News 2024
New relatives of the cacao tree uncovered
Scientists at University College Cork (UCC), the University of São Paulo and New York Botanical Garden have discovered three new species that are close relatives of Theobroma cacao – from which chocolate is produced - in the rain forests of South America.
The team that includes Dr James Richardson of UCC’s School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences (BEES) and the Environmental Research Institute found three new species: Theobroma globosum, T. nervosum, and T. schultesii.
The discovery of these new species is significant as it indicates that there is much work still to be done in characterizing Earth's biodiversity, even for a group of species that are closely related to the well-known Theobroma cacao that is of tremendous economic importance.
Cacao production is threatened by climate change and disease. James Richardson's research aims to determine whether an understanding of the biology of the relatives of cacao might help us develop the genetic resources that might be used to face these problems. In addition, species related to cacao may prove an alternative source of chocolate like products.
“That there were recently unknown species closely related to Theobroma cacao, which is of huge importance for the production of chocolate and other products, shows how much more work there is to be done to catalogue the vast amount of unknown biodiversity across our planet,” James Richardson, a plant evolutionary biologist at University College Cork in Ireland, told Mongabay.
“These new species were discovered as a result of studying specimens in herbaria and demonstrate the importance of maintaining these natural history collections as many more species remain to be discovered within them" said James.
You can read a news item about the new research here.
The article is available here.