Origins of food crops connect countries worldwide Khoury, Colin K.; Achicanoy, Harold A.; Bjorkman, Anne D. ...
Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences/Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological Sciences,
06/2016, Letnik:
283, Številka:
1832
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Research into the origins of food plants has led to the recognition that specific geographical regions around the world have been of particular importance to the development of agricultural crops. ...Yet the relative contributions of these different regions in the context of current food systems have not been quantified. Here we determine the origins (‘primary regions of diversity’) of the crops comprising the food supplies and agricultural production of countries worldwide. We estimate the degree to which countries use crops from regions of diversity other than their own (‘foreign crops’), and quantify changes in this usage over the past 50 years. Countries are highly interconnected with regard to primary regions of diversity of the crops they cultivate and/or consume. Foreign crops are extensively used in food supplies (68.7% of national food supplies as a global mean are derived from foreign crops) and production systems (69.3% of crops grown are foreign). Foreign crop usage has increased significantly over the past 50 years, including in countries with high indigenous crop diversity. The results provide a novel perspective on the ongoing globalization of food systems worldwide, and bolster evidence for the importance of international collaboration on genetic resource conservation and exchange.
The contributions of crop wild relatives (CWR) to food security depend on their conservation and accessibility for use. The United States contains a diverse native flora of CWR, including those of ...important cereal, fruit, nut, oil, pulse, root and tuber, and vegetable crops, which may be threatened in their natural habitats and underrepresented in plant conservation repositories. To determine conservation priorities for these plants, we developed a national inventory, compiled occurrence information, modeled potential distributions, and conducted threat assessments and conservation gap analyses for 600 native taxa. We found that 7.1% of the taxa may be critically endangered in their natural habitats, 50% may be endangered, and 28% may be vulnerable. We categorized 58.8% of the taxa as of urgent priority for further action, 37% as high priority, and 4.2% as medium priority. Major ex situ conservation gaps were identified for 93.3% of the wild relatives (categorized as urgent or high priority), with 83 taxa absent from conservation repositories, while 93.1% of the plants were equivalently prioritized for further habitat protection. Various taxonomic richness hotspots across the US represent focal regions for further conservation action. Related needs include facilitating greater access to and characterization of these cultural-genetic-natural resources and raising public awareness of their existence, value, and plight.
Status of original material of Abies spectabilis (Pinaceae) is re-evaluated. The previous attempted lectotypification was found to be contradictory and ineffective, and a new lectotype for A. ...spectabilis is designated.
The potentially devastating impacts of climate change on biodiversity and food security, together with the growing world population, means taking action to conserve crop wild relative (CWR) diversity ...is no longer an option—it is an urgent priority. CWR are species closely related to crops, including their progenitors, which have potential to contribute traits for crop improvement. However, their utilisation is hampered by a lack of systematic conservation which in turn is due to a lack of clarity over their identity. We used gene pool and taxon group concepts to estimate CWR relatedness for 173 priority crops to create the Harlan and de Wet inventory of globally important CWR taxa. Further taxa more remotely related to crops were added if they have historically been found to have useful traits for crop improvement. The inventory contains 1667 taxa, divided between 37 families, 108 genera, 1392 species and 299 sub-specific taxa. The region with the highest number of priority CWR is western Asia with 262 taxa, followed by China with 222 and southeastern Europe with 181. Within the primary gene pool, 242 taxa were found to be under-represented in ex situ collections and the countries identified as the highest priority for further germplasm collection are China, Mexico and Brazil. The inventory database is web-enabled (http://www.cwrdiversity.org/checklist/) and can be used to facilitate in situ and ex situ conservation planning at global, regional and national levels.
"Abroma" Jacq. and "Ambroma" L.f. have been alternatively adopted in different publications for the same genus of Malvaceae. The correct spelling and ascription of this generic name remain in ...dispute. Fosberg reviewed the nomenclature of this genus and concluded that Jacquin did not validly publish Abroma in 1776 because he failed to provide a separate generic description or diagnosis, and because validation with a combined genus/species description or diagnosis was not possible, as another prior name (Theobroma augustum L.) was included based on the same type as his sole species A. fastuosum. However, Jacquin had, in fact, validly published his new genus by providing both a generic diagnosis and description after his species description. Given the inconsistent opinions about the author and spelling of the genus in different publications and databases, a detailed clarification is presented here to promote nomenclatural stability of the genus. We hope this explanation will eliminate the erroneous adoption of "Ambroma" L.f., as in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and Flora of China.
The Nymphaeales (water lilies) clade has diverged as the second branch in the tree of angiosperms and is composed of the three families Cabombaceae, Nymphaeaceae and Hydatellaceae. Extant species ...diversity is constituted by 82 species, about half of which belong to the nearly globally distributed genus Nymphaea. DNA sequence datasets of multiple non-coding and rapidly evolving regions from all three genomic compartments (ca. 8 kb of sequence per taxon) for a dense sampling of Nymphaeales, Austrobaileyales and Amborella were examined. In an attempt to review the literature on water lilies of the past decades a matrix comprising 62 morphological characters was generated. The crown group of extant Nymphaeales is supported by a series of synapomorphies, several of which have evolved in line with the acquisition of herbaceous habits and adaptations to an aquatic lifestyle such as the loss of cambium and sclerenchyma. Further innovations evolved subsequently within the diversification of the water lily crown group such as hydropotes, or an aril as floating device for the seeds in core Nymphaeaceae that have evolved fruits ripening under water. Both Hydatellaceae and Cabombaceae exhibit many derived features that in part may be explained as adaptations to anemophily. The Nymphaeaceae are supported as monophyletic by most character partitions, including morphology, as are Nuphar and Barclaya as successive sisters to the core Nymphaeacae (Nymphaea, Ondinea, Euryale, Victoria). Parsimony analysis of the morphological dataset alone yielded a well resolved and statistically supported tree. Ondinea appears as a close relative of the Australian subg. Anecphya clade within Nymphaea by all genomic compartments and morphology. Earlier hypotheses of Nymphaea being paraphyletic to the Euryale-Victoria clade are inferred in nuclear trees, albeit with low support. Different morphological characters equivocally support a position of the Euryale-Victoria clade as sister to the subg. Hydrocallis-Lotus clade within Nymphaea or as sister to all species of Nymphaea. The diversification of the water lily clade is further characterized by a trend towards increased complexity in floral architecture.
Spermacoce alata Aubl. and Spermacoce latifolia Aubl., frequently referred to as Borreria alata (Aubl.) DC. and Borreria latifolia (Aubl.) K. Schum., were described in the 18th century by Jean ...Baptiste Christophe Fusée Aublet from French Guiana. They have sometimes been treated as a single species but are two easily distinguished species. Spermacoce alata occurs from Venezuela through the Guianas and in the eastern Amazon basin north of the Rio Amazonas and is not weedy. The New World distribution of S. latifolia is from southern Mexico through Central America and throughout eastern South America to Bolivia and Paraguay, and it is naturalized in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. Spermacoce latifolia is a noxious weed that has frequently been misidentified as S. alata. The first documented reports of S. latifolia in Florida are presented. Given its aggressive colonization elsewhere, prompt consideration should be given to controlling the spread of S. latifolia in the southern USA.
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