A global perspective of the richness and evenness of traditional crop-variety diversity maintained by farming communities.

ABSTRACT: Varietal data from 27 crop species from five continents were drawn together to determine overall trends in crop varietal diversity on farm. Measurements of richness, evenness, and divergence showed that considerable crop genetic diversity continues to be maintained on farm, in the form of traditional crop varieties. Major staples had higher richness and evenness than nonstaples. Variety richness for clonal species was much higher than that of other breeding systems. A close linear relationship between traditional variety richness and evenness (both transformed), empirically derived from data spanning a wide range of crops and countries, was found both at household and community levels. Fitting a neutral "function" to traditional variety diversity relationships, comparable to a species abun

SUBMITTER: Jarvis DI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2291090 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature