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46 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Understand how most humans subsisted before agriculture came about. |
Hunter-gatherers and foragers |
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When is agriculture theorized to have begun? |
10,000 years ago |
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What important roles did it play in human history and civilization? |
formed the basis of advanced civilization in the Old and the New Worlds. |
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What role did Jared Diamond suggest it played in human history (from his book/film)? |
Some people became more civilized while others stayed with their natural roots of life |
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What are some of the theories of how agriculture came to be, including the ideas from Jared Diamond? |
someone came up with the idea "dump heap theory" "divine gift" "happy accident" |
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Where in the world is it theorized to have begun? |
Fertile Crescent |
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On what evidence do people base their theories of where a particular crop originated? |
Sporopollenin Phytoliths Grinding stones |
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What is artificial selection/selective breeding and what effect did that have on the evolution of crop plants? |
the intentional breeding for certain traits or combination of traits produces more food, more resistant from bugs, fungus, and dieases
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What are some specific examples of artificial selection in crop plants? |
Cabbage Cauliflower Kale Broccoli Purple Cabbage |
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Who is Nicolai Vavilov? |
Russian scientist who focused on agriculture |
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Where is Nicolai Vavilov from? |
Russia |
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Describe his theory of the center of origin(1926), Nicolai Vavilov. |
each crop has a characteristic primary center of diversity which is also its center of origin |
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What light is being shed on his theories with new scientific data? |
the idea of "centers of domestication" |
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Where did the following crops originate: sugarcane tomato banana rice corn peppers apples sunflower sweet potato grapes wheat soybean peanut potato watermelon orange |
SE Asia: sugarcane, oranges, grapes, banana, Fertile Crescent: wheat, grapes, watermelon, Africa:watermelon China: rice, soybean N America: peppers, apples, sunflower, sweet potato S America: potato, peanut, corn |
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What is biotechnology? |
application of scientific methods to manipulate living cells or organisms for practical uses |
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How long has biotechnology been around? |
since the beginning of storing food |
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What are some examples of how biotechnology is used for practical uses? |
selective breeding using yeast to make bread or beer cloning genetic engineering making antibiotics from Penicillium mold |
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What is genetic engineering? |
molecular techniques to move genes from one organism to another producing transgenic organisms |
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Is it synonymous with the term biotechnology? |
yes |
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How is genetic engineering different than artificial selection? |
artificial selection involves breeding together plants of the same species to obtain desired traits |
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What makes genetic engineering "more efficient" than artificial selection? |
doesn't need to wait for the plant to develop the desired trait |
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What are some of the many ways genetically modified plants can help overcome agriculture problems and contribute to human health and nutrition? |
weeds, pests, fungus, viruses loss of agricultural yield |
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What are "Bt" crops? |
plants that are made resistant to insect pests |
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What are some of the pros and cons to "Bt crops" and genetic engineering in general? |
Pros: less pesticides have to be applied, viral resistance, Cons: insects can become resistant, kills harmless insects too |
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What are superweeds? |
GMO's that have interbred with wild relatives |
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What are some of the complications that come from being able to patent genetically modified organisms? |
need to be tested thoroughly before they can be approved for consumption |
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What are some major services plants offer to our environment? |
produce oxygen help stop soil erosion carbon cycle cleans water part of the food chain |
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What is desertification and how is it caused? |
turning fertile land into unfertile and desert land
overgrazing of animals deforestation soil erosion river pollution |
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What are some of the effects of desertification? |
billions of $$$ lost each year dust storms fights |
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What areas are most prone to desertification? |
Western part of the US parts of africa and australia |
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What is industrial ecology? |
An interdisciplinary field that focuses on the sustainable combination of environment, economy and technology. |
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What is meant by an open and closed loop systems? |
resources and capital investments move through the system to become wastes(open loop) wastes become inputs for new processes (closed loop) |
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What are some practical applications of industrial ecology? |
waste water treatments |
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What are some of the benefits of planting native plants opposed to introduced plants? |
biodiversity for plants and animals |
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How could this help with the biodiversity problem we're facing today with urban sprawls and habitat destruction? |
by planting native plants |
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What is an introduced species? |
a species that has been accidentally or purposefully transferred from one location to another, where it did not occur naturally |
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What is an invasive species? |
species that is non-native to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health |
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What makes a plant "invasive"? |
prolific breeders no or insufficient natural predators out-competes native species for habitat and resources destroys habitat of native species |
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What are some of the ecological and economical implications of invasive weeds? |
biodiversity difficult to control health concerns threat to ecosystem health |
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Name AT LEAST two kinds of invasive weeds. |
Kudzu vine Japanese Knotweed |
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What family is Kudzu in? |
Fabaceae |
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Why was it brought into the US to begin with? |
a forage crop and to help control soil erosion |
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How widespread is kudzu now? |
over 7 million acres in SE US |
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What are some valuable lessons learned from the large-scale Biosphere 2 experiment? |
We need to take care of our planet be aware of the give and take effect
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What did it teach us about Biosphere 1? |
The plants can only take in so much CO2 at a time and we need to be wary of how much pollution we put into the air |
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How have the people of Eritrea, dealt with scarcity of water? |
They use the water from the shrimp farms near by. |
