andean tree species Nothofagus pumilio and implications for a changing world","authors":"Jill Sekely, P. Marchelli, Verónica Arana, Benjamin Dauphin, María Gabriela Mattera, M. Pastorino, Ivan Scotti, C. Soliani, K. Heer, L. Opgenoorth","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10504","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10504","url":null,"abstract":"Forest trees tend to be strongly genetically adapted to their local environments, but climate change will probably subject trees to novel combinations of precipitation, temperature, and photoperiod. Local adaptation was investigated in the ecologically and economically important Patagonian tree species Nothofagus pumilio by characterizing its genetic diversity in relation to the varied environmental conditions across its range. These insights are useful for conservation and management decisions, for example by identifying suitable populations to establish seed source plantations for restoration and characterizing relationships with environmental drivers of selection to better understand how this species will respond to climate change.Nothofagus pumilio is a foundation tree species that inhabits a 2000‐km‐long range in the southern Andes, a region with two perpendicular environmental gradients: temperature and photoperiod (North–South), and precipitation (West–East). We investigated local adaptation patterns by searching for relationships between environmental clines and signatures of adaptation in candidate genes related to stress response, growth, and phenology. Using a paired site sampling design within a landscape genome analysis, we analyzed 493 adult N. pumilio trees in 20 sampling sites across the species' latitudinal range. We screened 47,336 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci in 1632 contigs (i.e., coding regions along the genome). Population structure and genetic diversity analyses preceded four genome scan analyses using genetic and environmental data. Population structure and genetic diversity are mainly oriented along the latitude axis. Genome scans identified 445 outlier SNPs, which are loci showing signatures of selection. Temperature and photoperiod variables were associated with notably more outliers than precipitation. However, the most frequent biological functions among genes were water deprivation response and cold response, suggesting that stress response is comprised of complex and polygenic traits that are affected by many environmental variables. Our findings suggest that N. pumilio shows signatures of local adaptation to extant climate conditions, including temperature, photoperiod, and precipitation. However, climate change is likely to alter existing relationships among environmental conditions to which this species is currently adapted. These changes may have unpredictable consequences for the species' future survival, adaptation potential, and the people who depend upon these forests.","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"55 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140249987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Over the last 50 years, the practice of ‘intercropping’ (planting a mixture of several crops on the same field) has drawn growing attention in crop science. Given its high yields but low requirement for fertiliser or pesticides, it offers considerable advantages over conventional ‘industrial’ agriculture. Nevertheless, although research on intercropping has been conducted since the late 19th century, that work became largely invisible after 1945 as the rapid rise of industrial agriculture erased alternative approaches from view. Since the 1970s, however, intercropping and other alternatives have reappeared on the research agenda as the damaging impacts of industrial agriculture have become evident.Intercropping has long been of interest in agro‐ecology. Indeed, as the first generation of (English‐speaking) agro‐ecologists saw it, research on intercropping began in the 1970s and 1980s just as the field was beginning to emerge. Although the evidence confirms a rapid increase in such work from the 1970s, however, what nearly all agro‐ecologists then overlooked was the existence of two older traditions of work dating from the late 19th century. The aim of this paper is to explain why early agro‐ecologists were unaware of previous work. The history of research on intercropping in both the English‐ and German‐speaking worlds was traced using the journal literature as well as textbooks of agronomy. What this survey revealed is that in Europe and North America, agronomists had been working on intercropping since the 1890s, and during the interwar period and into the 1950s, the practice attracted considerable attention from colonial agronomists. Although this early work was in the public domain during the 1970s, however, few agro‐ecologists noticed it. There are various reasons why the first generation of agro‐ecologists might have known about but chose to ignore earlier work on intercropping. But more likely is that most members of that generation were simply unaware of the older work. For the forgotten history of intercropping, research appears to be just one aspect of a more general phenomenon during the 20th century in which a wide variety of ‘alternative’ cultivation practices were marginalised after 1945, only to re‐emerge from the 1970s as the social and environmental consequences of industrial agriculture came under attack.
{"title":"The forgotten history of intercropping","authors":"Jonathan Harwood","doi":"10.1002/ppp3.10502","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10502","url":null,"abstract":"Over the last 50 years, the practice of ‘intercropping’ (planting a mixture of several crops on the same field) has drawn growing attention in crop science. Given its high yields but low requirement for fertiliser or pesticides, it offers considerable advantages over conventional ‘industrial’ agriculture. Nevertheless, although research on intercropping has been conducted since the late 19th century, that work became largely invisible after 1945 as the rapid rise of industrial agriculture erased alternative approaches from view. Since the 1970s, however, intercropping and other alternatives have reappeared on the research agenda as the damaging impacts of industrial agriculture have become evident.Intercropping has long been of interest in agro‐ecology. Indeed, as the first generation of (English‐speaking) agro‐ecologists saw it, research on intercropping began in the 1970s and 1980s just as the field was beginning to emerge. Although the evidence confirms a rapid increase in such work from the 1970s, however, what nearly all agro‐ecologists then overlooked was the existence of two older traditions of work dating from the late 19th century. The aim of this paper is to explain why early agro‐ecologists were unaware of previous work. The history of research on intercropping in both the English‐ and German‐speaking worlds was traced using the journal literature as well as textbooks of agronomy. What this survey revealed is that in Europe and North America, agronomists had been working on intercropping since the 1890s, and during the interwar period and into the 1950s, the practice attracted considerable attention from colonial agronomists. Although this early work was in the public domain during the 1970s, however, few agro‐ecologists noticed it. There are various reasons why the first generation of agro‐ecologists might have known about but chose to ignore earlier work on intercropping. But more likely is that most members of that generation were simply unaware of the older work. For the forgotten history of intercropping, research appears to be just one aspect of a more general phenomenon during the 20th century in which a wide variety of ‘alternative’ cultivation practices were marginalised after 1945, only to re‐emerge from the 1970s as the social and environmental consequences of industrial agriculture came under attack.","PeriodicalId":508327,"journal":{"name":"PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET","volume":"51 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140080589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}