The contributions of crop wild relatives (CWR) to food security depend on their conservation and accessibility for use. The United States contains a diverse native flora of CWR, including those of
important cereal, fruit, nut, oil, pulse, root...

Today's genebanks are essential to maintaining the resilience of the global agricultural system in the face of climate change, new pests and diseases, shifts in trade and dietary preferences, natural
resource limitations, and armed conflicts....

Developing new genotypes of plants is one of the key options for adaptation of agriculture to climate change. Plants may be required to provide resilience in changed climates or support
the migration of agriculture to new regions. Very different...

North America’s agricultural and natural landscapes are vital to feeding humanity—they are home to many populations of important food plants and their wild relatives. Climate change is projected to significantly impact the agricultural sector and any...

Agriculture is comprised of managed ecosystems, which can include forests, rangelands
and crops; these managed ecosystems are vital resources, providing a host
of economic and societal benefits. However, these systems face a multitude of...

Biodiversity in and across food and agriculture systems provides tremendous value to present and future generations. However, across the world we are losing genes, species, and ecosystems faster than we can account for them. With one million plant and...

Crop wild relatives, the wild progenitors and closely related cousins of cultivated plant
species, are sources of valuable genetic resources for crop improvement. Persisting gaps
in knowledge of taxonomy, distributions, and...

Crop wild relatives—the plant species closely related to agricultural crops—are valuable
genetic resources used by plant breeders to increase pest and disease resistance, stress
tolerance, nutritional profile, and other traits critical to...

Grain legumes provide a rich resource of plant nutrition to human diets and are vital for food security and sustainable cropping. Heat stress during flowering has a detrimental effect on legume seed yield, mainly due to irreversible loss of seed number...

Conserving biodiversity for food and agriculture requires coordination and cooperation across local and global communities. Botanical gardens are at the crossroads of plant science and public engagement. Their living collections offer dynamic learning...

In the Tropical Andes millions of people depend upon the use of wild and domesticated
biodiversity for their livelihoods, but the complex interactions between the
ecological and social components of the region’s ecosystems remain poorly...

Plant breeding is crucial for improving agricultural crops for human use. However, an
urgent rethink is needed to ensure the next generation of plant breeders have the
necessary breadth of skills to provide ever more efficient, nutritious...

The power of citizen science to contribute to both science and society is gaining increased recognition, particularly in physics and biology. Although there is a long history of public engagement in agriculture and food science, the term ‘citizen...

Supplemental lighting can enhance yield when sunlight is limited, as in winter. As the effect
of frequent cloudy or rainy days in other seasons on plant growth and yield remains unclear,
this article investigated the effect on tomato (...

Originating in Europe in the 16th century, botanic gardens are found in nearly every country in the world. Botanic gardens have had various roles during this time, including as physic gardens, as adaptation centers for commercial crops, as pleasure...

Consistent with their historical focus on the functional utility of plants, botanical gardens have an important opportunity to help ensure global food and ecosystem security by expanding their living collections, research and education programmes to...