Ch. 3— Status of Biological Diversity • 75 



Brazil, Colombia, Madagascar, Tanzania, and 

 West Africa proceeds at catastrophic rates (32). 



Genetic Diversity 



Ideally, concern about loss of biological diver- 

 sity should be focused on genetically distinct 

 populations, rather than on species (13,16,34). 

 But with so little information available about 

 the majority of wild species, this seems im- 

 practical. 



For agricultural species, on the other hand, 

 the concern is mainly about genetic diversity. 

 The species do not seem to be in danger of ex- 

 tinction, but the variety of genes in many crops 

 and livestock breeds is being reduced (39). 

 Many distinct types are being eliminated as im- 

 proved breeds and varieties that are genetically 

 similar are gaining more widespread use. Iron- 

 ically, success in exploiting genetic resources 

 for agriculture threatens the genetic diversity 

 on which future achievements depend. 



With livestock, the principal diversity loss in- 

 volves developing-countries' breeds being 

 replaced by imported ones. The threat seems 



greatest for those species in which artificial in- 

 semination is widely used, and it is particularly 

 a problem with cattle, for which over 270 dis- 

 tinct breeds exist. For farmers with only a few 

 cows, artificial insemination is cheaper than 

 keeping a bull. But developing countries lack 

 facilities to collect and freeze semen from lo- 

 cally adapted breeds, so semen is usually im- 

 ported from commercial studs in industrial 

 countries. Threatened breeds include the cri- 

 oUo of Latin America and the Sahiwal and sev- 

 eral others from Africa (see table 3-4) (15). 



Llama and alpaca— as well as vicuna and 

 guanaco, their wild relatives — are South Amer- 

 ican species used for meat, as beasts of bur- 

 den, and for their hair and pelts. Numbers of 

 all four species have declined sharply since the 

 Spanish conquest of the Incan empire, and loss 

 of genetic diversity has almost surely occurred, 

 though it is unmeasured (15). 



Poultry and swine breeds are also moving 

 toward genetic homogeneity, because con- 

 trolled breeding has been rapid and intensive 

 to produce varieties suitable for modern com- 

 mercial production. Poultry breeding has been 



Table 3-4.— Endangered African Cattle Breeds 



Breed Location Purpose Reasons for decline in number Advantages 



Mutura Nigeria Meat, draft Civil w/ar, crossbreeding, lack of Trypanotolerant,^ hardy, good draft 



interest by farmers as tractors animal, low mortality 



become available 



Lagune Benin, Meat Crossbreeding, lack of interest by Trypanotolerant, adapted to humid 



Ivory Coast farmers because of small mature environment 



size (125 kg) and \q\n milk yields 

 Brunede I'Atlas. .. Morocco, Meat Crossbreeding to imported breeds Adapted to arid zones 



Algeria, 

 Tunisia 



Mpwapwa Tanzania Milk Lack of sustained effort to develop Adapted, dual-purpose 



and maintain new breed 



Baria Madagascar Milk, meat Crossbreeding Adapted, dual-purpose 



Creole Mauritius Milk, meat, Crossbreeding Adapted, multiple-purpose 



draft 



Kuri Chad Milk, meat Political instability, numbers High milk production, ability to float 



reduced by rinderpest and and swim in Lake Chad, tolerant 



drought of heat and humidity 



Kenana Sudan Milk Crrssbreeding (artificial High milk potential; adapted to hot, 



insemination) to imported dairy dry environment 



breeds, loss of major habitat to 

 development scheme 



Butana Sudan Milk Crossbreeding High milk potential; adapted to hot, 



semiarid environment 



^Ability to survive Trypanosome infection (spread by tsetse fly), whicti normally causes African sleeping sickness in cattle, 



SOURCE: Adapted from K.O. Adeniji, "Prospects and Plans for Data Banks on Animal Genetic Resources," Animal Genetic Resources Conservation (Rome: Food and 

 Agriculture Organization. 1984). as cited in H. Fitzhugh. et al., "Status and Trends of Domesticated Animals," OTA commissioned paper. 1985. 



