Monoculture-Amy

1.) A monoculture is a system with very low diversity.  The advantages of monoculture are: The disadvantages of mono culture are:
 * Reduced plant competition for nutrients, space and solar radiation.
 * Control of undesirable organisms
 * Reduction of costs by limitations of specialized machinery
 * Maximize profit from the growing of high gross margin crops.
 * Closer attention to soil erosion is necessary.
 * Soil structure problems can become severe.
 * Requirements for successful monoculture are more demanding of management skills.
 * The farmer is completely dependent on chemical insecticides and similar methods of controlling insects and diseases.

2.) In monoculture systems, the conditions for pesticides are stable. Monoculture contributes much to the problems caused by pesticide use. Since there is only one kind of crop grown, pesticides usually stay in the same area the crop was originally growing. When there is greater pesticide use in monoculture systems there is a greater chance of the crop having no development in its growth. The constant exposure of insects to the same pesticides over and over again makes them resistant to such chemicals that no matter how much will be poured on the field they will continue to survive and reproduce.

3.) The environmental percentages of sprayed pesticides is over 98% insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including nontarget species, air, water, bottom sediments, and food. Pesticide contaminates land and water when it escapes from production sites and storage tanks, when it runs off from fields, when it is discarded, when it is sprayed aerially, and when it is sprayed into water to kill algae.

4.) Genetic engineering is tweaking the genes of a plant or animal to make it meet human needs. It is controversial because we don't know the long term effects and if it is safe for us.

5.) Pros of genetic engineering: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Cons of genetic engineering:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Better nutritional quality
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Resistant to pests
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">New substances such as proteins and other food nutrients.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Involves contamination of genes in crops
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Can create new pathogens
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Can cause side effects for humans

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">6.) Biodiversity protects crops by reducing pests and protection of the soil.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">7.) Humans have been modifying plants for many centuries by choosing plants with the most desirable traits and breeding them together. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Humans modify plants to make them suit our needs. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Celery plants with elevated levels of psoralens suffer less damage from disease and insects and appeal more to consumers, and therefore, were selectively bred in the 1980s. Unfortunately, workers harvesting or packaging high psoralen-producing celery developed severe skin rashes as a result, and the celery strain was subsequently removed from the market.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">8.) Alternatives to the way we grow crops in North America are having smaller personal farms and keeping gene banks.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">9.) Gene Banks: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Conserve the diversity of plant species.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">offer resources for breeding hardier crop varieties.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">provide food sources in times of disaster.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">safe guard food supplies for future generations.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Seed bank with over 300,000 gene types representing 2,500 plant species.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">First and largest gene center
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Located in Russia.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Nicolai Vavilov was a Russian scientist. He headed the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">In 1926 he published a book titled "Studies on the Origin of Cultivated Plants" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">that described his theories on the origins of crops. He concluded <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> that each crop has a characteristic primary center of diversity which is also its center of origin.