. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history. 488 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. Ill Table 1. Ten commandments of agricultural biodiversity1. 1. Thou shalt save endangered crop germplasm in genebanks. 2. Thou shalt save germplasm of wild crop relatives, in nature. 3. Thou shalt protect wild habitats, which furnish agricul- turally valuable organisms. 4. Thou shalt conduct agriculture in ways friendly to the environment. 5. Thou shalt not harm the planet, nor the ecological sys- tems that maintain its viability. 6. Thou shalt cultivate many different crops, in recogni- tion that diversi
. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history. 488 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. Ill Table 1. Ten commandments of agricultural biodiversity1. 1. Thou shalt save endangered crop germplasm in genebanks. 2. Thou shalt save germplasm of wild crop relatives, in nature. 3. Thou shalt protect wild habitats, which furnish agricul- turally valuable organisms. 4. Thou shalt conduct agriculture in ways friendly to the environment. 5. Thou shalt not harm the planet, nor the ecological sys- tems that maintain its viability. 6. Thou shalt cultivate many different crops, in recogni- tion that diversification promotes biodiversity. 7. Thou shalt not create forms of life harmful to biodiver- sity. 8. Thou shalt maintain biodiversity through sustainable agriculture. 9. Thou shalt promote harmony between agriculture and environmentalism. 10. Thou shalt support biodiversity research. 'As noted in the text, this review is from the viewpoint of botany. Commandments mentioning "crops" generally apply also to livestock. Table 2. agriculture is limited. Unfortunately 1) it is precisely where agriculture is localized that there are major threats to biodiversity; 2) as prime agricultural land is urbanized there is pressure to use marginal lands; and 3) the detrimental effects of agriculture spill over to non-agricultural lands. An additional misconception needs to be addressed: the fact that Canada has far fewer endangered species than tropical lands, so that it would appear that our attention should be focussed on the tropics. However, from the point of view of agriculture in Canada, 1) the foreign species of interest that most deserve protection are in temperate Eurasia, not in the tropics; 2) Canada has many wild species that should be protected because of their potential for economic benefit for Canadians; and 3) as explained below, the threat to species numbers, while important, is but one of sever- al aspects of biodiversity degradation which deserve immediate attentio
Size: 1446px × 1728px
Photo credit: © Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
