scholarly journals Foraging and farming as niche construction: stable and unstable adaptations

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 849-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Rowley-Conwy ◽  
Robert Layton
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
History Of ◽  
Abrupt Climatic Change

All forager (or hunter–gatherer) societies construct niches, many of them actively by the concentration of wild plants into useful stands, small-scale cultivation, burning of natural vegetation to encourage useful species, and various forms of hunting, collectively termed ‘low-level food production’. Many such niches are stable and can continue indefinitely, because forager populations are usually stable. Some are unstable, but these usually transform into other foraging niches, not geographically expansive farming niches. The Epipalaeolithic (final hunter–gatherer) niche in the Near East was complex but stable, with a relatively high population density, until destabilized by an abrupt climatic change. The niche was unintentionally transformed into an agricultural one, due to chance genetic and behavioural attributes of some wild plant and animal species. The agricultural niche could be exported with modifications over much of the Old World. This was driven by massive population increase and had huge impacts on local people, animals and plants wherever the farming niche was carried. Farming niches in some areas may temporarily come close to stability, but the history of the last 11 000 years does not suggest that agriculture is an effective strategy for achieving demographic and political stability in the world's farming populations.

Indigenous American Agricultural Contributions to Modern Global Food Systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria C. Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Genetic Relationships ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Important Food ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Plants ◽  
Chili Peppers

World food systems in the 21st century comprise domesticated plant and animal species that originated from nearly every continent on the globe, spread through exchange and trade, and have been taken up by farmers and cooks worldwide. The indigenous inhabitants of the Americas domesticated several of the worlds’ most important food crops, including maize, potatoes, chili peppers, and quinoa. They also domesticated several animal species, two of which, llamas and alpacas, have become important as alternative herd animals outside of their native Andes. While maize, potatoes, and chili peppers became important globally in the 16th and 17th centuries as part of the Columbian Exchange, llamas/alpacas and quinoa have only gained worldwide prominence in the 20th and 21st centuries. Unraveling the history of how, where, when, and why these species were domesticated requires the expertise of researchers in the fields of biology, genetics, and archaeology. Domestication is the process by which humans transform wild plant or animal populations into forms that can only be maintained with human intervention. Humans build upon the natural variation in these species but select traits that while desirable for humans, would not be beneficial to survival without them. Using a range of evidence from the remains of ancient plants and animals recovered from archaeological sites to the study of the genetic relationships of living and ancient plant and animal populations, these researchers are revealing how ancient American populations created some of the world’s most important food sources.

scholarly journals General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 836-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Niche Construction ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Landscape Modification ◽  
Root Crops ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
Human Management ◽  
Animal Resources ◽  
Industrial Societies

Niche construction efforts by small-scale human societies that involve ‘wild’ species of plants and animals are organized into a set of six general categories based on the shared characteristics of the target species and similar patterns of human management and manipulation: (i) general modification of vegetation communities, (ii) broadcast sowing of wild annuals, (iii) transplantation of perennial fruit-bearing species, (iv) in-place encouragement of economically important perennials, (v) transplantation and in-place encouragement of perennial root crops, and (vi) landscape modification to increase prey abundance in specific locations. Case study examples, mostly drawn from North America, are presented for each of the six general categories of human niche construction. These empirically documented categories of ecosystem engineering form the basis for a predictive model that outlines potential general principles and commonalities in how small-scale human societies worldwide have modified and manipulated their ‘natural’ landscapes throughout the Holocene.

Workshop 7 (synthesis): towards a recycling society: systems approach to small-scale reuse of human waste

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 175-176
Author(s):  
Ausaf-ur Rahman ◽  
Jan-Olof Drangert
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Human Waste ◽  
Nutrient Flows ◽  
Human Excreta ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Recycling Society ◽  
Alternative Solutions

Population increase and growing quantities of human excreta create serious problems and high risks for people's health. Alternative solutions are becoming crucial to improve urban living conditions, and to shorten water and nutrient flows into circulation of used water and nutrient in human excreta. The speakers presented a wide range of experiences of “closing the loops” and thereby turning potential waste into productive use. The focus of the workshop deliberations was on simplifying the hygienisation of urine and faeces and the reuse in food production by using urine-diverting toilets, as well as innovative ways to recycle sewage after various stages of treatment.

scholarly journals Wild Plants Used as Herbs and Spices in Italy: An Ethnobotanical Review

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 563
Author(s):  
Riccardo Motti
Keyword(s):  
Food Plants ◽  
Wild Edible Plants ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Wild Food Plants ◽  
Edible Plants ◽  
Phytochemical Compounds ◽  
Herbs And Spices

Wild edible plants are an essential component of people’s diets in the Mediterranean basin. In Italy, ethnobotanical surveys have received increasing attention in the past two centuries, with some of these studies focusing on wild edible plants. In this regard, the literature in Italy lacks the coverage of some major issues focusing on plants used as herbs and spices. I searched national journals for articles on the use of wild food plants in Italy, published from 1963 to 2020. Aims of the present review were to document plant lore regarding wild herbs and spices in Italy, identify the wild plants most frequently used as spices, analyze the distribution of wild herbs and spices used at a national scale, and finally, to describe the most common phytochemical compounds present in wild plant species. Based on the 34 studies reviewed, I documented 78 wild taxa as being used in Italy as herbs or spices. The studies I included in this systematic review demonstrate that wild species used as herbs and spices enrich Italian folk cuisine and can represent an important resource for profitable, integrated local small-scale activities.

Craft Beer's Unlikely Alchemist

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
Theresa McCulla
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Intellectual Curiosity ◽  
Brewing Industry ◽  
Washing Machine ◽  
Craft Beer ◽  
History Of

In 1965, Frederick (Fritz) Maytag III began a decades-long revitalization of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California. This was an unexpected venture from an unlikely brewer; for generations, Maytag's family had run the Maytag Washing Machine Company in Iowa and he had no training in brewing. Yet Maytag's career at Anchor initiated a phenomenal wave of growth in the American brewing industry that came to be known as the microbrewing—now “craft beer”—revolution. To understand Maytag's path, this article draws on original oral histories and artifacts that Maytag donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History via the American Brewing History Initiative, a project to document the history of brewing in the United States. The objects and reflections that Maytag shared with the museum revealed a surprising link between the birth of microbrewing and the strategies and culture of mass manufacturing. Even if the hallmarks of microbrewing—a small-scale, artisan approach to making beer—began as a backlash against the mass-produced system of large breweries, they relied on Maytag's early, intimate connections to the assembly-line world of the Maytag Company and the alchemy of intellectual curiosity, socioeconomic privilege, and risk tolerance with which his history equipped him.

Recasting Bourgeois Europe

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles S. Maier ◽  
Charles S. Maier
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Group Representation ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
European History ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Country Analysis ◽  
Economic Stabilization

The author, one of the most prominent contemporary scholars of European history, published this, his first book, in 1975. Based on extensive archival research, the book examines how European societies progressed from a moment of social vulnerability to one of political and economic stabilization. Arguing that a common trajectory calls for a multi country analysis, the book provides a comparative history of three European nations—France, Germany, and Italy—and argues that they did not simply return to a prewar status quo, but achieved a new balance of state authority and interest group representation. While most previous accounts presented the decade as a prelude to the Depression and dictatorships, the author suggests that the stabilization of the 1920s, vulnerable as it was, foreshadowed the more enduring political stability achieved after World War II. The immense and ambitious scope of this book, its ability to follow diverse histories in detail, and its effort to explain stabilization—and not just revolution or breakdown—have made it a classic of European history.

Study of Diabetic Mellitus and Knowledge of Lotion Foot Care on the Community

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hariyadi DM ◽  
Athiyah U ◽  
Hendradi E ◽  
Rosita N ◽  
Erawati T ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
T Test ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Foot Care ◽  
Diabetic Mellitus ◽  
Glucose Levels ◽  
Blood Glucose Levels ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of

The prevention of Diabetic Mellitus (DM) and its complications is the main aim of this study, in addition to the training of lotion foot care application and the development of small scale industry. The research team delivered knowledge in the form of training on Diabetic Mellitus, healthy food, treatment and prevention of complications, and small-scale production of cosmetic products. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between training on diabetic and lotion foot care application as preventive measures against diabetic complications on the patient's blood glucose levels in the community of residents in Banyuurip Jaya, Surabaya. It was expected from this training that the knowledge of the residents increases and people living with diabetic undergo lifestyle changes and therefore blood sugar levels can be controlled. The parameters measured in this research were blood glucose levels, the anti diabetic drug types consumed, and compliance on diabetics. This study used the data taken from 60 patients with DM over a period of one month. Questionnaires and log books was used to retrieve data and changes in blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. The results showed the demographic data of patients with type 2 diabetic of 85% female and 15% male, with the range of patients aged of 61-70 years of 46.67% and had history of diabetic (90%). The history of drugs consumed by respondents was anti diabetic drugs such as metformin (40%), glimepiride (33.37%) and insulin (6.67%). In addition, the increased knowledge of DM patients after being given the training compared to before training was shown in several questions in the questionnaire. A statistical analysis using t-test analyzed a correlation between training provided in order to enhance understanding of the patient, as well as correlation with blood glucose levels. A paired T-test showed that there was a relationship between the knowledge of trainees before and after training (p less than 0.05). An interesting result was that there was no relationship between blood glucose levels before and after training provided (p> 0.05).

Design and Operation of Small Wastewater Treatment Plants by the Microbial Film Process

1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 139-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Iwai ◽  
Y. Oshino ◽  
T. Tsukada
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Waste Water Treatment ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Fishing Villages ◽  
Sewer Systems ◽  
Water Treatment Plants ◽  
History Of ◽  
Microbial Film

Although the ratio of sewer systems to population in Japan has been improving in recent years, the construction of sewer systems in small communities such as farming or fishing villages, etc. had lagged behind that of urban areas. However, construction of small-scale sewer systems in farming and fishing villages has been actively carried out in recent years. This report explains the history of the promotion of small-scale sewer systems, why submerged filter beds are being employed in many cases, and introduces the design, operation and maintenance of representative waste-water treatment plants in farming and fishing villages which incorporate de-nitrogen and dephosphorization.

Dysbaric osteonecrosis associated with decompression sickness in a fishing diver

2019 ◽  
pp. 217-220
Author(s):  
Eduardo Briceño-Souza ◽  
◽  
Nina Méndez-Domínguez ◽  
Ricardo j Cárdenas-Dajda ◽  
Walter Chin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Femoral Head ◽  
Decompression Sickness ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Radiological Findings ◽  
Small Scale Fisheries ◽  
Left Limb ◽  
History Of ◽  
Decompression Stress ◽  
Probable Diagnosis

Diving as a method of fishing is used worldwide in small-scale fisheries. However, one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality among fishermen is decompression sickness (DCS). We report the case of a 46-year-old male fisherman diver who presented with chronic inguinal pain that radiated to the lower left limb. Living and working in a fishing port in Yucatan, he had a prior history of DCS. A diagnosis of avascular necrosis in the left femoral head secondary to DCS was made via analysis of clinical and radiological findings. The necrosis was surgically resolved by a total hip arthroplasty. Dysbaric osteonecrosis is a more probable diagnosis. In this region fishermen undergo significant decompression stress in their daily fishing efforts. Further studies regarding prevalence of dysbaric osteonecrosis among small-scale fisheries divers are needed. In a community where DCS is endemic and has become an epidemic, as of late, the perception of this health risk remains low. Furthermore, training and decompression technique are lacking among the fishing communities.

scholarly journals Shoot Multiplication and Callus Induction of Labisia pumila var. alata as Influenced by Different Plant Growth Regulators Treatments and Its Polyphenolic Activities Compared with the Wild Plant

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3229
Author(s):  
Mat Yunus Najhah ◽  
Hawa Z. E. Jaafar ◽  
Jaafar Juju Nakasha ◽  
Mansor Hakiman
Keyword(s):  
Callus Induction ◽  
Antioxidant Activities ◽  
Shoot Multiplication ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Total Phenolic ◽  
Nodal Segment ◽  
Ms Medium ◽  
In Vitro Plantlets

This study aims to investigate whether the in vitro-cultured L. pumila var. alata has higher antioxidant activity than its wild plant. An 8-week-old L. pumila var. alata nodal segment and leaf explants were cultured onto Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various cytokinins (zeatin, kinetin, and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP)) for shoot multiplication and auxins (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and picloram) for callus induction, respectively. The results showed that 2 mg/L zeatin produced the optimal results for shoot and leaf development, and 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D produced the highest callus induction results (60%). After this, 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D was combined with 0.25 mg/L cytokinins and supplemented to the MS medium. The optimal results for callus induction (100%) with yellowish to greenish and compact texture were obtained using 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D combined with 0.25 mg/L zeatin. Leaves obtained from in vitro plantlets and wild plants as well as callus were extracted and analyzed for their antioxidant activities (DPPH and FRAP methods) and polyphenolic properties (total flavonoid and total phenolic content). When compared with leaf extracts of in vitro plantlets and wild plants of L. pumila var. alata, the callus extract displayed significantly higher antioxidant activities and total phenolic and flavonoid content. Hence, callus culture potentially can be adapted for antioxidant and polyphenolic production to satisfy pharmaceutical and nutraceutical needs while conserving wild L. pumila var. alata.

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