Agriculture
Where does agriculture first appear?
Fertile Crescent
List benefits of the GR
Increased production
Technology expansion
Streamlined production (made ag more industry)
Increase in control over the field (pesticides and fertilizers)
More food
What gene was altered in FLAV-R-SAVR tomatoes
Pectinase gene (to prevent softening)
Where to find Bt in Bt crops
in every single cell
What pathogen/disease is completely fatal to crops?
blights
True or False: Attila the hun (406-453) was said to enjoy eating corn and fed his armies with corn
False, corn did not reach Eur-asia until post-columbian trade
List downfalls of GR
Decreased native abundance
Increased dependence on few crops
Impacts of pesticides and fertilizers
Degraded the environment
Increase in energy consumption
Increase in ag pollution (water and soil)
What is the most active ingredient in Round-Up
Glyphosate
What do Bt crops do to target pests?
Cause stomach to explode
fungal infections by species within the family Basidiomycota
smuts and rusts
List three consequences of Agriculture
Diseases, settlement, population growth
What happened in India as a result of the GR?
Had to tap into ground water which was laden with arsenic
Why was golden rice created and why was the public scared?
Increase vitamin A of pop, unknown health and plant impacts
What does roundup - ready mean?
crops are resistant to round-up so farmers can spray it over whole fields
black, slimy bacterial or fungal infections typically affecting storage organs or fruit
soft rots
List the three types of domestication
Selective breeding, Hybridization, and Genetic engineering
Pros of Monoculture
Larger yield
Encourages staple crop production
Easier to harvest
Get crop insurance
Feed for farm animals/more markets/high demand
How do neonicotinoids target the pests?
They block neurotransmitters
What does the refuge requirement for Bt crops protect against?
Completely resistant pest pop
Impacts or results of sucking insects
Cuts off sugar transport, blocking off areas of new growth from receive sugar
What is the difference between domesticating an acorn and domesticating an almond?
Acorns have multiple toxic genes and would be very hard to domesticate. Almonds only have one toxic gene and have been domesticated easily.
Less susceptible to diseases and pests
Different plants take up and put out different nutrients - helps soil health
Decreases dependency on just a few crops
Plant diversity and nutrition diversity
What are some concerns with neonicotinoids?
They will impact non-target species such as bees
Damaging human health effects that have been found from roundup aka glyphosate?
Kills beneficial gut bacteria, found in urine, found in breastmilk, and it is an endocrine disruptor
What is the relationship between plants and parasitoid wasps?
Release volatile compound, attracts wasps to plant to then lay eggs in pest