Domestication of plants and animals

II, 000 and 3000 BC (Figure 7.1). Reasons might be natural climate change, which lead to the end-Pleistocene megafaunal mass extinction and/or overkill. As a result, humans became sedentary and started with domestication of plants and animals. This Neolithic revolution was the beginning of agriculture. It was combined with an increase of birth rates and the start of urbanization. It was the begiiming of... 

Gupta AK. Origin of agriculture and domestication of plants and animals linked to early Holocene climate amehoration. Curr Sd 10 July 2004 87(1) 54—9. 

The debate intensified recently with the publication of Richards et al. (2003), which claimed that, in Britain at least, on the evidence of bone collagen < 13, the transition from the Mesolithic to Neolithic (c. 4000 cal. bc) was a sharp one, with a complete abandonment of marine resources in the Neolithic, even by coastal communities (Fig. 8.10). This was further interpreted as being the result of a very rapid adoption of the Neolithic lifestyle of plant and animal domestication, contrary to earlier views which argued for a gradual shift. Perhaps predictably, this has provoked a sharp debate focusing on both the interpretation of isotopic evidence (Milner et al. 2003) and on evidence to the contrary for other parts of Europe (Liden et al. 2003). Milner et al. (2003) summarize the assumptions upon which the... 

Cultural selection—Selection by humans of individual animals having some desirable, genetically based traits, leading to evolution at the population level. This selective breeding eventually results in the development of distinctive varieties of domesticated species of plants and animals. 

In natural populations, most phenotypic variation is continuous and is effected by alleles at multiple loci. Although this quantitative variation fuels evolutionary change and has been exploited in the domestication and genetic improvement of plants and animals, the identification and isolation of the genes rmderlying this variation have been difficult. 

Diamond, J. 2002. Evolution, consequences and the future of plant and animal domestication. Nature 418, 700-707. 

Derived plant and animal products make better use or upgrade the nutritional quaHty of already existing materials or products. Synthetic and manufactured products arose from knowledge of the functional properties of food ingredients and of human and animal nutrition that involved more precise definition of nutrient requirements for growth, reproduction, lactation, and body maintenance in both humans and domestic Hvestock. Pood products have been developed to meet human needs under abnormal environments, eg, military rations for arctic, tropical, or desert environments, and special products for astronauts ia space flights. 

A risk estimate indicates Uie likelihood of occurrence of the different types of health or enviroinnental effects in exposed populations. Risk assessment should include both liuimn health and environmental evaluations (i.c., impacts on ecosystems). Ecological impacts include actual or potential effects on plants and animals (other than domesticated species). The number produced from the risk characleriznlion, representing the probability of adi crse... 

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