Extinctions In Near Time: Biodiversity Loss Since The Pleistocene

The Relationship Between Maize and Teosinte Dylan Sweetwood You probably already know that maize, or corn, is one of the most culturally and commercially important crops in the world, with hundreds of applications in areas from agriculture to energy. But what you may not know is that teosinte, one of corn’s closest genetic relatives, is currently under threat of extinction. Then again, so are a lot of other plants—why is teosinte worth worrying about? My name is Dylan Sweetwood, and I’m going to talk about the relationship between maize and teosinte and why this relationship is important to preserve. Humans have grown maize for thousands of years—so long, in fact, that it can no longer reproduce without human cultivation. This long history has resulted in a genetic bottleneck, which means that all modern varieties of corn are genetically indistinguishable. Traditionally, this was considered advantageous, but now scientists believe that genetic diversity is beneficial for crop persistence. Corn’s limited gen