Diversity of Life
Quiz 1
Origins of Agriculture 1/7 (read 180-181, a closer look 11.1 & centers of plant domestication)
Human History * humans have existed as species ~ 195,000 years/ farming has been practiced ~ 11,500 years. * Knowledge of foraging societies: * archaeological evidence: middens (trash pile – bones, corn cobs, etc.) & coprolites (fossilized fecal material, to get an idea of what people ate) * modern evidence: !Kung, Ainu * Why did we start farming? * easier, it is possible to have a stable home * theory of the brilliant sage: sow seeds > grow crops, which could be discovered by plants growing in middens from discarded seeds or, the seeds buried with dead sprouted * agriculture spread rapidly from single source * Did agriculture start in 1 region? * fertile crescent, cradle of agriculture * but signs point to agriculture starting in China, Papua, New Guinea, and Americas around the same time * Possible reasons for the start of agriculture: * climate change in middle east: people clustered around remaining larger water supplies – population increase forced people to start farming * population increase: may have gotten to big to support hunter-gatherer lifestyle * Agriculture * Agriculture = cultivation of plants * domestication = genetic alteration of plants by humans * selection: occurs constantly in populations of plants – certain characteristics are being selected for or against * Natural Selection: occurs in wild populations containing natural variation – environment selects for survival value * Artificial Selection: occurs in domesticated populations containing natural variation – humans select for certain traints. * not necessarily beneficial to plant. ex: nonshattering grains (when mature grains will easily fall off plants, we selected for plants with grains that stay on the plants) & lack of dormancy (plants
Origins of Agriculture 1/7 (read 180-181, a closer look 11.1 & centers of plant domestication)
Human History * humans have existed as species ~ 195,000 years/ farming has been practiced ~ 11,500 years. * Knowledge of foraging societies: * archaeological evidence: middens (trash pile – bones, corn cobs, etc.) & coprolites (fossilized fecal material, to get an idea of what people ate) * modern evidence: !Kung, Ainu * Why did we start farming? * easier, it is possible to have a stable home * theory of the brilliant sage: sow seeds > grow crops, which could be discovered by plants growing in middens from discarded seeds or, the seeds buried with dead sprouted * agriculture spread rapidly from single source * Did agriculture start in 1 region? * fertile crescent, cradle of agriculture * but signs point to agriculture starting in China, Papua, New Guinea, and Americas around the same time * Possible reasons for the start of agriculture: * climate change in middle east: people clustered around remaining larger water supplies – population increase forced people to start farming * population increase: may have gotten to big to support hunter-gatherer lifestyle * Agriculture * Agriculture = cultivation of plants * domestication = genetic alteration of plants by humans * selection: occurs constantly in populations of plants – certain characteristics are being selected for or against * Natural Selection: occurs in wild populations containing natural variation – environment selects for survival value * Artificial Selection: occurs in domesticated populations containing natural variation – humans select for certain traints. * not necessarily beneficial to plant. ex: nonshattering grains (when mature grains will easily fall off plants, we selected for plants with grains that stay on the plants) & lack of dormancy (plants