plant geneticist
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars fro ...
and one of the early pioneers of genetic conservation (biodiversity conservation). She was one of the first to raise the issue of
biodiversity loss
Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in Biodiversity, b ...
at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
.
Work on plant genetic diversity
During the 1960s Bennett worked at the (now-defunct) Scottish Plant Breeding Station, where she studied micro-evolution and the origins of genetic diversity, with a focus on forage and seed crops. Her work included expeditions around the world to collect plant samples.
In 1964 she wrote the internationally influential paper “Plant Introduction and Genetic Conservation: Genecological aspects of an urgent world problem”. In it, she coined the term "
genetic resources
Genetic resources are genetic material of actual or potential value, where genetic material means any material of plant, animal, microbial genetics, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity.
Genetic resources is one of the ...
" to express the idea that genes themselves are a resource - one that has been disappearing rapidly, as diverse traditional peasant seeds have been replaced by uniform modern, elite seeds.
In traditional, peasant crop varieties, or
landraces
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolat ...
, each plant is a bit different from the others, and this genetic diversity means that when new plant diseases or pests appear, at least some of the plants will likely be resistant. By contrast, in modern pedigree or elite crop varieties each plant is the same, and while these elite crops are often high-yielding, their lack of genetic diversity makes them particularly vulnerable to attacks by new strains of disease. When an elite variety stops giving acceptably high yields due to disease, or some other factor, the plant breeders turn to the traditional varieties, or even to wild relatives, in search of genes that can confer the necessary resistance.
Work at the FAO on the conservation of plant genetic resources, 1967-1982
Bennett worked at the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...
from 1967 to 1982. During this time she coordinated various programmes of exploration and genetic conservation around the world, and created the world's first survey of crop germplasm collections.
In 1970 she co-wrote with
Otto Frankel
Sir Otto Herzberg Frankel FRS FAA FRSNZ (4 November 1900, Vienna – 21 November 1998, Canberra) was an Austrian-born New Zealand and Australian geneticist renowned for his pioneering work in plant genetics and conservation.
In 1982 Bennett resigned from the FAO in protest at the influence of corporate interests in the organisation's decision-making processes.
Bennett was one of the founding board members of RAFI, which later became the ETC Group.