I'm an early career scientist in the William L. Brown Center for Ethnobotany at Missouri Botanical Garden.
My research focuses on expanding our knowledge about diverse types of crops, using an evolutionary framework and genomic tools to (1) explore how evolution and domestication have shaped crop diversity in the past, (2) characterize and conserve existing agrobiodiversity, and (3) apply this knowledge toward improving the future of food security. I am particularly interested in tree crops like mango and persimmon, which are increasingly recognized as a vital component of the future of sustainable agriculture.
Tree crop diversity, conservation, and domestication
E.J. WARSCHEFSKY, N. MCCARRY, E. BECKMAN-BRUNS, R. MIMS, A. MEYER, C.K. KHOURY
William. L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., Saint Louis, MO 63110, USA
Trees provide more than one third of the world’s most important crops and it is increasingly clear that tree crops will play a critical role in the future of sustainable agriculture. Nevertheless, crop research often focuses on annual species, leaving our understanding of the processes and implications of tree domestication poorly defined. Here, I discuss how the tempo and mode of tree domestication is fundamentally different from that of annual crops and propose that many tree species are poised for rapid improvement and introduction into our global food systems. I then provide examples of two projects focused on understanding and conserving tree crop diversity. The first project uses genomic tools to provide insight into the evolution and domestication of Mangifera, a tropical tree genus that includes one of the world’s most important fruits: mango. Next, I introduce a new project that aims to build connections between U.S. botanic gardens and public genebank communities to promote collaborative conservation of taxa in 10 genera of North American fruit and nut trees. Alongside a growing body of research on tree crop diversity, these projects advance our understanding of tree domestication and conservation and refine our visions for sustainable agricultural systems of the future.