In pursuit of a better world: crop improvement and the CGIAR.

The CGIAR crop improvement (CI) programs, unlike commercial CI programs, which are mainly geared to profit though meeting farmers' needs, are charged with meeting multiple objectives with target populations that include both farmers and the community at large. We compiled the opinions from >30 experts in the private and public sector on key strategies, methodologies, and activities that could the help CGIAR meet the challenges of providing farmers with improved varieties while simultaneously meeting the goals of: (i) nutrition, health, and food security; (ii) poverty reduction, livelihoods, and jobs; (iii) gender equality, youth, and inclusion; (iv) climate adaptation and mitigation; and (v) environmental health and biodiversity. We review the crop improvement processes starting with crop choice, moving through to breeding objectives, production of potential new varieties, selection, and finally adoption by farmers.

Effect of heat waves on embryo mortality in the pine processionary moth.

Extreme climate events such as heat waves are predicted to become more frequent with climate change, representing a challenge for many organisms. The pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa is a Mediterranean pine defoliator, which typically lays eggs during the summer. We evaluated the effects of heat waves on egg mortality of three populations with different phenologies: a Portuguese population with a classical life cycle (eggs laid in summer), an allochronic Portuguese population reproducing in spring, and a Tunisian population from the extreme southern limit of T.

Experimental evidence for heritable reproductive time in 2 allochronic populations of pine processionary moth.

Phenology allows organisms to overcome seasonally variable conditions through life-cycle adjustment. Changes in phenology can drastically modify the evolutionary trajectory of a population, while a shift in the reproductive time may cause allochronic differentiation. The hypothesis of heritable reproductive time was experimentally tested, by studying a unique population of the pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa (Den.

Environmental effects on fitness-sets shape and evolutionarily stable strategies.

Most models on the evolution of sex allocation and life-history traits are based on the existence of compensations between these traits, and often consider them as linear. With a simple model of physiological response to richness of the environment, we show that not only can these compensations take many different shapes, but also that this shape varies as a function of the resource level. Consequently, evolutionarily stable strategies (ESSs) calculation can give different results for the same two functions according to resource level.

The genetics of transient populations: Research at the metapopulation level.

The metapopulation concept allows us to generate new models, in which each single local population is in disequilibrium (from both demographic and genetic points of view) but the whole is stable. We review recent empirical and theoretical results showing the relevance of the metapopulation level, in particular for understanding the evolution of those traits that do not experience the same selective forces during the different demographic stages of each local population.