Potatoes and Peanuts Threatened by Global Warming

23/05/07 Global warming may drive many wild varieties of plants such as potatoes and peanuts to extinction by mid-century, wiping out traits that might help modern crops resist pests or disease, scientists said on Tuesday.

A study by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), grouping experts around the world, urged governments to do more to preserve the wild relatives of crops in nature and in seed banks.

"A number of wild species will be highly threatened by climate change -- they are losing areas suitable as their habitat," said Annie Lane, one of three authors of the study issued on May 22, the U.N.'s International Biodiversity Day.

Up to 61 percent of 51 species of wild peanut and 12 percent of 108 wild potato species studied could go extinct in the next 50 years because of a warming widely blamed on greenhouse gases released by human use of fossil fuels, the study said.

The third plant examined, the vigna or cowpea which is an important food crop in Africa, was the most resilient in the climate models with just two of 48 wild strains at risk of extinction. CGIAR backs 15 farm research groups worldwide.

Lane, an Australian, told Reuters the findings suggested that many wild relatives of other crops -- including wheat, rice or barley could be at risk. Hardy plants that thrive in a broad range of climates could benefit.

Peanuts, which originated in South America, are at risk because they thrive in flat regions, where any climate change quickly affects a big area. The peanuts also grow underground, near the parent plant, limiting their ability to move.

POTATOES CLIMB ANDES

Potatoes, found in the Andes mountains, could more easily extend their range upwards to find cooler temperatures.

A strain of wild potato with genes resistant to blight, infamous for causing the 1840s famine in Ireland which killed about a million people, was among species at risk of extinction, Lane said.

U.N. reports this year have forecast more floods, drought, heatwaves and rising seas due to warming. Scientists worry, for instance, that a peanut with a trait that resists insect attacks might be wiped out by a shift to too heavy rains.

Wild relatives of crops have been crossed in recent years to improve drought resistance in wheat, heat tolerance in rice or to raise nutritional values, such as calcium content in potatoes or protein content in durum wheat.

One estimate made in the early 1980s was that wild relatives of crops were worth $340 million in the United States alone in raising yields and quality.

"There is an urgent need to identify and effectively conserve crop wild relatives that are at risk of climate change," the study said. Lane said it was best to find outdoor areas to safeguard crops with seed banks as a backup.