Topic
Plants and Society
Framing Question
What is biodiversity, how do humans affect it, and how does it affect humans?
Learning Objectives
- Analyze data from a recent paper on ecosystem biodiversity and evaluate the authors’ conclusions.
- Using Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) data sets, examine historical and current biodiversity data for a particular region and illustrate how the physical environment and biodiversity have changed as a result of human activity.
- For a given crop plant (corn, Brassica, wheat, soy, potato, tomato, bean, banana, etc.) compare its structure, reproduction, genetics, and adaptation relative to its wild ancestors.
- Select a crop plant (e.g., corn, rice, potato) and trace the evolutionary changes that occurred through human domestication of the wild relative.
- Compare the size, distribution, and culture of a human population before and during the introduction of agriculture.
- Compare the size, distribution, and culture of a human population as agriculture became more sophisticated after 1900.
