EVOLUTION THAT SHPES LAND RACES

Evolution that shapes landraces



Herbert Spencer defined the evolution as "unrolling or unfolding of events". Charles events". Darwin described evolution as descent with modification. modification. In other words, evolution may be described as derivation of new special plants and animals from those existed in the past. past.

The theory of special creation states that every organism on the face of earth is a separate, distinct, fixed entity is not accepted since evidence is available to show that organisms were in evolutionary progress in the past and are continuing to change at present. The theory present. of evolution rejects the idea of fixity of species and advocats the universal operation of an orderly process of change. change.

Domestication


This is closely related to the former evidences. evidences. Cultivation of plants brings many changes in an individual. individual. The plants growing in wild state are so much altered that they bear no resemblance to it. it. Thus Brussels sprouts, cauliflower knol-khol etc knolare all varieties derived from a single wild species Brassica oleracea of Europe. Europe. Similarly domestication has brought several results of various colours having numerous petals. petals.

It has been seen that many allied species of plants in their wild state remain distributed only to a particular area. This area. indicates that they have evolved from a common ancestor in that region and could not migrate owing to some geographical barriers such as high mountains, seas, and deserts. deserts. For the confirment of a species in at a particular place many examples can be given, travellers tree in Madagascar, cacti in the dry region of tropical America, Eucalyptus in Australia etc. They often occur with allied etc. species close together, showing thereby that all the allied species have evolved from the same ancestral species. species.

 

Theories of Evolution 1. Lamarckism (Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters) Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) proposed the 1744-1829) theory of inheritance of acquired characters which is popularly known as Lamarckism. He is a French Lamarckism. Biologist. Biologist. He began his career as a botanist but later became a zoologist. He was holding a position of zoologist. Zoologist in Jardin des plantes. plantes. Although Lamaracks views on evolutionary mechanism is out moded now, he still occupies a very important place in the history of evolutionary thought. he thought. was the first person to conclude that evolution is a general fact covering all forms of life. life.

Lamarck

 Lamarck

published his views in 1809 in his book on Philosophie Zoologique (The Zoologique philosophy of Zoology). (Other books are Zoology). Researches Surle Organization des corps vivant (1802), Historic Naturelle des 1802), Animaux sans Vertebres (1815 -22) 22)  He proposed his theory at a time when the world was not ready to listen to him on the views of evolution. He put forth evolution. his ideas under four laws. laws.

 Nature

tends to increase the size of the organism and its component parts. parts.  The production of a new organ is the new need felt by the organism. organism.  Constant use of an organism makes better development while disuse causes its degeneration. degeneration.  Acquired characters during the lifetime of an organism will be inherited to its offspring. offspring.

 

Effect of Environment It is common knowledge that environment may influence the form of organism. Thus a plant grown in organism. fertile soil will have a luxuriant form while the same plant in a barren tract will be sickly and stunted. In the stunted. case of animals the effect of environment may also be indirect as the habits of animals may change in a new environment and a change of habits, according to Lamarck, causes a change of from. Lamarck assumed from. that such changes of form caused by the direct or indirect effect of environment re inherited and are of cumulative nature. nature. Thus in course of generations new species may be formed. formed.

Conscious Effort  The production of a new organ or part in the animal body results from a new need or want which continues to make itself felt and thus want is a result of the production of a new movement and it is maintained. There is inner urge in the maintained. animals with which the effect of the environment produces a new character according to its mode of life.He emphasis was not only on the effort of life. the organism but on the unconscious effect of the environment on the organism. organism.

Use and Disuse  The degree of development of organs and their force of action are always proportionate to the use made of these organs.In simple words it can be organs. said that only those organs which are put into constant use will develop better and those which are put into dis use will gradually disappear.This disappear. is known as the law of use and disuse or kinetogenesis. kinetogenesis.

In support of the above views Lamarck put forward the classical example of giraffe. The giraffe. ancestors of the giraffe were animals like horses with normal limbs and neck once there were no grasses in the earth, and they have to eat only leaves on the trees. For that they have to stretch trees. their neck to eat the leaves of higher and higher branches. branches. Thus abnormal lengthening of the neck resulted. resulted. The forelimbs of also lengthened like that. that. This character is transmitted to the next generation. generation.

 Another

typical example was that of the water bird with webbed feet. When a feet. land bird was taken to water, it would have to spread its toes while swimming and the skin between the toes would have broadened and grown more and more in the successive generations and the accumulated growth of the skin between the toes would have resulted in the appearance of a web. web.

The animals living in the cave generally show degenerate features like the reduction and the elimination of the eye and the gradual disappearance of the pigment of the skin and the presence of sensory structures like antenna etc. etc. These are supposed to be instances of acquired characters being inherited gradually. Another gradually. example can be quoted of horse. The ancestors of horse. modern horse left the soft ground of forests and took to life on dry plains. This change in habit plains. was accompanied by change in length and structure of legs, which were suited for fast running over hard ground. ground.

Lamarck offered certain example of these organs, which were not used and became reduced or atrophied. The wings of ratite birds atrophied. are said to be an example.The formerly flying birds have lost their example. power of flight due to disuse of the wings as there was no necessity for these birds to take into air and thus they have become flightless birds with reduced wings.Another example is that of the absence of wings. limbs in snakes.They have disappeared due to disuse. Since snakes snakes. disuse. crawl and burrow the limbs present would have been a hindrance in that mode of progression. Hence, these became gradually progression. reduced and after many generations they were completely atrophied. atrophied.Thus numerous examples can be cited. In all the above cited. examples it can be seen that those organs which are constantly put into use are better developed and those which are not used will generally atrophy. Thus his theory of use and disuse is proved. atrophy. proved.

Inheritance of Acquired Characters  All that have been acquired imprinted or changed in the organization of the individuals during the course of its life due to direct or indirect environmental effect is preserved by generations and transmitted to the offspring.This offspring. law is known as the inheritance of acquired characters. characters. All serious experiments performed to test this postulate gave negative results except Mc Dougalls experiments on rats.Weisman was rats. perhaps the first person who for the first time made a definite distinction between heritable changes and those which cannot be inherited. inherited.


Charles Darwin

Darwins Theory of Evolution



Evolution, Evolution, or change over time, is the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms. organisms. A scientific theory is a well-supported welltestable explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world. world.

Voyage of the Beagle

Voyage of Beagle
Dates: Dates: February 12th, 1831 12th,  Captain: Charles Darwin Captain:  Ship: H.M.S. Beagle Ship:  Destination: Voyage around the world. Destination: world.  Findings: evidence to propose a revolutionary Findings: hypothesis about how life changes over time


 

Theory of Natural Selection - Darwinism Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1880) was born on February 12, 1809-1880) 12, 1809 in England. He had his early education at Shrewsbury. He had England. Shrewsbury. great love for dogs and would hunt birds, which his father dislikes. dislikes. After his school education, Darwin was sent to medical school at Edinburgh in 1815.He did not find any interest in medical studies 1815. and after two years he discontinued. His father then suggested him discontinued. to become a clergyman, which appealed him. Since it was necessary him. to have a degree for this position, Charles Darwin enrolled himself for a degree at Cambridge in 1828 and graduated in 1831.At that 1831. time he cam into contact with eminent persons among those Dr. Dr. Henslow (An eminent Botanist) is one.Dr.Henslow suggested one.Dr. Charles Darwin for a voyage of exploration on the famous H.M.S. Beagle. Beagle. In this ship he visited most of the islads of the Atlantic ocean, coasts of South America and some islands of South pacific ocean of which Galapagos islands are the most important. important.

This voyage enabled him to publish many important books later on. In the year 1836 he read an essay of Malthus on on. population. population. Malthusian theory suggested him that struggle for existence among organisms (plants and animals) would finally lead to natural selection of the fittest among them. them. Darwin first wrote his theory in 1842.He expanded the 1842. manuscript in 1884 by adding more data. Later on he data. published his"Origin of species Darwin also expressed his views along with Dr. Wallace in the research article Dr. published in the " proceedings of the linnaean society". In society". 1859, 1859, his views were collected from his letters to Asa Gray (a famous American Botanist).The views of Darwin are Botanist). now known as Darwinism. Darwinism.

Darwin's Postulates  Darwinism is based on the following important postulates they are,  1. Multiplication of individuals of a species in geometric proportions. proportions.  2. Occurrence of variation  3. Operation of Natural selection to selection  a. Struggle for existence  Intra specific, Inter specific & against environment  b) Survival of the fittest. fittest.


 

Over production As far as the multiplication is concerned nature is prodigal.A prodigal. salamon (a fish) produces 28,000,000 eggs in a season, An Oyster 28,000, produces 114,000,000 eggs at a single spawning.Ascaris lay eggs 114,000, spawning. 7,00,000 eggs in 24 hours.Frog lays many hundreds of egg in each 00, hours. season. season. If it develops in a geometric proportion it is needless to says that the whole earth will soon be covered by a single individuals. individuals.These examples can be shown in each ascaris, fishes, ascaris, insects etc. etc. The elephant is the slowest breeder among mammals.It begins mammals. reproduce at its 40th year.Stops at its 90th years. Producing 40th year. 90th years. approximately 6 younger ones in its lifetime. It is thus calculated lifetime. after 750 years there would be 19 millions of elephants alive. alive. If each individual develops in such a proportion struggle arises for space, food and living conditions. conditions.

 

 

  

 

Struggle For Existence Due to geometrical multiplication of individuals, the fixed and spaces become limited.As a result a struggle for existence follows.The struggle may limited. follows. occur between the individuals of same species or different species or due to environmental factors.The three kinds of struggles are, factors. 1. Intra Specific Struggle If a competition is between the members of the same species then the struggle is intra specific struggle. e.g., Aquarium fishes eating their own young struggle. ones as soon as they are given birth. Numerous young trees may grow under a birth. parent tree. tree. 2. Inter Specific Struggle Here struggle between individuals of different species occurs. occurs. Eg. Eg., Lion feeding on sheep, birds eating insects, i.e the stronger animals will feed on weaker ones. ones. 3. Environmental Struggle Here the struggle occurs between the organism with various environmental factors like excess of drought, moisture, extremes of heat and cold, lightning, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, diseases etc. Such natural calamities result in the etc. death of a large number of animals. animals.

 

Variations Variation is a natural phenomenon. No two phenomenon. individuals of a same species are exactly similar. They similar. will differ at least in few aspects. A group of aspects. individuals (a population) of a species may show a definite pattern of variation differentiating it from other population of the same species. These are termed as species. subspecies by taxonomists and were called "Incipient species" by Darwin. These `incipient species' will reach Darwin. the status of a species in course of time by evolution. evolution. This is how a new species is formed due to variations according to Darwin. Darwin. Darwin reported two kinds of variations they are

Survival of the fittest and Natural selection  Darwin observed that only those animals which have favourable variations or fittest adaptations will survive in the struggle for life. life. In other words nature will select only those animals to survive which have fittest adaptations and other which will have unfavourable variations will be eliminated.Thus natural eliminated. selection acts on animals and only the best are selected and its action is automatic. automatic.





1. Continuous Variation
A character appears and develops gradually generation after generation. generation. This variation will be selected by nature if it is useful. useful. 2. Discontinuous Variation These variations appear all of a sudden and show no gradation. gradation. These were also known as "Sports" which were later called " Mutations" by Devries. Devries. According to Darwin discontinuous varieties were of no use in evolution. evolution.He believed that the continuous variations are important for evolution because such variations will appear suddenly and will mostly be harmful and therefore will not be selected again.Darwin again. cited dinosaurs as example for discontinuous variation.The variation. dinosaures became extinct due to their enormous size.On the other size. hand if a character develops gradually generation after generation (continuous variation) and if it proves useful it will be selected by nature. nature.The long neck giraffe was cited as an example for continuous variation by Darwin. Darwin.

 

Patterns of Diversity


Darwin visited Argentina and Australia which had similar grassland ecosystems.


those grasslands were inhabited by very different animals. neither Argentina nor Australia was home to the sorts of animals that lived in European grasslands.

Patterns of Diversity
Darwin posed challenging questions. questions.  Why were there no rabbits in Australia, despite the presence of habitats that seemed perfect for them?


Why were there no kangaroos in England?

Living Organisms and Fossils



Darwin collected the preserved remains of ancient organisms, called fossils. fossils. Some of those fossils resembled organisms that were still alive today.

Living Organisms and Fossils



Others looked completely unlike any creature he had ever seen. seen. As Darwin studied fossils, new questions arose. arose.  Why had so many of these species disappeared?


How were they related to living species?

The Galapagos Island



The smallest, lowest islands were hot, dry, and nearly barren-Hood Island-sparse barrenIslandvegetation The higher islands had greater rainfall and a different assortment of plants and animals-Isabelaanimals-IsabelaIsland had rich vegetation.

The Galapagos Island



Darwin was fascinated in particular by the land tortoises and marine iguanas in the Galpagos. Galpagos. Giant tortoises varied in predictable ways from one island to another. another. The shape of a tortoise's shell could be used to identify which island a particular tortoise inhabited. inhabited.

Animals found in the Galapagos



Land Tortoises Darwin Finches BlueBlue-Footed Booby Marine Iguanas

The Journey Home

 Darwin

Observed that characteristics of many plants and animals vary greatly among the islands Separate species may have arose from an original ancestor

 Hypothesis: Hypothesis:

Ideas that shaped Darwins Thinking




James Hutton:
1795 Theory of Geological change  Forces change earths surface shape  Changes are slow  Earth much older than thousands of years

Ideas that Shaped Darwins Thinking


 

Charles Lyell
Book: Principles of Geography Geographical features can be built up or torn down Darwin thought if earth changed over time, what about life?

Population Growth


Thomas MalthusMalthus19th century English economist If population grew (more Babies born than die)  Insufficient living space  Food runs out  Darwin applied this theory to animals

Publication of Orgin of Species



Russel Wallace wrote an essay summarizing evolutionary change from his field work in Malaysia Gave Darwin the drive to publish his findings

Natural Selection & Artificial Selection



Natural variation--differences among variation--differences individuals of a species Artificial selection- nature provides the selectionvariation among different organisms, and humans select those variations they find useful.

Evolution by Natural Selection



The Struggle for Existence-members of Existenceeach species have to compete for food, shelter, other life necessities Survival of the Fittest-Some individuals Fittestbetter suited for the environment

Struggle For Existence & Survival of The Fittest

Natural Selection


Over time, natural selection results in changes in inherited characteristics of a population. These changes increase a species fitness in its environment

Summary of Darwins Theory



Individuals in nature differ from one another Organisms in nature produce more offspring than can survive, and many of those who do not survive do not reproduce.

Summary of Darwins Theory



Because more organisms are produce than can survive, each species must struggle for resources Each organism is unique, each has advantages and disadvantages in the struggle for existence

Summary (cont.)


Individuals best suited for the environment survive and reproduce most successful Species change over time

Summary (cont.)


Species alive today descended with modification from species that lived in the past All organisms on earth are united into a single family tree of life by common descent

 

WEISMANNS GERMPLASM THEORY The germplasm theory is based on the concept that living bredies are formed of two fundamentally different kinds of materials the germplasm and the somatoplasm is responsible for the development of reproductive parts and remains in the organism, sealed and secluded from the somatoplasm or the general body of the organism which develops out of the germplasm in course of time, the germplasm gives rise to the offspring in which again the germplasm remains separate from the new somatoplasm that it develops. develops. Thus the germplasm is a continuous stream from generation to generation while the somatoplasm is formed a new at every generation and is discontinuous. In bisexual plants and discontinuous. animals at every generation the germplasm stream becomes a confluence of the maternal and the pasernal streams. streams

MUTATION  Gene and Chromosome  Definition : Mutation may be defined as a heritable change in a gene or chromosome or change in the number of the chromosome. chromosome. Mutation may occur spontaneouly in nature (spontaneous mutation) or it may be induced by artificial agents (Induced mutations)  Gene Mutation : The changes that alter the structure of the gene at a molecular level is called Gene mutation. It is also called point mutation. mutation. mutation. i.e. permanent hertiable changes with in a gene. gene.


Chromosome Mutation  The structural changes occuring in chromosomes which affect the phenotype of the organism are called chromosomal mutations. mutations.


  

2. Gene Reaction Hugo de Vries Hugo de Vries (1848 - 1935) of Netherlands was born in 1935) Haarlem in February 16, 1848, in Holland. de Vries was a 16, 1848, Holland. professor in plant physiology at the University of Amsterdam in 1881. He gave mutation theory on his 1881. observations on Oenothera lamarkiana. He noticed lamarkiana. "gigas" a large size and "nanella" a dwarf mutant. The gigas" nanella" mutant. mutant "gigas" had 28 chromosomes instead of 14 which gigas" is present in parental form. It was a tetraploid mutant. The form. mutant. mutations described by deVries in Oenothera lamarckiana is due to numerical and structural changes in chromosomes. chromosomes.

T. G. Dobzhansky  Theodosius Grigorievitch Dobzhansky was born in Nemirov, Russia on 25 January 1900. He began Nemirov, 1900. his scientific career by studying the variation in natural populations of a type of beetles in Europe and Asia. The morphological polymorphism of Asia. these beetles led him to reject the usual naming of separate races with geographical ranges. ranges. Dobzhansky suggested to determine what was responsible for maintaining the large amount of genetic polymorphism within populations. populations.


T.H.Morgan :  T.H.Morgan (1910) started his work on fruitfly 1910) Drosophila melanogaster. He reported sudden melanogaster. appearance of white eyed males among red eyed male individuals. The gene for this character is individuals. located on X - chromosome and it express itself in male individuals. He was the first to report individuals. mutation in Drosophila. Drosophila.


3. Molecular basis of gene mutation  Mutation that occurs in the DNA molecule is called molecular gene mutation. mutation.  This may be of different types :  Transition : - A purine base (A) is replaced by another purine base (G) or pyrimidine base (T) is substituted by another pyrimidine base (C). They (C). occur due to (a) Deamination (b) Base Analogues. Analogues.


(a) Deamination : Some chemicals like nitrous acid cause mutation due to deamination of DNA bases. bases. The amino group (-NH2) of a DNA is NH2 replaced by a hydroxyl (-OH) group.Because of group. this Adenine instead of pairing with Thymine, pairs with Cytosine. Adenine - hypoxanthine, which Cytosine. pairs with cytosine  (b) Base Analogues : Analogue is a substance that corresponds to the normal DNA base in several characteristics. characteristics. Because of this the normal base may be replaced by the analogue. analogue.


TYPES OF MUTATIONS  (1) Spontaneous mutation : It occurs naturally without any artificial induction.Spontaneous induction. mutations arise from errors in DNA replication and spontaneous lesions.Natural exposure of an lesions. organism to certain environmental factors such as U-V light may bring about spontaneous mutation. mutation.


(2) Induced mutation : Mutations which are artifically induced with the help of mutagenic agents are called induced mutations. mutations.  (3) Somatic mutation : Mutations in somatic cell or nonnon-reproductive cells are called somatic mutations e.g., Mole in humans, they are not transmitted to progeny  (4) Germinal mutations : Genes and chromosomes can mutate in reproductive tissues and these changes are called germinal mutations; they are transmitted mutations; to the progeny.e.g., X - linked haemophilia in the progeny. European royal families. families.


4. Induced Mutation  The mutations which can be induced artifically in the living organisms using physical or chemical agents are called induced mutations.Such agents mutations. are called mutagenic agents. agents.  Mutagenic agents : They are of following types (I) Physical mutagens (II) Chemical mutagens


(i) Physical mutagens :  (1) Radiation : (i) Non-ionizing radiation such as NonU-V rays, (ii) Ionizing radiation x-rays, x gamma rays, beta rays, protons, neutrons and alpha rays.  (ii) Chemical mutagens :  Many chemicals can be used for inducing mutations. C. Auerbach was the first to find that mutation can also be induced due to certain chemicals. She made this discovery during world war II. The chemicals used for inducing mutations were Ethyl methane sulphonate, sulphonate, caffeine, phenol, mustard gas etc.


5. Chromosomal aberrations  The structural changes which affect the phenotype of the organisms is called chromosomal aberration. aberration. The structural changes are (1) Deletions (2) Duplications (3) Inversions (4) Translocations. Translocations.  (1) Deletions : It is a type of intrachromosomal aberration. aberration. Either terminal or intermediate portion may get deleted.Eg. Maize.E.g., In human beings deleted.Eg. Maize. Cri-duCri-du-chats syndrome. Deletion was in a segment syndrome. of chromosome 5.  Fig. Deletion Fig.
 

(2) Duplication : It is an intra-chromosomal intraaberration (within a chromosome). It occurs chromosome). when a segment of the chromosome is represented 2 or more times in a chromosome of a homologous segment.e.g., segment. BarBar-eye in Drosophila: Drosophila:

(3) Inversion : It is an intra -chromosomal aberration (within a chromosome) when there are two breaks the intercalary segment is inverted to 180 degrees. degrees.  6. Evolutionary significance of mutation  The process of speciation is the most important significance of mutations. Artificial induction and mutations. selection of mutants increased a pool of variability to allow more rapid development in plants with desirable traits. Polyploidy results in the formation traits. of new species. Thus mutations are responsible for species. evolution of new species. species.


 

7. Applied Mutation Applied mutation is making use of mutation procedure to create improved varieties of plants and new strains of animals. animals. New strains of microorganisms show enchanced yields or produce novel products. Beneficial mutations are products. used in modern agriculture or the industrial fermentation. fermentation. Mutation breeding in India has been in progress. The progress. establishment of Gamma garden of Bose Research Institute, Calcutta in 1959 & at IARI New Delhi 1960 has opened a new vista for crop improvement.By the application of improvement. mutation techniques, new varieties with desirable qualities have been developed. e.g., Sharbati sonora in wheat, Barley developed. varieties, etc. etc.

Antibiotics Production : Increased yield of penicillin from Penicillium is possible by developing newer strains by mutation. mutation.

A landrace is a local variety of a domesticated animal or plant species which has developed largely by natural processes, by adaptation to the natural and cultural environment in which it lives. lives. It differs from a formal breed which has been bred deliberately to conform to a particular standard type. type. Landraces are usually more genetically and physically diverse than formal breeds. Many breeds. formal breeds originated from landraces, and sometimes a particular type has both landrace and formal breed populations. Sometimes a formalised populations. breed retains the "landrace" name, despite no longer being a true landrace. landrace.

Several definitions of the term landrace have been used in botanical application. application. "Landrace populations are often highly variable in appearance, but they are each identifiable morphologically and have a certain genetic integrity. integrity. Farmers usually give them local names. A landrace has names. particular properties or characteristics. Some are considered early characteristics. maturing and some late. Each has a reputation for adaptation to late. particular soil types according to the traditional peasant soil classifications, e.g. heavy or light, warm or cold, dry or wet, strong or weak. They also may be classified according to expected usage; weak. usage; among cereals, different landraces are used for flour, for porridge, for 'bulgur', and for malt to make beer, etc. All components of the bulgur', etc. population are adapted to local climatic conditions, cultural practices, and disease and pests."[1] But most important, they are pests. genetically diverse. They are balanced populations variable, in diverse. equilibrium with both environment and pathogens and genetically dynamic. dynamic.[2]

The term "landrace" has additionally been defined as  "An autochthonous landrace is a variety with a high capacity to tolerate biotic and abiotic stress, resulting in a high yield stability and an intermediate yield level under a low input agricultural system."[3] system.


 

Evolutionary process Landraces are grown from seeds which have not been systematically selected and marketed by seed companies or developed by plant breeders. breeders. Landraces will refer to all those cultigens that are highly heterogeneous, heterogeneous, but with enough characteristics in common to permit their recognition as a group. This will include all cultigens cultivated group. without any specific nomenclature and value. A landrace identified value. with a unique feature and selected for uniformity over a period of time for maintenance of the characteristic features of the population can evolve into a farmers variety or even a modern cultivar as in peas. many crops; for example, Maruti in the case of pigeon peas. crops; Conversely, a modern cultivar grown over time by the farmers and not maintained as per the principles of maintenance breeding can evolve into a landrace. landrace.

A significant proportion of the worlds farmers grow landraces. Data collected landraces. for a study of the spread of cereal agriculture into Europe showed that landraces have largely fallen out of use in Europe. European cereal landraces were mainly Europe. grown by our ancestors before breeders started to improve the varieties in the 20th century. 20th century. Some landraces have survived in Europe, having been handed on from one generation of farmers to the next. Elsewhere, landraces and traditional varieties next. have been revived by enthusiasts who seek to preserve our agricultural and food heritage. heritage. Landraces and traditional varieties are valued as the source of ingredients in traditional food and traditional drinks or as raw materials for thatching. thatching. There have been systematic efforts to preserve European cereal landraces either in germplasm collections or in situ. The activities of these collections are situ. International. coordinated by Bioversity International. This organisation coordinates information on conservation activities, including a searchable online database of germplasm collections. However, more needs to be done, Regine Anderson collections. argues, because plant genetic variety depends on a diversity of landraces. An landraces. issue of survival The terms landrace and traditional variety are sometimes used interchangeably. interchangeably.

 

Animals Animal landraces occur in many species of domestic animals. A animals. animal. landrace does not imply so much a breed as a type of animal. Examples include the Norwegian Forest Cat, Shetland sheep, and Cat, sheep, Welsh Mountain sheep. Often, from within a landrace a small sheep. number of animals have been selected to found a formal pedigree breed, usually of the same name as the landrace. "Landrace" pigs landrace. Landrace) landraces. (such as Danish Landrace) are breeds derived from landraces. When people select animals to create a highly consistent purebred breed, they often select for a consistent appearance rather than behavior or adaptability to a given environment. When this environment. happens, defining characteristics of the landrace may be lost. lost.

Dogs


Dog landraces and dog breeds derived from them vary greatly, depending on their origins and purpose. Three examples are the Border Collie, Armenian Gampr dog purpose. Collie, and Saluki. The Border Collie landrace is used as a herding dog and varies in Saluki. appearance: appearance: ears pricked upright to nearly dropped, varied fullnesses of coat, and so on. However, they are recognized as Border Collies by their general appearance on. and most of all by their unique manner of herding sheep. In contrast to the sheep. landrace, in the Border Collie breed show-quality individuals very closely match a show"breed standard" appearance but might not be particularly good at herding sheep and might not have a coat suitable for outdoor life. Similarly, the Saluki landrace life. of the Middle East excels in running down game across open tracts of hot desert, but show-quality individuals of the breed might not be able to chase and catch showhares in the desert. The now extinct St. John's Water Dog landrace was native to desert. St. the island of Newfoundland. It was the foundational breed for a number of Newfoundland. purposepurpose-bred dogs, such as the Labrador Retriever, and Chesapeake Bay Retriever,

Retriever, Retriever, as well as the Newfoundland Dog

 

Horses Although the term "landrace" is rarely used in modern horse breeding, breeding, numerous landraces of horses do exist. Some of these are exist. predominantly feral types, but the majority are fully domesticated working animals. Notable landraces from which pedigreed breeds animals. have been formed include the New Forest pony and Exmoor pony. pony. The New Forest mares living semi-wild on the New Forest are semilargely non-pedigreed landrace animals, while the stallions, and nonthose kept as fully domesticated animals and bred for showing are a formal breed. Aficionados of some horse breeds claim them to be breed. "pure" and virtually unchanged from their original wild prototype or landrace. Such breeds include the Arabian horse and the landrace. Andalusian horse, and a number of feral breeds (such as the horse, Banker horse) that are restricted to islands. horse) islands.

Cattle  Examples of landrace cattle include Pineywoods, Pineywoods, Florida Cracker and Randall cattle. cattle.[7]


Landraces or Original Cultivars: Landrace genetics are grown from seeds which have not been systematically selected and marketed by seed companies or developed by plant breeders. They are not necessarily homogeneous breeders. (similar) but they exhibit enough characteristics in common to permit their recognition as a group. A landrace identified with a group. unique feature and selected for uniformity over a period of time for maintenance of the characteristic features of the population can evolve into a farmers' variety or even a modern cultivar. Conversely, cultivar. a modern cultivar grown over a time by farmers outdoors that is not maintained as per the principles of normal maintenance breeding can evolve into a landrace. landrace. Original cultivars are those strains which are bred and introduced to the cannabis community that are distinct from other strains of cannabis. cannabis. Usually, but not always, original cultivars retain those distinct characteristics when breeding with them. them.

Awareness of the need for biodiversity conservation is now universally accepted, but most often recent conservation activities have focused on wild species. Crop species and the species. diversity between and within them has significant socioeconomic as well as heritage value. The bulk of genetic diversity in value. domesticated species is located in traditional varieties maintained by traditional farming systems. These traditional varieties, systems. commonly referred to as landraces, are severely threatened by genetic extinction primarily due to their replacement by modern genetically uniform varieties. The conservation of landrace varieties. diversity has been hindered in part by the lack of an accepted definition to define the entity universally recognized as landraces. landraces. Without a definition it would be impossible to prepare an inventory and without an inventory changes in landrace constituency could not be recognized over time. time.

Therefore, based on a literature review, workshop discussion and interviews with key informants, common characteristics of landraces were identified, such as: historical origin, high genetic diversity, as: local genetic adaptation, recognizable identity, lack of formal genetic improvement, and whether associated with traditional farming systems. However, although these characteristics are systems. commonly present they are not always all present for any individual landrace; landrace; several crop-specific exceptions were noted relating to cropcrop propagation method (sexual or asexual), breeding system (self(selffertilized or cross-fertilized species), length of formal crop crossimprovement, seed management (selection or random propagation) and use. use.

Phenotypic diversity among maize landraces is obvious in kernel color, color, ear and kernel shape and size, and agronomic traits such as plant height and length of the growing cycle. Traditionally, this cycle. phenotypic diversity has been used to classify populations into races. races. Currently, 59 races of maize have been described in Mexico. Mexico. According to DNA analyses, these races are organized as a continuum and their differentiation is mainly due to isolation by distance. distance. Recent genetic studies of landraces in Oaxaca (Mexico) have shown that gene flow between maize populations is quantitatively important but that management of seed by farmers maintains strong agromorphological differentiation between maize populations. populations. In traditional agricultural systems, farmers play a wide range of roles with regard to seed production and maintenance. maintenance.

They conserve the genetic resources; they select and plant seed from resources; their varieties; and, after harvest, they are the main consumers of their varieties; products. products. In Mexico, the traditional system coexists with the modern agricultural sector but the subsistence-oriented system is much more subsistencewidely distributed. In this system, landraces are the result of continued distributed. evolution influenced by various factors: 1) Seed recycling: Saving factors: recycling: seed from one season to the next is an almost universal practice.At practice. least from the farmers perspective, seed selection may also be fundamental to maintaining the integrity of a landrace, which can be lost easily through hybridization; and 2) Seed flows: Mexican farmers hybridization; flows: commonly acquire seed from other farmers or sources within or outside the community for several reasons, including experimentation, starting to farm, and lack of sufficient seeds. Thus, traditional farmers seeds. actively maintain landraces as dynamic entities. Farmers are willing to entities. modify introduced maize cultivars through recurrent hybridization with the local genetic material (process of creolization) to improve creolization) their local performance and consumer acceptability. acceptability.

One of the innovative techniques that has been suggested for maintaining both genetic diversity and knowledge of farming systems where traditional varieties are being lost involves the use of villagevillage-level landrace custodians. Landraces are a crop cultivar or custodians. animal breed that evolved with and has been genetically improved by traditional agriculturalists, but has not been influenced by modern breeding practices. At a limited number of key sites (perhaps practices. between 100 and 500) in areas where diseases, pests, and pathogens 500) strongly influence the evolution of local crop varieties, individuals could be paid to grow a sample of the endangered native landraces. landraces. These farms would backstop ex situ conservation efforts, maintain the potential for further evolution in important landraces, preserve knowledge of traditional farming systems, and provide regional education on the importance of biodiversity conservation. If it seems conservation. economically inefficient to subsidize the in situ maintenance of traditional landraces, consider how often their loss is hastened by subsidies for such agricultural inputs as fertilizers and pesticides. pesticides.