Domestication of plants and animals 1

Question 1

Applied Biology

Answer 1

Anything which uses biological knowledge to solve ‘real-world’ problems.

Question 2

Pure biology

Answer 2

Aims to solve biological problems for the sake of learning.

Question 3

What are the earliest applications of biological knowledge?

Answer 3

Agriculture and medicine - inspires all biological medicine

Question 4

When was the origin of agriculture?

Answer 4

10,000 years ago

5,000 - was when human history evolved

Question 5

Why agriculture?

Answer 5

We moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming.
The earliest farmers worked longer hours, were malnourished, smaller and more diseased than hunter-gatherers.
Only in the long-run has technology made our lives more “comfortable” than hunter-gatherers.

Question 6

To switch to an agricultural lifestyle, which two conditions were necessary?

Answer 6

1) Domestication of crop species (‘opportunity’)

2) Agricultural lifestyle had to outcompete H-G lifestyle (‘motive’)

Question 7

What were possible tipping points?

Answer 7

Expanding population, diminishing prey, unpredictable climate, local depletion of resources.

Question 8

What was the hunger gap?

Answer 8

How hungry you would have to be to give up H-G lifestyle.
Once the transition is made competitive advantages accrue (‘auto-catalytic’)
The transition is generally irreversible, because population density increases.

Question 9

Proto-domestication

Answer 9

H-G societies undoubtedly gained experience of managing plants and animals.
Herding of animals? Dogs are earliest known domesticate (they manage local animal populations).
Management of plants and animals a likely pre-requisite for domestication.
Increasingly sedentary lifestyle also a pre-requisite.

Question 10

Domestication

Answer 10

The process in which humans take over the reproductive process of another animal species.
D is at the core of the switch to agriculture and it allowed farming to outcompete H-G.
The key signature of domestication is the genetic change in a species relative to its wild ancestors.

Question 11

History of domestication

Answer 11

10 independent centres of domestication.
Centres of domestication ≠ fertile areas.
Rather, the natural range of easily-domesticated species.
Early adoption of agriculture directly correlated with number and productivity of domesticable crops.

Question 12

How many domesticates are there?

Answer 12

400,000 species of plant – only around 200 domesticated.
12 plants provide 80% of the world’s food crop yield (maize, rice, potatoes etc)
Many millions of species of animal – less than 50 domesticated.
~25 used for food (inc. honeybee), or mixed use.
6 used primarily for transport, labour or materials (inc. silkworm)
Others mainly companions/pets (inc. dogs, cats)

Question 13

What are the ideal factors plants should have for domestication?

Answer 13

Edible.
Nutritious and high yielding in the wild.
Easily grown from seed.
Fast-growing annuals (so they only live for a year then die)
Storable.
Self-pollinating (so they don’t need insects)
Einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, barley, rice, lentils, pea, chickpea, beans, peanuts.

Question 14

What is the Mediterranean syndrome?

Answer 14

Ideal plant growth is usually seen in the med due to having a hot dry summer - therefore usually annuals are grown here.

Question 15

Why are there so few plants?

Answer 15

Hard to find easy to domesticate plants but some sub-optimal crops still are. Anything with multiple disadvantages are unlikely to be domesticated.
E.g. apples grow on trees - hence slow growth therefore disadvantage
Lettuce - hard to store
Almonds - in the wild they are highly poisonous

Question 16

Ideal factors animals should have for domestication

Answer 16

Big.
Simple diet. (No carnivores, no fussy eaters)
Breeds in captivity.
Fast-growing.
Not overly violent, not overly flighty.
Social structure – herding instinct, dominance hierarchy.

Question 17

Why is there so few domesticated animals?

Answer 17

148 species of big mammal, only ~15 domesticated.
Most of these domesticated by 2500 BC.
Cows & pigs domesticated independently in multiple places.
Smaller mammals, and birds, were also domesticated, but primarily in societies that lacked domesticated large mammals.
Bears - violent
Elephants (my fav :)) - slow growing, need lots of food
Horses, donkeys etc are good - used for transport

Question 18

Agriculture

Answer 18

Not necessary for domestication but assisted by exploiting domestication.
Transition period between H-G and agriculture based on exploiting a broad spectrum of resources.
Furthers the trend towards sedentary lifestyle.

Question 19

The fertile crescent

Answer 19

8 crops domesticated – some with high protein levels (e.g. chickpeas, barley)
4 animals domesticated – protein (milk - cows,sheep,goat), labour, transport, clothing.
Broadest domestication event - ‘a complete package’
Furthermore, the crops are highly productive and easily cultivated.`
This is where H-G settled. Close to big-game animals and sea (fishing).
Small hunger gap.

Question 20

The Americas

Answer 20

Multiple sites of domestication.
Paucity of (close to) easily domesticable species.
Americas settled ~20-15,000 years ago.
Initially abundant large game species rapidly declined.
However, lack of suitable crops led to late adoption of agriculture.
Large ‘hunger gap’ needed before eventual adoption.

Question 21

Food

Answer 21

Overall increase in yield of 138% in the last 50 years.

In developed countries an extraordinary confluence of farming, science, technology, distribution and retail.

Question 22

Jobs

Answer 22

Early farming allowed increased population density and habitation.
Gradual improvements in yield generated reliable surpluses.
More people could be fed than are needed to produce food.
Allowed development of specialist occupations - e.g. pottery

Question 23

Technology

Answer 23

Intensification of agriculture drove many technological innovations.
Specialization in society allowed these innovations to be refined.
Specialist trades also gave rise to their own innovations - e.g. things made for pottery workers
‘Technological spiral’

Question 24

Culture

Answer 24

Increasing population/urbanization resulted in the intensification of socio-cultural experience.
Agricultural surpluses allowed societies to sustain priests, artists, philosophers.
Customs and religions increase social cohesion.

Question 25

Government

Answer 25

Needed as society grows and increases in complexity.
Governments are delegated (initially) control of agricultural and labour surpluses.
Writing systems arose as a bureaucratic tool to manage resources.
Allowed institutionalization of warfare.

Question 26

History

Answer 26

The societies that adopted agriculture early will be more ‘advanced’.
Thus: early-adopting societies will outcompete late-adopting societies.
The bigger the head-start, the more unequal the competition is.
Agriculture was adopted earliest in Eurasia (may be due to them having a high number of big-seeded cereals and large mammals than elsewhere in the world)
The general course of world history was effectively determined by this.
Eurasia’s predominant east-west axis facilitated the spread of farming, technology, culture, ideas and writing.
Europe coupled prime agricultural land with the fertile crescent domestication package and know-how.
(Britain received crops late: fertile crescent crops not well adapted to damp climate)
The north-south axis of America prevented efficient transmission of domesticates between regions
Mostly a matter of latitude (day length, seasons), climate type also important.
Culture and technology also failed to spread within the Americas
The late start to agriculture was compounded by the accidents of geography.
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Question 27

Collision at Cajamarca

Answer 27

Pizarro arrived at Cajamarca with only 168 Spaniards, but a 5000 year head-start.
The Spaniards had horses, guns, armour.
European diseases had already destroyed the leadership of the Inca.
The Spanish knew the outcome of the conquest of the Aztec empire.