Originally published in 1988.
Tomatoes could not be grown commercially without the help of their wild relatives. A single wild species of rice has helped double rice production in Asia. Wild silk-worms are enabling India to expand its silk industry. A wild carp with resistance to cold has been used to extend Soviet carp production further into the north. Wild genetic resources – the heritable characteristics of wild plants and animals – are used increasingly to improve domesticated crops and livestock and as new sources of food and of raw materials. But habitat destruction, over-exploitation and competition from introduced species is destroying many gene pools even before they have been identified. Genes from the Wild describes the growing contribution of wild genetic resources to the production of food and raw materials, describes their characteristics, explains the benefits and problems of using them and outlines the ways in which they are threatened and the measures being taken to conserve them.
Contents
1. The Oldest Resource; the Newest Resource Some Definitions
2. What have Wild Genetic Resources been Used for?
- Cereals Root Crops
- Oil Crops
- Vegetables and Pulses
- Fruits and Nuts
- Sugar Crops
- Commodity Crops
- Fibre Crops
- Timber
- Forage Crops
- Livestock
- Aquaculture
3. The Nature of Wild Genetic Resources
- Benefits of Wild Genetic Resources
- What Kinds of Wild Species are Used?
- The Future of Wild Genetic Resources
4. Where are Wild Genes Found? And Who Uses them? Who has got them? And Who Benefits?
5. Threats to Wild Genetic Resources
- Cereals
- Root Crops
- Oil Crops
- Vegetables and Pulses
- Fruits and Nuts
- Sugar Crops
- Commodity Crops
- Fibre Crops
- Timber
- Forage
- Crops
- Livestock
- Aquaculture
6. Conservation of Wild Genetic Resources
- In Situ Gene Banks
- The Difficulties
References