ENGLISH

Darwin's Harvest: New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops

By Timothy J. Motley , Nyree Zerega , Hugh Cross

Book information

Publisher
Columbia University Press
Year
2005
ISBN
9780231133166, 0-231-13316-2
LCC
SB106.O74 D37 2005
Open Library ID
OL3426024M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
3 MB (3085941 bytes)
Pages
401\401
Time added
2014-10-05 02:30:00

Description

"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.

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