Posted on 02/14/2018 8:24:30 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Hummus, the beloved Middle Eastern dip, is in danger. Chickpeas are going the way of the cheetah.
For rather different reasons, both plant and cat are suffering from genetic bottlenecks that reduce their ability to cope with change. And in a warming world, change is happening. In contrast to the cheetah, the domestic chickpea could still be saved by crossing with wild breeds that still exist, to restore lost genetic diversity, wrote Eric Bishop von Wettberg, a plant biologist at the University of Vermont, and others in Nature on Tuesday.
ake an example from people: Those with darker skin are better suited to the intense ultraviolet radiation characterizing the tropics, while those with lighter skin are better suited to sunless climes. If all humans had the same characteristics, they would all be suited to only one clime and couldn't have survived in every corner and armpit of the world.
In other words, the chickpea that makes the hummus that Israelis eat by the ton is in danger from climate change.
The problem applies to the whole Middle East and Indian subcontinent, and Ethiopia for example, where the chickpea is a staple source of protein.
Perhaps ironically, salvation may come from the region where man possibly first domesticated plants: Anatolia. The scientists found wild chickpea varieties there that hold "great promise," von Wettberg says, as a source of new genes for traits like drought resistance, resistance to pod-boring beetles, and heat tolerance.
The entire Mediterranean basin and Levant are heating faster than the rest of the globe as climate change advances, and face extreme desertification down the line, according to climate models. The wild chickpea itself will be in need of saving before it can save the chickpea crop and the hummus hounds of the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
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Climate change. Is there nothing it can’t do?
i really like hummus, i could eat it as a staple food.
There was a big sale once and I put a bunch in the freezer.
Luckily it was fine after thawing.
I would like to try making my own
When climate change is brought up at one of his pressers Trump ought to take a couple of minutes and read off a list of the the most absurd climate change claims.
Remember when chocolate was going to be gone? :-)
ONLY buy Sabra hummus from Israel. NEVER Turkish hummus. Also NEVER Chobani yogurt (Turkish supporter of jihad who only employs Muslim refugees)
I refuse to call them ‘chick peas’. We use the non-gender, ‘Garbanzo beans’!
I guess I might as well go kill myself now.
Wait... what? The story was about hummus? I thought it said hummers.
Nevermind...
OMG Angie I am still LOL “hummers” you are to funny!!!!
Scientific Fake News
Guypeas will survive, no doubt, given our sexist anti chick culture. I’m so ashamed.
Chickpeas are weeds.
I thought Algore was from Tennessee.
What about paw-paws?
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Imagine a liberal publication like Ha'aertz advocating genetically modified food.
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Imagine a liberal publication like Ha'aertz advocating genetically modified food.
All they need for such profound scientific revelation is a critical research tool called a bong, and a grant to pay for the weed.
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