B6.2: Feeding The Human Race Flashcards
What is food security?
A measure of the availability of food required to support people in a household, region, or specified area
What is sustainable food production?
Producing food in ways that can be continued indefinitely
What are biological factors affecting food security?
- increasing human population
- changing diets in wealthier populations
- new pests and pathogens
- environmental change
What are some possible agricultural solutions to the demands of the growing human population?
- Increased use of hydroponics
- using fertilisers to help the land to remain fertile
- removing competition and pests by herbicides
- planting variety of crops, high in yield or pest resistant
What are hydroponics?
Growing plants by exposing their roots to a nutrient rich water solution instead of soil, usually inside a greenhouse
What is organic farming?
Natural methods of producing crops and animals
Avoids artificial chemicals
What are disadvantages of organic farming?
- smaller yields
- more expensive
What are advantages of organic farming?
Used in consideration of animal welfare and environmental sustainability
What is intensive farming?
Aim to produce maximum yield of crops and animals breeding
What are advantages of intensive farming?
- maximum food product yield
- cheaper
- minimal land
What are disadvantages of intensive farming?
Does not consider animal or plant welfare
How do farmers carry out intensive farming?
Using fertilisers and pesticides to aid plant growth
Maximising animal growth
Minimising human labour by using machinery
What is eutrophication?
Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which cause a dense growth of plant life and eath of animal life from lack of oxygen
What is selective breeding?
Living organisms with desired traits are bred so as to produce such traits in offspring
What are benefits of selective breeding?
- economically benefit, quality
- animals that dont cause harm are selected
What are risks of selective breeding?
- reduced genetic variation
- rare diseases
What is fish farming?
Large scale, intensive farming where fish are bred and mature in enclosed ponds
What is genetic engineering?
Scientists can remove a gene from one organism and insert it into the DNA of another organism
Why is genetic engineering important?
Allows for the reduced needs of pesticides
Helps with cancer research
Vaccines
What is step 1 of genetic engineering?
1) Cut DNA – Use restriction enzymes to cut out the gene with sticky ends
What is step 2 of genetic engineering?
2) Open Plasmid – Cut a plasmid and glue in the gene using ligase
What is step 3 of genetic engineering
3) Add to Bacteria – Put the plasmid into host bacteria like E. coli.
What is step 4 of genetic engineering?
4) Use antibiotic resistance markers to find the right ones.
What is step 5 of genetic engineering?
5) Make Protein – Bacteria use the gene to make the desired protein
