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Importance of Plants. Plants and People. Produce virtually all our food Provide medicine Influences Earth’s cycles water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and mineral nutrients. Botany. Study of plants More than 350,000 plant species Fewer than 20 plant species provide our food. Cultivation.
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Importance of Plants Plants and People
Produce virtually all our food • Provide medicine • Influences Earth’s cycles • water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and mineral nutrients
Botany • Study of plants • More than 350,000 plant species • Fewer than 20 plant species provide our food
Cultivation • Approx. 11,000 yrs ago in Middle East • Wheat, barley, lentil, and peas • 1st domesticated • Agriculture • Cultivar (Cultivated and variety) • Specific characteristic selected by humans
Food Crops • Classified partly by use and family • Cereals • Rice, wheat, corn, oats, sorghum, rye, and millet • 50% of worldwide calories
Food Crops • Root crops • Roots or underground stems • Rich in carbohydrates • Beets, radishes, carrots, rutabagas, turnips, potatoes, and yams
Food Crops • Legumes • Peas, beans, soybeans • Bear seeds in pods • Improve nitrogen content in soil • Symbiotic relationship with bacteria • Rhizobium
Food Crops • Fruits, Vegetables, and Nuts • Spices, Herbs, and Favorings
Food Production • Mass production of crops • Fertilizers • Pesticides • Consequences • Soil erosion • Depletion of fossil fuel and water supplies • Pollution and destruction of habitat
Nonfood Uses • Medicines • Clothing and Fabric Dyes • Fuels • Other Uses • Ornamental • Tourist attraction • Energy conservation
Plants and the Environment • Plant ecology • Producers make food for consumers • Photosynthesis • Organic compounds • Inorganic nutrients • Maintenance of soil
Interactions • Plant and animal • Pollination • Seed dispersal • Plant and microbe • Plant and humans • Food, shelter, medicine, etc • Weeds • Harmful plants
Critical Thinking • Discuss how the artificial selection by humans play a role in the origin of agricultural crops? How is artificial selection similar to natural selection? • Explain why plant materials entering the country are screened by government inspectors • If all animals disappeared from the Earth, what would the positive and negative effects be on plants?