Genetic erosion is the loss of genetic diversity within a crop or livestock species over time, most often as farmers abandon traditional landraces and local breeds in favor of a narrower set of high-yielding modern varieties. The result is a food system that is more genetically uniform and more vulnerable to a single pest, disease or climate shock overcoming an entire crop at once, which is the reason genebanks and in situ conservation programs exist.
Facts
Classification
Concept ClassGenetic Resources and Crop Diversity 1 Connections
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Entity-backed identity for the concept class this concept already carries as an enum fact, pointing at the class subcategory of the same name. The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Sources
1. Otto Frankel: 1960s Trailblazer for Plant Biodiversity Conservation (Crop Trust)
Article body, paragraph on the 1967 FAO/IBP conference
This resulted in a landmark 1967 conference to promote the exploration, conservation and use of plant genetic resources. Frankel, who was chairman of the IBP/FAO Panel of Experts, used this occasion to coin the terms 'genetic resources' and 'genetic erosion' in collaboration with FAO scientist Erna Bennett.
lead description (concept-class)
Genetic erosion is the loss of genetic diversity within a crop or livestock species over time, most often as farmers abandon traditional landraces and local breeds in favor of a narrower set of high-yielding modern varieties.
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