Genetic and Phenotypic Variation in Tree Crops Biodiversity

Recently, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of DNA-derived data and innovative phenotyping to obtain insights into the causative genes underlying traits of agronomical interest or to characterize tree genetic resources. The latter, in particular, could represent an important source of genetic diversity that can be readily used to enhance the adaptability to limiting environmental factors and resistance to biotic stresses or to promote novel genotypes with improved agronomic traits. On the whole, the studies collected in this book report on tree crop biodiversity characterization that could provide the essential building blocks to ensure future improvements in production and quality, as well as for innovations in tree crop development and utilization

Plant Genetic Resources Network in East Asia: Proceedings of the meeting for the Regional Network for Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources in East Asia, 13-16 August 2001, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

The Regional Network for Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources in East Asia (EA-PGR) was established in 1991 and has provided an effective mechanism for sharing and exchanging information, discussing and identifying common interests, and initiating and developing collaborative activities among member countries including China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Mongolia. IPGRI East Asia Office services as interim secretariat of the network and works closely with the national coordinators for implementing collaborative programmes initiated by the network involving several member countries. Examples of such collaborative activities are the studies on adzuki bean genetic diversity and collecting and characterization of millet genetic resources. These have played a critical role in enhancing sharing of resources, information and technologies for implementing the Global Plan of Action (GPA) among member countries of the network through joint activities on research, training and germplasm exchange. The current proceedings is the result of the meeting of the Regional Network for Conservation and Use of Plant Genetic Resources in East Asia held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 13- 16 August 2001. The meeting aimed to exchange views on current status of the conservation and use of plant genetic resources (PGR) in each country and improve mutual understanding, review the progress of joint activities in the region, and identify priority areas for future collaboration

The Role of Botanical Gardens in the Conservation of Orchid Biocultural Diversity in Sichuan Province, China.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

The Tiger and the Pangolin: Cultural Ecology, Landscape Ecology, and Nature Conservation in China\u27s Southeast Uplands.

The Wuyi-Daiyun Mountains, which form the core of China\u27s Southeast Uplands Region, support a mosaic of subtropical forest, grassland, and cropland habitats, with some 1,620 species of plants and 326 species of terrestrial vertebrates. Forty-two animal species are officially protected, including the highly endangered South China tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis). This study, based on one year of field research, examines relationships between village land use, landscape change, and wildlife management in the Meihuashan Nature Reserve of Southwest Fujian. It includes comparative studies of reserves in Longxishan and Wuyishan, further north, and Daiyunshan, to the east. Over 500 local gazetteer records of tiger attacks from 48-1953 A.D. provide baseline data on long-term anthropogenic environmental impacts in four provinces of the southeast. Habitat utilization surveys of five ungulate species in ten habitat types show how land use patterns affect prey densities. Intensive research in five Meihuashan villages examines historical settlement, demography, land use patterns, hunting practices, household economies, bamboo forest management, paper production, and village fengshui (geomantic) systems. Until the 1980s, Meihuashan villages produced and traded bamboo paper. Local prosperity led to population expansion in the mid-to-late Qing (1644-1911), and some villages grew to five times their present sizes. Extensive wet rice agriculture and widespread burning, the latter of which enhanced the growth of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) rhizomes (a starchy dietary staple), kept the upland region largely deforested for centuries. The chaos of the early twentieth century brought population decline, rice terrace abandonment, and partial reforestation. Reforestation increased after burning was outlawed in the 1950s, but technological, commercial, and political changes intensified the extermination of regional fauna. Logging of Cunninghamia lanceolata in the 1980s also had a dramatic impact on montane ecosystems. Nature conservation should include maintenance of sacred fengshui forests; increased protection and restoration of remote broadleaf forests, montane wetlands, and montane grasslands; containment and intensification of commercial bamboo production under more equitable tenurial systems; and promotion of sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry. These efforts will be greatly enhanced when local people have a greater role in reserve management, research, and commerce

Genetics and Improvement of Forest Trees

Forest tree improvement has mainly been implemented to enhance the productivity of artificial forests. However, given the drastically changing global environment, improvement of various traits related to environmental adaptability is more essential than ever. This book focuses on genetic information, including trait heritability and the physiological mechanisms thereof, which facilitate tree improvement. Nineteen papers are included, reporting genetic approaches to improving various species, including conifers, broad-leaf trees, and bamboo. All of the papers in this book provide cutting-edge genetic information on tree genetics and suggest research directions for future tree improvement

The Veins of the Earth: Property, Environment, and Cosmology in Nanbu County, 1865-1942

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) in Nanbu County, land was not only measured in quantitative dimensions, but also assessed through cosmological principles. These understandings of land often framed property claims while shaping rural geographies in the county under study. Drawing on 700 cases from the Nanbu Archive, this dissertation makes two related claims. First, in the mountainous periphery of Northern Sichuan, situated knowledge of land pervaded contracts, genealogies, stone inscriptions, and official handbooks. This information, composed of vernacular place-names, localized land boundaries, expressions of patrimonial merit and status, and cosmological dimensions of property, was often immediately understandable only to the members of a lineage or community, but could be interpreted by the state if needed. One type of situated information was geomantic information, which regularly entered the magistrate’s court. Local officials engaged this information in legal practice and took geomantic claims or documentation into consideration during litigation. Sites holding great geomantic significance, such as ancient trees, graves, and temples, were often identified by locals as the landmarks or borders of private estates, market towns, or the county itself; these understandings were regularly woven into the administrative documents of the state. During the Qing, such interpretations were even extended to a local shrine of a Muslim (Qadiri) saint. Through routine engagement with these interpretations of the earth throughout the increasing landed commercialization of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — in processing lawsuits, the Nanbu yamen (state administrative office) ordered landscapes concerning geomancy to be officially illustrated more than any other genre of claim — the Qing state legitimated highly situated knowledge of the land within the local property regime while upholding geomantic information as a binding mechanism for the regulation of common lands and resource access. The dissertation’s second point is that, while it is well-known that the early decades of the twentieth century saw increased state penetration into local society across China, Nanbu maintained a remarkable degree of continuity with its imperial heritage. Land surveyors working in the early twentieth century struggled to extract structured knowledge of land from the layered territorialities of the county’s terrains that had persisted from the Qing. This process was highly negotiated and often interpretive, rather than based on precise statistical surveying or the clear directives of a hegemonic state. Through exploring the legal, environmental, and religious dimensions of a single county’s terrains in the late imperial period, this study identifies situated geomantic information as one of the key arenas for the projection of — and limitations on — state power in the county in relation to the property system. The dissertation also provides the first English-language history of Nanbu, a county with a remarkably complete administrative and legal archive from 1656 to 1951