The world relies on very few crop and animal species for agriculture and to supply its food needs. In recent decades, there has been increased appreciation of the risk this implies for food security and quality, especially in times of environmental change. As a result, agricultural biodiversity has moved to the top of research and policy agendas.
This handbook presents a comprehensive overview of our current knowledge of agricultural biodiversity in a series of specially commissioned chapters. It draws on multiple disciplines including plant and animal genetics, ecology, crop and animal science, food studies and nutrition, as well as social science subjects which explore the socio-economic, cultural, institutional, legal and policy aspects of agricultural biodiversity. It focuses not only on the core requirements to deliver a sustainable agriculture and food supply, but also highlights the additional ecosystem services provided by a diverse and resilient agricultural landscape and farming practices. Routledge Handbook of Agricultural Biodiversity provides an indispensable reference textbook for a wide range of courses in agriculture, ecology, biodiversity conservation and environmental studies.
Introduction / Danny Hunter, Luigi Guarino, Charles Spillane and Peter C. McKeown
Part 1 Biological Resources for Agricultural Biodiversity
1. Plant genetic resources / Robert Henry
2. Animal domestication, genetic diversity and genomic analysis / David A. Magee, David E. MacHugh & Ceiridwen J. Edwards
3. Forest and tree genetic resources / David Boshier, Judy Loo & Ian Dawson
4. Wild plant and animal genetic resources / Verina Ingram, Barbara Vinceti & Nathalie van Vliet
5. Aquatic genetic resources / Devin Bartley & Matthias Halwart
6. Pests, predators and parasitoids / Geoff Gurr, David J. Perovic & Kris Le Mottee
7. Pollinators / Barbara Gemmill-Herren
8. Soil biodiversity and bacterial and mycorrhizal resources / Fenton Beed, Thomas Dubois, Danny Coyne, Didier Lesueur & Srini Ramasamy
Part 2 The Origins & History of Agricultural Biodiversity
9. Genetic aspects of crop domestication / Paul Gepts
10. Evolution and domestication of clonal crops / Peter J. Matthews
11. Agricultural biodiversity and the Columbian exchange / David E. Williams
12. The Green Revolution and crop biodiversity / Prabhu L. Pingali
13. Agroecology: using functional biodiversity to design productive and resilient polycultural systems / Miguel A. Altieri, Clara I. Nicholls & Marcos A. Lana
14. The role of trees in agroecology / Roger R. B. Leakey
Part 3 The Value of Agricultural Biodiversity
15. The quality of the agricultural matrix and long term conservation of biodiversity / Ivette Perfecto & John Vandemeer
16. Agricultural biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services / Fabrice deClerk
17. Leveraging agricultural biodiversity for crop improvement / Rodomiro Ortiz
18. Neglected no more: leveraging under-utilized crops to address global challenges / Gennifer Meldrum & Stefano Padulosi
19. Agricultural biodiversity, resilience, adaptation and climate change / Brenda B. Lin
20. An argument for integrating wild and agricultural biodiversity conservation / Simon J. Attwood, Sarah E. Park, Paul Marshall, John H. Fanshawe & Hannes Gaisberger
Part 4 Agricultural Biodiversity: Human Health and Wellbeing
21. Harvesting common ground: maximizing the co-benefits of agrobiodiversity and human health / Cristina Romanelli & Cristina Tirado
22. Edible insect diversity for food and nutrition / Wendy Lu McGill, Komi K. M. Fiabue, Sunday Ekesi & Sevgan Subramanian
23. Cultural heritage and agrobiodiversity / †Juliana Ferraz Da Rocha Santilli
24. Holding on to agrobiodiversity: human nutrition and health of Indigenous Peoples / Harriet V. Kuhnlein
25. Agricultural biodiversity for healthy diets and food systems / Jessica E. Raneri & Gina Kennedy
Part 5 The Drivers of Agricultural Biodiversity
26. Law, policy and agricultural biodiversity / †Juliana Ferraz Da Rocha Santilli
27. Using access and benefit sharing policies to support climate change adaptation / Ana Bedmar Villanueva, Isabel López Noriega, Michael Halewood, Gloria Otieno & Ronnie Vernooy
28. ‘Stewardship’ or ‘ownership’: how to realise Farmers’ Rights? / Regine Andersen
29. Land-use retention and change to improve agricultural biodiversity / Craig Pearson
30. Markets, consumer demand and agricultural biodiversity / Matthias Jaeger, Alessandra Giuliani & Irene van Loosen
31. Community biodiversity management / Walter de Boef & Abishkar Subedi
32. The role and importance of agricultural biodiversity in urban agriculture / Gudrun B. Keding, Celine Termote & Katja Kehlenbeck
33. Gender and agricultural biodiversity / Janice Jiggins
34. Seed systems: managing, using and creating crop genetic resources / Niels P. Louwaars
Part 6 Safeguarding Agricultural Biodiversity
35. Uncovering the role of custodian farmers in the on-farm conservation of agricultural biodiversity / Bhuwon Sthapit, V. Ramanatha Rao, Hugo Lamers and Sajal Sthapit
36. Agricultural biodiversity conservation and management – the role of ex situ approaches / Ehsan Dulloo, Jean Hanson & Bhuwon Sthapit
37. Seeds to keep and seeds to share: the multiple roles of community seed banks / Ronnie Vernooy, Pitambar Shrestha & Bhuwon Sthapit
38. 'Because it is ours': farmers’ knowledge, innovation and identity in the making of agricultural biodiversity / Dan Taylor
39. Landscapes of loss and remembrance in agrobiodiversity conservation / Virginia D. Nazarea
40. From participatory plant breeding to local innovation networks in Cuba / Humberto Ríos Labrada and Juan Ceballos-Müller
41. Strengthening institutions and organizations, and building capacity for the conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity / Johannes Engels & Per Rudebjer
42. Information, knowledge and agricultural biodiversity / Dag Endresen
43. Biodiversity is given life by small-scale food providers: defending agricultural biodiversity and ecological food provision in the framework of food sovereignty / Patrick Mulvany
Danny Hunter is a Senior Scientist in the Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems Initiative at Bioversity International, Rome, Italy, and is a member of the Healthy Food Systems node, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.
Luigi Guarino is currently the Director of Science at the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He has been a consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and worked for the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (now Bioversity International), and for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (now the Pacific Community) in the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the South Pacific.
Charles Spillane is the Established Professor (Chair) of Plant Science, and Head of the Plant and AgriBiosciences Research Centre (PABC) at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Professor Spillane’s Genetics and Biotechnology Lab works on both fundamental and applied research on plant and agricultural biosciences.
Peter C. McKeown is a Lecturer in the School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, and Coordinator of the Masters in Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (MSc.CCAFS).