Role of Society on Genetic Diversity Within Crop Plants

[Gloria]

Ever wondered how much of a difference we have created in the genetic diversity of our surroundings?

Cultivating biodiversity: Sorghum example -- ScienceDaily

Three societies, the same environment.
Climate, environment and competition between species are well-known factors in the genetic evolution of plants.
But crop plants are subject to an additional force: human action.
Up to now, few studies have been able to distinguish the results of the domestication of the effects of natural constraints on crop diversity.
To shed some light on this question, a Franco-Kenyan research team became interested in a particular territory: the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya.
This territory offers both an ecologically homogeneous environment and brings together different ethnic groups, the Chuka, Mbeere and Tharaka peoples,
making it possible to compare the influence of their different agricultural practices and traditional knowledge on the diversity of sorghum,
a very important cereal in this area.

Using this multidisciplinary approach bringing together anthropologists, geneticists and agronomists, this work shows the role of human societies in the geographic distribution and evolution of the genetic diversity of crop plants.

Identifying the factors that shape biodiversity locally helps to preserve them better in the future.

Furthermore, this confirms the influence of local practices and knowledge on the diversity of life, which is a central issue in the debate on the ownership and redistribution of benefits from the use of genetic resources.

Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). "Cultivating biodiversity: Sorghum example." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 September 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140902092957.htm>.