Description
Book SynopsisAddresses concerns that we are losing the diversity of crop plants that provide food for most of the world. This book 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.
Trade ReviewA fascinating collection of cutting-edge analyses. -- Charles R. Clement Economic Botany
Table of ContentsList of Contributors 1. Crop Plants: Past, Present, and Future, by Timothy J. Motley Part I. Genetics and Origin of Crops : Evolution and Domestication 2. Molecular Evidence and the Evolutionary History of the Domesticated Sunflower, by Loren H. Rieseberg and Abigail V. Harter 3. Molecular Evidence of Sugarcane Evolution and Domestication, by Laurent Grivet, Jean-Christophe Glaszmann, and Angelique D'Hont 4. Maize Origins, Domestication, and Selection, by Edward S. Buckler IV and Natalie M. Stevens 5. Contributions of Tripsacum to Maize Diversity, by Mary W. Eubanks Part II. Systematics and the Origin of Crops: Phylogenetic and Biogeographic Relationships 6. Evolution of Genetic Diversity in Phaseolus vulgaris L., by Roberto Papa, Laura Nanni, Delphine Sicard, Domenico Rau, and Giovanna Attene 7. Cladistic Biogeography of Juglans (Juglandaceae) Based on Chloroplast DNA Intergenic Spacer Sequences, by Mallikarjuna K. Aradhya, Daniel Potter, and Charles J. Simon 8. Origin and Diversification of Chayote, by Hugh Cross, Rafael Lira Saade, and Timothy J. Motley Part III. The Descent of Man: Human History and Crop Evolution 9. Using Modern Landraces of Wheat to Study the Origins of European Agriculture, by Terence A. Brown, Sarah Lindsay, and Robin G. Allaby 10. Breadfruit Origins, Diversity, and Human-Facilitated Distribution, by Nyree Zerega, Diane Ragone, and Timothy J. Motley 11. Genetic Relationship Between Dioscorea alata L. and D. nummularia Lum. as Revealed by AFLP Markers, by Roger Malapa, Jean-Louis Noyer, Jean-Leu Marchand, and Vincent Lebot Part IV. Variation of Plants Under Selection: Agrodiversity and Germplasm Conservation 12. Evolution, Domestication, and Agrobiodiversity in the Tropical Crop Cassava, by Barbara A. Schaal, Kenneth M. Olsen, and Luiz J. C. B. Carvalho 13. Origins, Evolution, and Group Classification of Cultivated Potatoes, by David M. Spooner and Wilbert L. A. Hetterscheid 14. Evolution and Conservation of Clonally Propagated Crops: Insights from AFLP Data and Folk Taxonomy of the Andean Tuber Oca (Oxalis tuberosa ), by Eve Emshwiller 15. Crop Genetics on Modern Farms: Gene Flow Between Crop Populations, by Kenneth Birnbaum Appendix I. Molecular Marker and Sequencing Methods and Related Terms, by Sarah M. Ward Appendix II. Molecular Analyses, by Timothy J. Motley, Hugh Cross, Nyree Zerega, and Mallikarjuna K. Aradhya Index
