An Aridamerican model for agriculture in a hotter, water scarce world

Nabhan, Gary Paul; Riordan, Erin C.; Monti, Laura Smith; Rea, Amadeo M.; Wilder, Benjamin T.; Ezcurra, Exequiel; Mabry, Jonathan B.; Aronson, James; Barron‐Gafford, Greg A.; García, Jesús Nicasio; Búrquez, Alberto; Crews, Timothy E.; Mirocha, Paul; Hodgson, Wendy C.

doi:10.1002/ppp3.10129

Cited by 33 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Examples of the implementation of these techniques can be found in the literature for Australia—where aboriginal communities extract water from the trunk of the cajuput-tree [ 179 ]—and the Kalahari desert—where melons constitute an important source of moisture [ 180 ]. The existence of such arid-areas-management dynamics has been considered in Archaeology—and is still being explored—as an explanation for the human habitation of desertic environments [ 181 , 182 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Let’s go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies

et al. 2021

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The transition to agriculture is regarded as a major turning point in human history. In the present contribution we propose to look at it through the lens of ethnographic data by means of a machine learning approach. More specifically, we analyse both the subsistence economies and the socioecological context of 1290 societies documented in the Ethnographic Atlas with a threefold purpose: (i) to better understand the variability and success of human economic choices; (ii) to assess the role of environmental settings in the configuration of the different subsistence economies; and (iii) to examine the relevance of fishing in the development of viable alternatives to cultivation. All data were extracted from the publicly available cross-cultural database D-PLACE. Our results suggest that not all subsistence combinations are viable, existing just a subset of successful economic choices that appear recurrently in specific ecological systems. The subsistence economies identified are classified as either primary or mixed economies in accordance with an information-entropy-based quantitative criterion that determines their degree of diversification. Remarkably, according to our results, mixed economies are not a marginal choice, as they constitute 25% of the cases in our data sample. In addition, fishing seems to be a key element in the configuration of mixed economies, as it is present across all of them.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Let’s go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies

et al. 2021

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“…CWR and those that are threatened are unevenly distributed across Mesoamerica. The highest values of species richness (Figure 1b) and richness of threatened taxa (Figure 1c) are found in the Mexican Transition Zone (Morrone, 2010) where the Nearctic-Neotropic biotas overlap in a region of great geological and ecological complexity (Halffter, 1978;Rzedowski, 1978 Sosa et al, 2018;Villaseñor et al, 2020). The transition zone and other mountains of southern Mexico and Central America belong to a region known as the Mesoamerican forests, which contains one of the richest biotas on Earth, both in terms of species richness and endemism (Espinosa et al, 2008;Mittermeier et al, 2011).…”

Section: Utilisation Of Mesoamerican Cwrmentioning

confidence: 97%

Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives

Goettsch

Urquiza-Haas

Koleff

et al. 2021

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact Statement Crop wild relatives (CWR) are plant taxa closely related to crops and are a source of high genetic diversity that can help adapt crops to the impacts of global change, particularly to meet increasing consumer demand in the face of the climate crisis. CWR provide vital ecosystem services and are increasingly important for food and nutrition security and sustainable and resilient agriculture. They therefore are of major biological, social, cultural and economic importance. Assessing the extinction risk of CWR is essential to prioritise in situ and ex situ conservation strategies in Mesoamerica to guarantee the long‐term survival and availability of these resources for present and future generations worldwide. Summary Ensuring food security is one of the world's most critical issues as agricultural systems are already being impacted by global change. Crop wild relatives (CWR)—wild plants related to crops—possess genetic variability that can help adapt agriculture to a changing environment and sustainably increase crop yields to meet the food security challenge. Here we report the results of an extinction risk assessment of 224 wild relatives of some of the world's most important crops (i.e. chilli pepper, maize, common bean, avocado, cotton, potato, squash, vanilla and husk tomato) in Mesoamerica—an area of global significance as a centre of crop origin, domestication and of high CWR diversity. We show that 35% of the selected CWR taxa are threatened with extinction according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List demonstrates that these valuable genetic resources are under high anthropogenic threat. The dominant threat processes are land use change for agriculture and farming, invasive and other problematic species (e.g. pests, genetically modified organisms) and use of biological resources, including overcollection and logging. The most significant drivers of extinction relate to smallholder agriculture—given its high incidence and ongoing shifts from traditional agriculture to modern practices (e.g. use of herbicides)—smallholder ranching and housing and urban development and introduced genetic material. There is an urgent need to increase knowledge and research around different aspects of CWR. Policies that support in situ and ex situ conservation of CWR and promote sustainable agriculture are pivotal to secure these resources for the benefit of current and future generations.

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“…Traditional bioenergy crops used for the production of bioethanol, such as maize and sugar cane, have large water demands (Gerbens‐Leenes & Hoekstra, 2012; Gerbens‐Leenes et al, 2009). Therefore, a clear and present need exists to adopt and expand the use of more climate‐resilient and water‐use efficient (WUE) bioenergy crops (Nabhan et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five‐year field trial of the biomass productivity and water input response of cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) as a bioenergy feedstock for arid lands

et al. 2021

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An Aridamerican model for agriculture in a hotter, water scarce world

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 33 publications

References 53 publications

Let’s go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies

Let’s go fishing: A quantitative analysis of subsistence choices with a special focus on mixed economies among small-scale societies

Extinction risk of Mesoamerican crop wild relatives

Five‐year field trial of the biomass productivity and water input response of cactus pear (Opuntia spp.) as a bioenergy feedstock for arid lands

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