BIO220H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Folivore, Columbian Exchange, Crop Rotation
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BIO220H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Humans have emerged a few million years ago, but modern agriculture did not arise until a few million years ago. Anatomically modern humans emerged quite later to the scene. Hunter-gather diets were quite opportunistic and unreliable, the human species was not well adapted to folivory. Human feeds were often tubers, seeds and fruits. If fruits and seeds were quite tasty, this would function as dispersal for plants. Seeds and tubers are energy-storage organs, which were good for resources and carbohydrates. Original crops were products of artificial selection on native plants. Much of the early work was focused on grasses, with symbiotic associations with bacteria. Ancient technological innovations, humans had replaced sticks with plows which had considerably altered agriculture. The rise of crop rotation and draft animals were added. In 1492, there was a widespread exchange known as the columbian exchange. Net consequences was that humans were replaced by stability, rise of cities.
