AgBioData-LIST July 2026

agbiodata-list@bioinfo.wsu.edu

1 participants
3 discussions

THIS WEDNESDAY: McKenzie Mabry on Crop Wild Relatives, Herbaria, and Food Security

by MARCELA KAREY TELLO-RUIZ

Hello Everyone, Join us this *Wednesday, August 5, at 1:00 PM ET* for the next webinar in the AgBioData Webinar Series <https://www.agbiodata.org/webinars>. *McKenzie Mabry* (iDigBio), of the *Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, and the New York Botanical Garden*, will present: *"Crop Wild Relatives and the Role of Herbaria in Future Food Crop Security"* This webinar will explore the important role that herbarium collections and crop wild relatives play in supporting future food security. The Zoom link and webinar abstract are included below. We hope you'll be able to join us! Best, Marcela *Wednesday, August 5th, 1PM ET* | 1P ET | 12P CT | 11A MT | 10A PT | Find your local time here <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=AgBioData+Aug+202…> . Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82038356125?pwd=YVFMRElMdEpHZmtObXFvZlA4QVFXQT09 Meeting ID: 820 3835 6125 Passcode: 160683 -- Speaker:* McKenzie Mabry* (Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida & New York Botanical Garden; iDigBio) Title: *Crop Wild Relatives And The Role Of Herbaria In Future Food Crop Security* Abstract: Although Nikolai Vavilov recognized the potential of crop wild relatives (CWR) in the early 1900s, the advent of genome editing technologies such as CRISPR now enables scientists to more fully leverage CWRs as a source of genetic diversity for cultivated crops. As global agriculture faces escalating pressures from climate change, plant biologists are increasingly focused on sustaining crop productivity under shifting environmental conditions while meeting the demands of a growing population. CWRs represent a critical reservoir of genetic variation that can be harnessed to address these challenges. While efforts to expand germplasm collections of CWRs are ongoing, herbaria remain an underutilized resource. At the same time, the growing availability of digitized herbarium data provides new opportunities to address large-scale research questions. In this study, occurrence records for CWRs of several important crop species are obtained from repositories such as iDigBio and Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Following data cleaning, ecological niche modeling is used to estimate global habitat suitability under both current and future climate scenarios. This work highlights the increasingly important role of herbaria and digitized biodiversity data in supporting crop improvement efforts, particularly in the context of ongoing climate change. -- Marcela Karey Tello-Ruiz, PhD AgBioData Program Manager https://www.agbiodata.org/ Phoenix Bioinformatics

2 weeks

AgBiodata August 2026 webinar -- McKenzie Mabry (iDigBio) on Crop Wild Relatives and the Role of Herbaria in Future Food Crop Security

by MARCELA KAREY TELLO-RUIZ

*Genome editing has revived interest in crop wild relatives as a source of genetic diversity — but are we fully tapping herbaria to find them? Join us next Wednesday 5th of August to learn how digitized biodiversity records and niche modeling are mapping where climate-resilient crop relatives may be found, now and in the future.* Hello Everyone, As part of the monthly AgBioData Webinar Series <https://www.agbiodata.org/webinars>, McKenzie Mabry (iDigBio) of the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida & New York Botanical Garden, will present the talk titled: “*Crop Wild Relatives And The Role Of Herbaria In Future Food Crop Security*”. Full abstract and zoom link below. We hope you can join us! Best, Marcela -- * Wednesday, August 5th, 1PM ET* | 1P ET | 12P CT | 11A MT | 10A PT | Find your local time here <https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=AgBioData+Aug+202…> . Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82038356125?pwd=YVFMRElMdEpHZmtObXFvZlA4QVFXQT09 Meeting ID: 820 3835 6125 Passcode: 160683 -- Speaker:* McKenzie Mabry* (Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida & New York Botanical Garden; iDigBio) Title: *Crop Wild Relatives And The Role Of Herbaria In Future Food Crop Security* Abstract: Although Nikolai Vavilov recognized the potential of crop wild relatives (CWR) in the early 1900s, the advent of genome editing technologies such as CRISPR now enables scientists to more fully leverage CWRs as a source of genetic diversity for cultivated crops. As global agriculture faces escalating pressures from climate change, plant biologists are increasingly focused on sustaining crop productivity under shifting environmental conditions while meeting the demands of a growing population. CWRs represent a critical reservoir of genetic variation that can be harnessed to address these challenges. While efforts to expand germplasm collections of CWRs are ongoing, herbaria remain an underutilized resource. At the same time, the growing availability of digitized herbarium data provides new opportunities to address large-scale research questions. In this study, occurrence records for CWRs of several important crop species are obtained from repositories such as iDigBio and Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Following data cleaning, ecological niche modeling is used to estimate global habitat suitability under both current and future climate scenarios. This work highlights the increasingly important role of herbaria and digitized biodiversity data in supporting crop improvement efforts, particularly in the context of ongoing climate change. -- Marcela Karey Tello-Ruiz, PhD AgBioData Program Manager https://www.agbiodata.org/ Phoenix Bioinformatics

2 weeks

Join the New AgBioData Education & Training Working Group!

by MARCELA KAREY TELLO-RUIZ

Dear AgBioData Community, *Passionate about teaching, training, or improving agricultural research data practices? **This one is for you!* The AgBioData Consortium is launching a new Education & Training Working Group <https://www.agbiodata.org/working_groups/edu-training>. Building on the success of the original Education Working Group—which developed the AgBioData Curriculum for teaching FAIR data practices <https://zenodo.org/records/14278084>—we are expanding our efforts to create more accessible, practical, and community-driven training resources for researchers, educators, students, and database professionals. This next phase will focus on: - Identifying AgBioData community training needs and priorities. - Updating the AgBioData curriculum for diverse audiences. - Developing a structured AgBioData certification program. - Creating online training modules on bioinformatics data management, reporting, publication, and data submission best practices. Participation requires approximately 2 hours per month for meetings, plus flexible offline contributions based on your interests and availability. By joining this working group, you will: - Help shape the future of AgBioData education and training. - Earn authorship on publications, training modules, and other community outputs. - Contribute your expertise in ways that fit your interests and schedule. - Connect with a multidisciplinary network of researchers, educators, curators, and database professionals. Interested in joining? Sign up here: https://forms.gle/CLKYAuyrDxqQtiRG7 If you have any questions, please contact Jodi at jhumann(a)wsu.edu. We hope you’ll join us in building the next generation of FAIR data education resources for the agricultural genomics community. Kind regards, Marcela On behalf of the AgBioData Steering Committee -- Marcela Karey Tello-Ruiz, PhD AgBioData Program Manager Phoenix Bioinformatics

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AgBioData-LIST July 2026