CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Could new biofuel crops become invasive?

   

According to a blog I read in the New York Times (NYT) online this could be the case. Following evidence that biofuel crops compete with food crops, defenders of farm grown crops say the eventual goal is to shift away from sources like maize toward plants harvested for their cellulose, which would end the competition between biofuel and food crops. However, as reported in the article, an unintended outcome of using alternative crops is that some like Jatropha and the giant reed tend to be invasive and could out-compete indigenous plants (see here). This would be a major setback for farmers planning to grow alternative biofuel crops.

Perhaps some dinosaurs died of malaria

Back in January I wrote about the book 'What bugged the dinosaurs? Insects, Disease and Death in the Cretaceous', by George and Roberta Poinar (click here to read what I said then). We have now obtained a copy for indexing for CAB Abstracts, and I have had a chance to take a quick look at it.

Biodiversity - The more the merrier!

May 22^nd is the International Day for Biological Diversity 2008. This year's theme is 'Biodiversity in Agriculture'. According to the Convention on Biodiversity who are co-promoting the day's festivities along with such luminaries of food and nutrition as the FAO, modern food production is responsible for both increasing and decreasing biodiversity. One of the things the CBD is interested in is stabilising the balance, so we can benefit from improved food (and fuel) production, whilst preserving species (the 'genetic treasures') that could become the food ingredients and medicines of the future.

Agriculture is mostly concerned with efficient production of nutritious, safe foodstuffs. To do this involves the promotion and prevention of growth of an enormous number of different species, soil, plant and animal-based organisms of various shapes and sizes - minimising the pests and pathogens while promoting the useful and edible ones.

Biological diversity in food is a very diverse subject area indeed.

The International Day for Biological Diversity - 22 May 2008

Biodiversity and Agriculture is the theme for 2008’s International Day for Biological Diversity.

Agriculture is a key example of how human activities have profound impacts on the ecosystems of our planet. This year’s day seeks to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture not only to preserve biodiversity, but also to ensure that we will be able to feed the world, maintain agricultural livelihoods, and enhance human well being into the 21st century and beyond.

Convention on Biological Diversity

Thanks to Luigi over at Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog for this quick note.

The COP9 meeting is currently in session in Bonn, Germany from 19 to 30 May 2008. Among the topics on the agenda is agricultural biodiversity and plant conservation. You can watch some of the sessions online if you can not get to the meeting itself. Streaming is available in English, German and the speakers original language. Hope you enjoy the coverage.

English wildlife "under siege"!

I was a bit surprised this morning to hear on the radio that England’s wildlife is "under siege" – this seemed a little melodramatic straight after news stories of China’s earthquake victims. Still, it did catch my attention. They were talking about the results of Natural England's State of the Natural Environment report published today. Key findings include a 50% decline of our native woodland butterflies due to a lack of woodland management, deterioration of grasslands so that only 3% remain rich in native plants, a decline in many wading birds and an overall finding that the natural environment of England is much less rich than 50 years ago. In a press release Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, says:

"England needs a new approach to conservation if we are to tackle effectively the modern pressures on land created by climate change and development. The natural environment is increasingly under threat, both within and especially away from protected areas… If we don't act, there's a real danger some of our most precious wildlife will be lost forever and our lives will be poorer for it."

Be KIND to nettles

AS an avid reader of fairytales in my youth, I was always intrigued by the story of the seven ravens. Seven princely brothers condemned to be ravens by day can only be rescued if their beautiful sister is prepared to pick nettles, barehanded, spin them into thread and weave the lot into seven shirts. Unfortunately she gets imprisoned as a witch but carries on calmly sewing the shirts even as they light the pyre beneath her. AS the flames lick around her skirts, she flings the shirts onto the ravens who immediately are restored to human form (except the youngest whose shirt was missing a sleeve ...it was that or the lot go up in flames with her...so he gets stuck with a black wing) and THEN they rescue their sister from her awful fate.

So that's how at the age of 10, I knew you could make nettles into cloth… and apparently they still do but in very small quantities. However at age 10, I personally knew them the hard way…being stung regularly where I grew up. Yet there was always a dock leaf to hand.

So my questions to you today are: did you know its Nettle Awareness Week again (NAW, May 17-25) and secondly, where have all the dock leaves gone?

Biodiversity suffers as resource use increases

More than a quarter of the world's biodiversity has been lost in the last 35 years according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report, compiled by the Zoological Society London (ZSL).

A little hope for orangutans

There’s a little glimmer of hope for the orangutans living in the rainforests of Indonesia. Back in February 2007 Vicki told us about the critical situation of these animals in Borneo and Sumatra: “their habitat is under constant attack from illegal logging, forest fires and mining... not to mention the ever-encroaching oil palms and the growing interest in their use as biofuels” (read Vicki's blog for more information). Now, according to The Jarkarta Post, palm oil companies operating in Indonesia have pledged to stop clearing forests for new oil palm plantations as a response to growing criticism that oil palm expansion is destroying biologically-rich rainforests and contributing to global warming.

Climate change – good news for agricultural research?

The agricultural research drought - in need of a little climate change?

This morning, office banter here at CABI turned to the post 9/11 affliction that affected newspaper and magazine columnists for many months, if not several years, after the event. For quite some time it seemed almost impossible to read a  Sunday supplement without some hack, under pressure to sell advertising space, relating the events of that day to whether grey was the new black, if school league tables were good for children's' education, or if there were a lot of pansies at the Chelsea Flower Show that spring.

The phenomenon was also rumoured to have spread as far as research grant application forms, along the lines of 'post 9/11 the world is on high alert for biological agents that could be used in acts of terrorism. It is therefore imperative that we study the effects of….' you know the sort of thing.

I don't know if it's just me, but climate change now seems to be the new 9/11.