Umfang:
1 Online-Ressource (xvi, 568 pages)
,
illustrations, maps
ISBN:
9781501717949
,
1501717944
Inhalt:
The tropics are the source of many of our familiar fruits, vegetables, oils, and spice, as well as such commodities as rubber and wood. Moreover, other tropical fruits and vegetables are being introduced into our markets to offer variety to our diet. Now, as tropical forests are increasingly threatened, we face a double-fold crisis: not only the loss of the plants but also rich pools of potentially useful genes. Wild populations of crop plants harbor genes that can improve the productivity and disease resistance of cultivated crops, many of which are vital to developing economies and to global commerce. Eight chapters of this book are devoted to a variety of tropical crops-beverages, fruit, starch, oil, resins, fuelwood, fodder, spices, timber, and nuts-the history of their domestication, their uses today, and the known extent of their gene pools, both domesticated and wild. Drawing on broad research, the authors also consider conservation strategies such as parks and reserves, corporate holdings, gene banks and tissue culture collections, and debt-for-nature swaps. They stress the need for a sensitive balance between conservation and the economic well-being of local populations. If economic growth is part of the conservation effort, local populations and governments will be more strongly motivated to save their natural resources. Distinctly practical and soundly informative, this book provides insight into the overwhelming abundance of tropical forests, an unsettling sense of what we may lose if they are destroyed, and a deep appreciation for the delicate relationships between tropical forest plants and people around the world
Anmerkung:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 499-548) and index
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Cover; Contents; Preface; A Note on Technical Terms; 1 A Threatened Resource; Distribution and composition of tropical forests; Centers of diversity; Biodiversity, deforestation, and population growth; Driving forces; Crop gene pools; 2 Beverage and Confectionery Crops; Coffee; Cacao; Cupuaçu; 3 Major Fruits of the Forest; Mango; Citrus; Pineapple; Avocado; Guava; Papaya; Sapodilla; Passionfruit; 4 Regional Fruits; Durian; Rambutan; Annonaceous fruits; African plum; Indian jujube; 5 Rubber, Oils, and Resins; Rubber; Oil palm; Balsams; Tropical pines; 6 Daily Bread; Bananas and plantains.
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BreadfruitPeach palm; Sago palm; 7 Fuelwood, Fodder, and Woody Grasses; Leucaena; Bamboos; 8 Spices and Natural Food Colorants; Clove; Cinnamon and cassia; Vanilla; Annatto; 9 Nuts; Cashew; Brazil nut; Macadamia; 10 A New Cornucopia; The plant domestication process; A starting point for the search; Some crop candidates; Prospects for adoption; 11 Conservation Strategies; Ex situ conservation; In situ conservation; 12 Realizing the Potential; Conservation and sustainable development; Secure resource bases; Reaping the harvest; Research priorities for marginal lands; The quarantine bottleneck.
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Personnel requirementsFinding a way forward; APPENDIX 1. Domesticated Perennial Species with Wild Populations in Tropical Forests; APPENDIX 2. Abbreviations of Institutions Involved in Collecting, Maintaining, and/or Breeding Tropical Perennial Crops; APPENDIX 3. Common Names and Distribution of Avocado's Relatives; APPENDIX 4. Avocado Accessions in Germplasm Collections; References; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z.
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 0801427711
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 9780801427718
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 0801480582
Weitere Ausg.:
ISBN 9780801480584
Weitere Ausg.:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe Tropical forests and their crops Ithaca : Comstock Pub. Associates, 1992
Sprache:
Englisch
Fachgebiete:
Land-, Forst-, Fischerei- und Hauswirtschaft. Gartenbau
Mehr zum Autor:
Smith, Nigel J. H. 1949-
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