Stephen B. Brush
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300100495
- eISBN:
- 9780300130140
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300100495.003.0006
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This chapter examines the nature of farmer selection using material from research on wheat diversity in Turkey. It discusses how the application of Mendelian genetics to crop improvement, coupled ...
More
This chapter examines the nature of farmer selection using material from research on wheat diversity in Turkey. It discusses how the application of Mendelian genetics to crop improvement, coupled with the rise of industrial processes, and markets for agricultural inputs, has radically changed the context and nature of crop evolution. Nevertheless, agricultural development, like other human patterns, involves both linear and nonlinear processes. Linear processes include the dispersal of human ideas and technology, and increasing specialization and integration, and have predictable effects on crop evolution and diversity. Non-linear processes include cultural resistance to dispersal, the balancing of tradeoffs between competing goals, and the obstacles arising in habitats that are spatially structured by environmental and social heterogeneity. The result is that breeder-based crop evolution has become an important but not an inevitably hegemonic force in the future of crop ecology in centers of diversity.Less
This chapter examines the nature of farmer selection using material from research on wheat diversity in Turkey. It discusses how the application of Mendelian genetics to crop improvement, coupled with the rise of industrial processes, and markets for agricultural inputs, has radically changed the context and nature of crop evolution. Nevertheless, agricultural development, like other human patterns, involves both linear and nonlinear processes. Linear processes include the dispersal of human ideas and technology, and increasing specialization and integration, and have predictable effects on crop evolution and diversity. Non-linear processes include cultural resistance to dispersal, the balancing of tradeoffs between competing goals, and the obstacles arising in habitats that are spatially structured by environmental and social heterogeneity. The result is that breeder-based crop evolution has become an important but not an inevitably hegemonic force in the future of crop ecology in centers of diversity.
Daniel Zohary, Ehud Weiss, and Maria Hopf*
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199549061
- eISBN:
- 9780191810046
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199549061.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
This chapter reviews the main sources of archaeological evidence on which the present-day assessment of crop-plant evolution is derived. The recovery of species of plant fossils during archaeological ...
More
This chapter reviews the main sources of archaeological evidence on which the present-day assessment of crop-plant evolution is derived. The recovery of species of plant fossils during archaeological excavations contribute greatly to the exploration of crop-plant evolution. These plant remains are helpful in answering the following questions: When and where do we find the earliest signs of domesticated crops? How and when did the crops spread to attain their present distributions? What were the early cultigens like? What were the main changes in the crops once they were introduced into cultivation? Where and when did these changes take place? This chapter addresses the preceding questions by examining fossil evidence from living plants. It also discusses the significance of radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology in accumulating archaeological remains.Less
This chapter reviews the main sources of archaeological evidence on which the present-day assessment of crop-plant evolution is derived. The recovery of species of plant fossils during archaeological excavations contribute greatly to the exploration of crop-plant evolution. These plant remains are helpful in answering the following questions: When and where do we find the earliest signs of domesticated crops? How and when did the crops spread to attain their present distributions? What were the early cultigens like? What were the main changes in the crops once they were introduced into cultivation? Where and when did these changes take place? This chapter addresses the preceding questions by examining fossil evidence from living plants. It also discusses the significance of radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology in accumulating archaeological remains.
