Daniel Zizumbo-Villarreal

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at Universidades para el Bienestar Benito Juárez García

Climate change is aggravating agricultural crop failures, and the paucity of wild food harvests for Indigenous desert dwellers in Mexico and the U.S. This food production crisis challenges ongoing efforts by Indigenous communities in obtaining greater food security, prompting them to reconsider the value of traditional Indigenous food systems in bo...

Estudios recientes evidencian que la salud, la alimentación y el bienestar de los seres humanos se relacionan directamente con la diversidad de los sistemas agrícolas utilizados para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria nutricional (SAN). Las familias mayas de la Península de Yucatán practican una estrategia de uso múltiple de los recursos agrícolas...

The objective of the study was to analyze the different forms of food acquisition of the Mayan families of Yucatán under the life strategies approach. In the three localities of interest, different family life strategies were found to satisfy the main nutritional needs, for which they resort to the capitals that make up their subsistence framework,...

El objetivo del estudio fue analizar las diversas formas de adquisición de alimentos de las familias mayas de Yucatán, bajo el enfoque de estrategias de vida, a partir del estudio de tres localidades de la entidad. Se logró identificar una serie de estrategias de vida familiar orientadas a satisfacer las principales necesidades alimenticias, para l...

The study of evolutionary history allows us to examine diversification, selection and domestication processes. Mexico belongs to Mesoamerica, one of the world's most important centers of origin and diversification of plants. One of the plants that has sustained its peoples for over 10,000 years is the agave (Agave sp.). Mexico is the center of dive...

Durante los últimos 250 años en México, se ha acumulado conocimiento tradicional sobre el cultivo de vainilla bajo diferentes sistemas de producción, y diferentes niveles de manejo. Dado que cada sistema refleja la experiencia individual y colectiva de criterios y estructuras de decisión sobre el manejo de vainilla, se estudió el perfil del product...

The objective of this work was to evaluate the evolutionary dynamics of the wild-weedy-domestic gene pool of Cucurbita argyrosperma squash by estimating the levels of genetic diversity and gene flow in the putative area of its domestication. Nine populations were collected, and DNA was extracted from young leaves harvested separately from approxima...

Mediante un largo proceso de experimentación las culturas mesoamericanas inventaron la agricultura, logrando domesticar entre otras plantas, al maíz, grano que en la actualidad es uno de los más importantes a nivel mundial por sus diversos usos: alimenticio, industrial y farmacéutico. Como alimento, ocupa un lugar culturalmente importante en divers...

El núcleo del sistema alimentario precerámico en el occidente de Mesoamérica se pudo integrar con las poblaciones silvestres ancestrales del maíz, el frijol y la calabaza. El manejo agrícola incipiente de estas especies, año tras año, en un mismo sitio pudo derivar en la estructuración del sistema agroalimentario conocido como “milpa”. En este trab...

Resumen Las prácticas de aprovechamiento y manejo humano de plantas, como la domesticación, pueden tener efectos evolutivos sobre las mismas. Para Darwin, las plantas y animales domes-ticados fueron fundamentales en la construcción de su teoría y en la actualidad siguen siendo objeto de estudio sobre biología evolutiva. La domesticación es un proce...

La ceniza contiene óxidos de calcio, potasio y magnesio que al combinarse con el agua generan hidróxidos. Las cenizas fueron utilizadas por las poblaciones humanas en el periodo Pre-cerámico para curtir pieles, elaborar vestidos y calzado, curar heridas, aplicar tatuajes y momificaciones. Nos preguntamos si la aplicación de cenizas pudo habilitar e...

La región Totonacapan es considerada centro de cultivo de Vanilla planifolia J. y posible zona de selección del material biológico. Sin embargo, se desconoce los caracteres iniciales de selección y la intensidad de manejo agrícola sobre la orquídea, y las causas o factores que determinan que planta deje de ser colectada y sea cultivada. Por esa raz...

The west of the biogeographic region Balsas-Jalisco is considered a center of agricultural origin and plant domestication in the New World; in this region, a complex agro-alimentary system could have generated as far back as the Archaic Period (10000–4400 BP). To date, we ignore the structure and evolution of the system found there by the Europeans...

Cucurbita are monoecious and creeping plants including 20 taxa and 15 species. In Mesoamerica, four species were domesticated or diversified after domestication in other geographic areas: C. argyrosperma C. pepo, C. moschata, and C. ficifolia. The earliest evidences of the domestication of Cucurbita date 9000 BP from Southwestern Mesoamerica and 10...

Lowland Maya culture can be traced back to around 1200–1000 BC in the lowlands of Belize. Their subsequent expansion and settlement in the northern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula was possible, thanks to the integration of three agricultural systems that originated in other dry tropical forests but were also adapted to the lithosol–cambisol physio...

Resumen Se exploró el potencial hortícola del género Diospyros (Ebenaceae) mediante análisis biogeográficos, climáticos, morfológicos y etnobotánicos. Los análisis geográficos permitieron identificar las áreas óptimas para la conservación y el aprovechamiento de 20 especies. Con aquellas conocidas como Zapotes Negros, D. nigra y D. Conzattii, se ap...

The Food System during the Formative Period in West Mesoamerica. How was the food system structured in West Mesoamerica during the Formative Period (2400 B.C.E.–100 C.E.)? The answer is important to understanding the high cultural development accomplished by the Mesoamerican civilizations throughout the Early Classic Period (100–400 C.E.). In the s...

Presentación Cuando llegan a los salones de clases, los estudiantes traen consigo múltiples saberes acerca de la naturaleza, siendo esto más eviden-te en las zonas rurales. Estos conocimientos, pueden contribuir al aprendizaje de la ciencia escolar, por existir posibilidades para que los profesores realicen el diálogo intercultural con la comunidad...

It has been clearly established that the Portuguese introduced coconuts to the Cape Verde islands in 1499, and these supplied the Atlantic coasts and the Caribbean in the 1500s. By contrast, early 16th century reports of coconuts on the Pacific coast of Panama are controversial. Recent DNA analysis of modern coconut populations there shows them to...

Los productores tradicionales de MEZCAL de los alrededores de los volcanes de Colima y la cuenca del río Tuxcacuesco-Ayuquila-Armería son los sucesores de una tradición que inició hace miles de años, cuando sus ancestros incorporaron los corazones cocidos de maguey a su cultura alimentaria. Hoy día son los legítimos herederos de las variedades, los...

Traditional MEZCAL producers living around the Colima volcanoes and the Tuxcacuesco-Ayuquila-Armeria River Basin are the successors of a tradition born thousands of years ago, when their ancestors incorporated the cooked hearts of the maguey plant into their alimentary culture. Today, they are the legitimate heirs of the varieties, knowledge and te...

The Archaic Diet in Mesoamerica: Incentive for Milpa Development and Species Domestication. One of the central questions in the development of Mesoamerican civilization is how the alimentary, agronomic, and ecological complementarities were achieved within the milpa agroecosystem, which is one of its more important and distinctive cultural elements...

Over the last 30 years, cultivation of Agave tequilana Weber var blue for industrial production of tequila, has generated soil erosion, chemical pollution, displacement of traditional food crops and traditional Agave landraces used for preparing “mezcals” in the Appellation of Origin Tequila area. It is also associated with harmful cycles 8–10 year...

Earth Ovens ( Píib ) in the Maya Lowlands: Ethnobotanical Data Supporting Early Use. Earth oven cooking is very important among the Yucatec Maya. It is used for daily, festive, and ceremonial occasions, contrasting with other Mesoamerican cultures that use this technique sporadically. In this paper we present an ethnobotanical analysis of the use o...

A number of metabolites isolated and identified from cuticular waxes have been used as chemotaxonomical markers and to explain the role of the wax layer in plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions. Chromatographic analysis of the cuticular wax from pinnae of five coconut palm ecotypes showed that the three main components (I, II, III) in the wa...

Recent paleoecological, archaeobotanical and genetic-molecular data are used to develop a hypothesis on the where, when, how and whom of plant domestication and the origin of agriculture in west Mesoamerica, and the formation of the maize-bean-squash multicrop milpa system and agro-food system which formed the base for development of ancient comple...

E laborados con base en prácticas y saberes milenarios, los mezcales artesanales de México son una rica tradición viva en nuestras poblaciones indígenas y mestizas. Sus dimen-siones culturales son múltiples, y sus procesos y productos son al-tamente complejos, refinados y diversos. Su elaboración involucra dos ámbitos que se determinan mutuamente....

Distillation in Western Mesoamerica before European Contact. Fermented beverages are almost universal among ancient human societies. Ethanol is an analgesic, disinfectant, and mind-altering substance, and can help to preserve and enhance the nutritional value of food. Fermentation has therefore played a key role in human cultural and technological...

Archaeological Evidence of the Cultural Importance of Agave spp . in Pre-Hispanic Colima, Mexico. Production of agave-based food and fermented alcoholic beverages was highly relevant culturally and socially in pre-European contact western Mesoamerica. It has been hypothesized that agave distillation in western Mexico began in Colima in the early Co...

Traditional farming communities frequently maintain high levels of agrobiodiversity, so understanding their agricultural practices is a priority for biodiversity conservation. The cultural origin of agave spirits (mezcals) from west-central Mexico is in the southern part of the state of Jalisco where traditional farmers cultivate more than 20 landr...

No evidence exists of distillation in Mexico before European contact. The Philippine people in Colima established the practice in the 16th Century to produce coconut spirits. Botanical, toponymic, archaeological, and ethnohistoric data are presented indicating that agave distillation began in Colima, in the lower Armería-Ayuquila and Coahuayana-Tux...

Mortality of Mexican coconut germplasm due to lethal yellowing Mortality due to lethal yellowing (LY) was recorded over 15 years for five coconut ecotypes representative of the diversity of coconut germplasm cultivated in Mexico. The trial was established in 1991 in an area of active LY outbreaks on the northern coast of Yucatan, Mexico, using a th...

Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.) is an important crop in traditional Mayan agriculture of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, its Mesoamerican center of diversity. Genetic erosion in this species is currently a threat in this region out of 3 of 21 landraces dominate 71.24% of the cultivated area, and 12 are rare landraces grown only in 6.29%. Using 90 I...

No evidence exists of distillation in Mexico before European contact. The Philippine people in Colima established the practice in the 16th Century to produce coconut spirits. Botanical, top-onymic, archaeological, and ethnohistoric data are presented indicating that agave distillation began in Colima, in the lower Armería-Ayuquila and Coahua-yana-T...

Se realizaron acciones para impulsar la conservación in situ, caracterización y promoción de la diversidad en el cultivo de mezcales tradicionales del sur de Jalisco. Las metas fueron: 1) establecer dos parcelas de conservación in situ de variedades tradicionales, 2) mantener la colección ex situ de germoplasma de agave, 3) caracterizar botánica y...

Extensive monovarietal cultivation of Agave tequilana Weber var. azul is threatening the diversity of the germplasm used in traditional Agave spirits production in west-central Mexico. To promote the preservation, use, and management of this germplasm, an ethnobotanical and morphological study was done in the center and south of the state of Jalisc...

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is one of the two methodologies to separate and identify gene expression at the proteome level. However, the separation of proteins from plant tissue extract is often complicate, because it is necessary to modify the protocols depending upon the type of tissue and upon the presence of different interfering...

Current germplasm diversity used in the production of Agave spirits in west-central México is in danger of erosion due to an expansion in the cultivation of the clone A. tequilana Weber var. azul, used for the elaboration of the famous drink “Tequila”. In order to define critical areas of in situ conservation and to determine the role of local nati...

Current germplasm diversity used in the production of Agave spirits in west-central México is in danger of erosion due to an expansion in the cultivation of the clone A. tequilana Weber var. azul, used for the elaboration of the famous drink "Tequila". In order to define critical areas of in situ conservation and to determine the role of local nati...

The role of gene flow in autogamous domesticated species diversity and their wild relatives is an issue that requires more field data. Using nine microsatellite loci, an analysis was done of the magnitude and direction of gene flow in the wild–weedy–domesticated complex of Phaseolus lunatus L. under traditional agricultural conditions in four regio...

Lethal Yellowing (LY) is one the main diseases affecting coconut worldwide, making the research for resistant germplasm vital to production. Study objectives were to: (i) estimate diversity and genetic structure within four commercial Mexican ecotypes and five imported ecotypes; (ii) analyze the genetic relationships between Mexican ecotypes and th...

This study was conducted to determine the genetic diversity, struc- ture and gene flow of 11 wild populations of Phaseolus lunatus L. in four regions of traditional agriculture in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mex- ico, part of the putative domestication area of its Mesoamerican gene pool. Analyzing eight microsatellite loci, the populations showed high v...

Morphological variation of the coconut fruit measured in situ has been used to estimate genetic diversity, and generate hypotheses about the evolutionary and geographical diffusion of coconut. Some authors have questioned the validity of this methodology due to the possibly high effect of the environment on the morphological characteristics of the...

into the domesticated populations or predominant gene flow from morphological and physiological characters related to domesticated to wild populations. The wild population in closest prox- imity to the crop within its complex was more similar to the domesti- the so-called domestication syndrome, including seed cated and weedy populations of its com...

The Lowland Mayan culture has been one of the most successful in Mesoamerica. Being an agricultural society, part of their success was based on plant genetic resources which satisfied their needs of social reproduction. This article reviews recent evidence on early agriculture in the geographic area where Lowland Maya culture originated, and discus...

The Lowland Mayan culture has been one of the most successful in Mesoamerica. Being an agricultural society, part of their success was based on plant genetic resources which satisfied their needs of social reproduction. This article reviews recent evidence on early agriculture in the geographic area where Lowland Maya culture originated, and discus...

The genetic diversity ofP. lunatus in the Yucatan Peninsula was assessed on the basis of its morphological and phenological characters. Our results were then discussed in relation to ethnobotanic information obtained about the intraspecific diversity recognized by farmers, their selection criteria, agronomic management, production purpose and perce...

1 Coconut is one of the most important tropical crops. It is threatened by Lethal yellowing disease. Production and selection by breeding require pollination, yet little is known of the pollination requirements and breeding system of this palm. 2 This study was carried out from 1999 to 2001 in coconut plantations represented by five coconut ecotype...

The three major components present in the epicuticular wax from leaves of Cocos nuciferaL. were identified as lupeolmethylether (1), skimmiwallin (2) [3b-methoxy-25-ethyl-9,19- cyclolanost-24(241)-ene] and isoskimmiwallin(3) [3b-methoxy-24- ethyl-9,19-cyclolanost-25(251)-ene]. Structural elucidation of the metabolites was carried out by analysis of...

The diversity and phylogenetic analysis in 22 populations of Mexican coconut and six imported populations, were estimated using 15 enzymatic systems and the allele frequencies in: peroxidase (PER), endopeptidase (ENP), and glucose 6-Phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). There was very low polymorphism, not more than two alleles per locus. The Wright fixa...

We studied the pattern of variation of 19 morphological andphysiological characteristics of leaves and their phenotypicplasticity in 18 Mexican coconut populations experimentally grownunder similar conditions and in the presence of LY. The resultsshowed: (a) the existence of five ecotypes differentiatedby characteristic means and plasticity of thes...

Lethal yellowing (LY) of coconut is an epidemic disease associated with a phytoplasma (Beakbane et al., 1972; Heinze et al., 1972; Plavsic-Banjac et al., 1972) and with vector insects (Howard et al., 1984). It was initially observed in México in 1977, on the Caribbean coasts of Quintana Roo (McCoy et al., 1982) and on the Northern Coast of Yucatán...

Lethal yellowing disease has drastically affected the coconut populations on the east coasts of Mexico and is threatening to invade all the production areas in Mexico. For the purpose of defining the existence of genetically differentiated coconut populations that eventually could have a differential response to this disease, we studied the germina...

Oviedo’s sixteenth century reports from the New World, relating the characteristics, uses, cultivation and geographical distribution Cocos nucifera, are analyzed in terms of their veracity and implications for the evolution of this highly important economic species. The presence of coconut on the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia i...

There is a need to identify genetic markers that can assist coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) breeding programs. With that objective, electrophoretic patterns of leaf peroxidases, endopeptidases and coomassie blue stained proteins were analysed in four cultivars (‘West African Tall’, ‘Rennell Tall’, ‘Malayan Yellow Dwarf’, ‘Cameroon Red Dwarf’), and in t...

p>The genetic diversity of Cocos nucifera L. is described, based on historical, and ethnobotanical studies and it is evaluated by analyzing patterns of morphological variation of fruit, variation in morpho-physiology of plants and leaves, and iso-enzyme polymorphism. Genetic structure of populations was analyzed and evaluated in relation with Letha...

The pattern of morphological variation of Cocos nucifera in Mexico was statistically and numerically evaluated. Forty-one populations were analyzed, using 17 morphological fruit characters. Principal components and cluster analyses indicated four main groups of coconut populations that showed high similarity with four different genotypes recently i...

The genetic diversity of coconut palm in Mexico has arisen from introductions carried out during the Spanish colonial period (1539–1810). The interest of estimating the extent and origin of the genetic diversity motivated the investigation of sites, dates and origins of the introductions, the initial areas of production, the economic importance of...

Planting genetically resistant material is recognised as the best control method to control lethal yellowing of coconut palms (LY) (Been, this volume). Due to the rapid and devastating spread of LY-type diseases through different African and American coconut-growing regions, this paper focuses on possible ways and limitations on acquiring and maint...

Cocos nucifera Linn, was introduced to Mexico by Spanish navigators in the middle of the 16th century, from Cape Verde and Santo Domingo to the Atlantic coast, and from the Solomon Islands and the Philippines to the Pacific coast. These populations remained isolated from one another for almost 500 years. Morphological studies on fruit characteristi...