| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Large cities were made possible when | people domesticated wild plants and animals and developed agricultaral systems |
| Domestication | (started 12,000 years ago) modified from its wild ancestors for use by humans |
| Ealy Domestication | (unintentional) seeds were brought back by hunter-gatherers foaging in the wild grew by accident in latrines and garbage dumps |
| Later domestication | (conscious) scientists planted many different seeds, selected the best progeny and planted their seeds |
| 2 types of Agricultural systems | 1. sun > grass > herbivore > man 2. sun >grain crop > man |
| Agricultural systems | based on photosynthesis (converting energy of sun to energy of sugar) |
| photosynthesis | plants converting the energy of the sun to the energy of sugar |
| plant/animal lost Energy | during respiration and when it is incorporated into the tissues of the plants/cow |
| Genetically modified rice | contains beta carotene (vitamin A) - improves eyesight and immune system |
| How to make golden rice | 1. beta carotene gene taken from daffodil 2. genes insered into DNA of bacteria 3. bacteria inserts gene into rice embryos |
| Biopharming | take a gene from an animal or plant and insert it into an agriculual plant - the engineered agricultural plant makes the protein specified by the inserted gene |
| Pharmageddon | foods with human genes |
| frankenfood | foods with unnatural proteins |
| Domestic Crops | seleced for maximum productivity and had little natural pest resistance |
| Pests | attack our food crops - this problem is due to not selecting the right resistance during domestication |
| DDT | invented in the 1940's and viewed as a miracle for farmers and safe |
| Potato Famine (Ireland) | caused by genetically uniform crops and lack of pesticides to protect them |
| Presticides Resistance (DDT) | in the beginning, most pests were sensitive to DDT - the pests that were not survived and reproduced |
| Biomagnification | the concentration of presticides in higher level of food chains |
| trophic levels | energy is lost at each level - at each level, when it eats its enemy it uses energy |
| DDT in Food Chain | concentrated as it moved up food chain - this is because energy is lost (from respieration) as it goes up food chain but DDT is not |
| Bald Eagle | once was widely distributed over U.S. - DDt affected this animals ability to reproduce - egg shells were too thin - was endangered but now is threatened |
| Environmental protection Agency | banned DDT in 1972 |
| peregrine falcon | nests on cliffs with keen eyesight - feeds on other birds - after DDT was introduced it weakened the birds egg shells |
| endangered species act of 1973 | secretary of the interior determines whether a species is endangered or threatened and the secretary developts and implements recovery plans for hte conservation of endangered species |
| Endangered species | any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range |
| threatened species | any species that is likely to beome an endangered species within the forseeable future |
| Organic | foods produced without hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers, genetic modification or germ killing radiation |
| humans and water | body is 55-60% water and the quality of life is directly proportional to the amount of available fresh water per person |
| cholera | caused by bacteria - produces toxin that damage cells of small intestine - sever diarrhea and dehydration - die of dehydration |
| Water consumption | most is used for irrigation of crops, especially feed crops for livestock |
| water in plants | used for photosynthesis and forimportant nutrients |
| natural rain | water in rain combines with cabon dioxide to form carbonic acid (below pH 7 - slightly acidic) |
| acid rain | sulfura and nitrogen oxides from the burning of fossil fuels combine with water in rain to form sulfuric and nitric acids (pH below 5.6 - acidic) |
| high smoke stacks | inject sulfur and nitrogen emissions into upper atmosphere |
| fisheries biologists | first to detect effects of acid rain on the biotic components of lakes |
| Clean Air Act | in 1990, congress amended this act to require polluters to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide |
| Acidic lakes | european lakes have decline but north american lakes have not declined |
| coronary heart disease | the single leading cause of death in the U.S. - caused by the narrowing of the arteries due to fatty buildup of plaque |
| Omega 3 | not found in conventional human diets - improves the health of the cardiovasulcar system by lowering levels of triglycerides |
| effects of Mercury | first recognized in the tragedy in Japan - impaired neruological development of unborn (thinking, attention, language, motor skills, memory...) - affects adults too |
| Minamata disease | industrial pollution had released mercury into waters near japan for decades - fish became highly contaminated with mercury - pregnant women consumed a lot of fish and had children with severe health problems |
| US drug administration and USEPA | advise women who may become pregnant to avoid some types of fishand shellfish |
| Mercury emissions | coal burning power plants release this into the atmosphere - some of it falls out close to the plant while other travels long distances |
| methylated | mercury doesn't enter the food chain until it is _____ |
| mercury methylation | the conversion of inorganic mercury to methylmercury |
| bacterial methylation | the dominant pathway in the environment |
| fish with mercury: | tilefish, swordfish, shark, tuna, halibut, mahi mahi.... |
| the Bush administration | passed laws requiring a 70% reduction in mercury from coal fired power plants by 2025 |
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