Darwin's Harvest : New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops / Hugh Cross, Timothy Motley, Nyree Zerega.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cross, Hugh, editor.

Motley, Timothy, editor.

Zerega, Nyree, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crops--Evolution.

Crops.

Crops--Origin.

Plant conservation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2006]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Darwin's Harvest addresses concerns that we are losing the diversity of crop plants that provide food for most of the world. With contributions from evolutionary biologists, geneticists, agronomists, molecular biologists, and anthropologists, this collection discusses how economic development, loss of heirloom varieties and wild ancestors, and modern agricultural techniques have endangered the genetic diversity needed to keep agricultural crops vital and capable of adaptation.Drawing on the most up-to-date data, the contributors review the utilization of molecular techniques to understand crop evolution. They explore current research on various crop plants of both temperate and tropical origin, including maize, sunflower, avocado, sugarcane, and wheat. The chapters in Darwin's Harvest also provide solid background for understanding many recent discoveries concerning the origins of crops and the influence of human migration and farming practices on the genetics of our modern foods.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

CONTRIBUTORS

1. Crop Plants: Past, Present, and Future / Motley, Timothy J.

PART 1. GENETICS AND ORIGIN OF CROPS. Evolution and Domestication

2. Molecular Evidence and the Evolutionary History of the Domesticated Sunflower / Rieseberg, Loren H. / Harter, Abigail V.

3. Molecular Evidence of Sugarcane Evolution and Domestication / Grivet, Laurent / Glaszmann, Jean-Christophe / D'Hont, Angélique

4. Maize Origins, Domestication, and Selection / Buckler, Edward S. / Stevens, Natalie M.

5. Contributions of Tripsacum to Maize Diversity / Eubanks, Mary W.

PART 2. SYSTEMATICS AND THE ORIGIN OF CROPS. Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Relationships

6. Evolution of Genetic Diversity in Phaseolus vulgaris L. / Papa, Roberto / Nanni, Laura / Sicard, Delphine / Rau, Domenico / Attene, Giovanna

7. Cladistic Biogeography of Juglans ( Juglandaceae) Based on Chloroplast DNA Intergenic Spacer Sequences / Aradhya, Mallikarjuna K. / Potter, Daniel / Simon, Charles J.

8. Origin and Diversifi cation of Chayote / Cross, Hugh / Lira Saade, Rafael / Motley, Timothy J.

PART 3. THE DESCENT OF MAN. Human History and Crop Evolution

9. Using Modern Landraces of Wheat to Study the Origins of European Agriculture / Brown, Terence A. / Lindsay, Sarah / Allaby, Robin G.

10. Breadfruit Origins, Diversity, and Human-Facilitated Distribution / Zerega, Nyree / Ragone, Diane / Motley, Timothy J.

11. Genetic Relationship Between Dioscorea alata L. and D. nummularia Lam. as Revealed by AFLP Markers / Malapa, Roger / Noyer, Jean-Louis / Marchand, Jean-Leu / Lebot, Vincent

PART 4. VARIATION OF PLANTS UNDER SELECTION. Agrodiversity and Germplasm Conservation

12. Evolution, Domestication, and Agrobiodiversity in the Tropical Crop Cassava / Schaal, Barbara A. / Olsen, Kenneth M. / Carvalho, Luiz J. C. B.

13. Origins, Evolution, and Group Classifi cation of Cultivated Potatoes / Spooner, David M. / Hetterscheid, Wilbert L. A.

14. Evolution and Conservation of Clonally Propagated Crops: Insights from AFLP Data and Folk Taxonomy of the Andean Tuber Oca ( Oxalis tuberosa ) / Emshwiller, Eve

15. Crop Genetics on Modern Farms: Gene Flow Between Crop Populations / Birnbaum, Kenneth

Appendix II. Molecular Analyses / Motley, Timothy J. / Cross, Hugh / Zerega, Nyree / Aradhya, Mallikarjuna K.

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780231508094

0231508093

OCLC:

1024006294