Plants in Society First Midterm Study Guide questions and correct answers
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• What are the fundamental properties of
... [Show More] life?
o Grow and Reproduce
o Ability to Respond
o Ability to Evolve and Adapt
o Metabolism
o Organized Structure
o Organic Composition
• What are the four molecules of life? Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins and Nucleic Acids
• What are the major ranks of the taxonomic hierarchy? Know the major plant divisions (e.g. angiosperms, gymnosperms and more)
o Domain: Bacteria, Archaea, Eurkaryota
o Kingdom: Animalia, Fungi, Protista, Plant
o Phylum and Divisions
▪ Angiosperms: a plant that has flowers and produces seeds enclosed within a carpel. The angiosperms are a large group and include herbaceous plants, shrubs, grasses, and most trees
▪ Bryophyta: Mosses and Liverwort
▪ Gymnosperm: a plant that has seeds unprotected by an ovary or fruit.
▪ Pterdiphyta: Ferns
o Class
o Order
o Family
o Genus
o Species
• What are the three domains of life? Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryote
• What are the main macronutrients and how do our bodies use them?
o Carb
▪ Sugars and complex carbs
▪ Monosaccharides: Glucose, Fructose, and Galactose
▪ Disaccharides: Sucrose, Lactose, and Maltose
▪ Polysaccharides
▪ Starch, Glycogen, Cellulose (Fiber)
o Fats
▪ Essential fatty acids
▪ Saturated: Carbon- hydrogen bonds are all single (mono fats have a 1 double bond, poly have 2, trans and ci are the same except the positions of the double bond) Animal fats, palm, coconuts. Can be engineered through hydrogenation (adding H2) Saturated fats are solid at room temp
▪ Unsaturated: liquid at room temp,
o Proteins
▪ Built of amino acids
▪ Humans need 9 from diet to live
▪ Complete: animal meats- animals able to synthesis stuff we cant
▪ Incomplete: plants
▪ Rabbit starvation: all diet is protein. Humans can only metabolized 285-365g /day
• Know the difference between LDL and HDL and their role in cholesterol transport within the body (pg. 158).
o Cholesterol is a subcategory of lipids known as steroids. Cholesterol is synthesized in the liver from saturated fatty acids and is absorbed in the intestines. They are insoluble in water so they are coated with water soluble proteins (lipoproteins)
o Low Density Lipoproteins: transport cholesterol to the body’s cells. Considered bad because they can build up on arteries
– Atherosclerosis
o High Density Lipoproteins: removes excess cholesterol and takes it to the liver for it to be removed. These are considered to be good since they prevent build up
• Know the main micronutrients, what they do, what happens if we don’t ingest them and good sources for each. Be familiar with the main deficiency diseases.
o Minerals: Calcium, chromium, iron, iodine, magnesium, zinc
o Vitamins
▪ Fat soluble and storable in the body
▪ A: needed for vision, cell growth and maintenance. Dairy, vegetables and liver meat. Deficiency = blindness and death Too much can also kill you ie eating polar bear liver
▪ D: Regulates calcium and phosphorus, helps in bone growth. Get it from the sun. Deficiency: Rickets (bending legs). Too much can make you sick
▪ Water soluble and not ease to store and therefore run out faster
▪ B complex: group of 8 coenzymes needed for basic metabolic reactions
▪ Thiamine: bran Deficiency: Beriberi
▪ Niacin: Deficiency: pellagra and the 3 D’s
▪ B12: Deficiency: Anemia causing body not to get enough oxygen
▪ C: need to synthesize collagen (connective tissue) and protects against free radicals. Deficiency= Scurvy (teeth fall out, scars open). After 2000mg/day you pee it out
• Know the health benefits and potential risk factors associated with being a vegetarian or vegan.
o Limits sources of nutrients
▪ Proteins cannot be obtained from meat
▪ Essential aa are not always obtained
▪ B12 hard to get
• Know the different centers of domestication and the species that originated from each. How have their locations affected human history?
o Domestication: is getting seeds and examining traits and only replanting the desired ones
o Centers of domestication first proposed by Nicolai Vavilov
o Fertile crescent: wheat, oats, barley, peas, cattle, goats, sheep
o China: Rice, hemp, soybean, pigs, poultry
o North America: Maize, sunflowers, tomato
o South America: Potato, cotton, tobacco, peppers
o Africa: Coffee, millet
o New Guinea: Sugar cane
o Animal domestication limited by: slow growth and long gaps between births, reluctant to breed in captivity, and pressure and panic in closed areas
• Why the Fertile Crescent is considered the most important center of domestication?
o Crescent shape region around Mesopotamia and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Nile River and Red Sea
o The Fertile Crescent can be considered the most important center of domestication because it was the origin civilization as a whole.
o The land was very fertile and allowed for agriculture, cultivation and domestication to rise
o Fertile Crescent: place of the oldest proof of agriculture
• Know the four most globally important agricultural crops, their origins, history and current uses.
Crops Origins and History Cultivation Current Issues
Sugar Cane Domesticated in New Guinea 8000 years ago Moved west to India Brought westward by Greek and Arab traders Islamic expansion brought it to the Mediterranean Columbus brought sugar with him to West Indies Cultivated through stem cutting
12-16 moths from planting to harvest Harvested manually or mechanically
Stems crushed to release sap
Sap used to make sugar, molasses and bagasse Manual harvesting is very Labour intensive and dangerous
Sugar and Slavery: 13 million Africans taken to new world to harvest Today processed foods contain a large amount of sugar
Maize/ Corn Originated in Balsas River Valley in Mexico And was the domesticated in New World from Teosinte Annual grass that grows 2.5m tall. Grow best temps>23 C and 370- 500mm rain
Has 3-5 month growing season
Seeded in spring is very dense to increase yield Basically all corn is GMO Requires herbicides and fertilizers that are harmful to the soil Mono cropping lowers soil fertility
Few farmers, but larger farms due to
government regulations
Wheat Domesticated in the Middle East 9000 years ago Annual grass 1m tall Needs 300-900mm of rain per year
Prefers cool temperatures Germ and bran is removed to increase storage life but White flour lack nutrients Whole grain has more fiber
Gluten is a protein in wheat that many people are in tolerate too (Coeliac disease: autoimmune disease that damages villi in
intestine)
Rice Earliest cultivation was 11500 years ago in eastern China and northern India Grows 1m tall in wet and dry fields
Paddies
Seed are germinated in seedbeds
Fields are tilled, fertilized and flooded
Seedling are transplanted at 3-5 weeks
Soil is kept wet during growth to limit weeds but then is allowed to
dry for harvest Rice cultivation is very labor intensive.
Water levels need to be controlled
Complex infrastructure is needed: canals, dikes and walls
China is no longer self sufficient
Labor has become more expensive
Land in China has become heavily polluted
and less suitable for
cultivation
• Know this for potatoes and the history of the Irish Potato Famine.
o A famine in Ireland in the nineteenth century caused by the failure of successive potato crops in the 1840s. Many in Ireland starved, and many emigrated. More than a million Irish came to the United States during the famine.
o Origins: trace back to South America (before Ireland and Idaho)
o Cultivation: round white, russet, round red and long white
o Nutrients: rich in carbs, good source of essential aa and good source of vitamins and minerals
• Be able to explain the relationship between sugar and the African slave trade
o 4.2
o Sugarcane came to the Caribbean islands with Columbus 2nd voyage. It spread to other islands. The Portuguese started plantations in South America. The growing sugarcane was the establishment of slavery. Decimation of the native populations led to the need for new workers
o Triangular trade: slaves from Africa to the west indies, rum and sugar from the west indies to Britain, firearms, cloth, salt, and ect from Britain to Africa
o When the slave trade was abolished slaves still worked on sugar plantations
• The role of corn in modern food production.
o >40% of Corn is used to feed livestock
o 8% as sweeteners
o 2.7% as human consumption
o 1% as alcohol
o Earl Butz: changed food policies and as a result corn became a staple ingredient in food production, This made food cheaper and more abundant allowing low income families the opportunity to buy more food
o Corn syrup is used in numerous foods because its cheap, enhances flavor, browns foods, and takes away acidity
o Also corn fed livestock influence humans. Cows can’t digest corn and are not allowed to graze. Produce obese cows which meat is then passed off as healthy.
• Cassava is an important root crop that we haven’t had time to discuss in class. Read that section and understand the basics (e.g. origin, nutritional value, uses, difficulties in cultivation and consuming, etc.)
o Origin: South America
o Cultivation: Tall shrub with tuberous roots that look similar to sweet potatoes. Buds are planted and after require little attention. Can tolerate wide range of temperatures and conditions and even in nutrient poor soils. Harvesting is flexible because root continue to grow and do not decay
o Nutritional values: contains poisonous hydrocyanic acid (HCN) which can be cause death if not removed (removed by cyanogenic glycosides). When low HCN they can be eaten when cooked, When high HCN they must be detoxified. Starch is one of the main nutrients however very low in protein. In some places the leaves are cooked as a source of protein
o Uses: 65% human consumption, 20% animal feed, commercial starch production
• Understand the importance of pollinators for modern agriculture and angiosperms in general.
o Sudden Colony Collapse Disorder
▪ Rapid decline of honey bee colonies in Europe and North America
▪ Large implications for many forms of agriculture
▪ 90% crops dependent upon pollination
o Possible connection with neonicotinoids
▪ Recently introduced class of insecticides
▪ Imidacloprid the most widely used insecticide in the world.
▪ Used primarily against sucking insects [Show Less]