Plant diversity - orgs and environment PDF

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BI1003-1B plant diversityWhy we need plant scientists: 4 main themes , major challenges plant scientists face = food security (making more food), healthier foods (improving food quality), environmental sustainability, green bioeconomy. We need plants for food, building materials, clothing, pharma......

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BI1003-1B plant diversity Why we need plant scientists: 4 main themes, major challenges plant scientists face = food security (making more food), healthier foods (improving food quality), environmental sustainability, green bioeconomy. We need plants for food, building materials, clothing, pharma... Food security = Importance: global population expected to be 9.6 billion by 2050, food production must increase by 60-110% to meet demand = human population rising so need more food/crops (second green revolution needed). The Green Revolution = aka Third Agricultural Revolution, is a set of research technology transfer initiatives occurring between 1950 and the late 1960s, that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. Norman Borlaug (Nobel peace prize 1970) increased crop yields via developing changes to agriculture doubled crop production of dwarf wheat (reduced height of wheat crops, more energy goes into making grain = better yield) which prevented them from wind damage – doubled food yields in India and Pakistan in 1965- 1970, saved billions of lives. How to increase food security: Improve yields: Pest/disease control: up to Adapt crops to cope with climate change: climate change Decrease waste: global Improve crop food loss/waste is 1/3 – 40% of global crop yields will drastically affect crop production. Issues depend on productivity with: are lost to plant pests and 1/2 of all food e.g. location. plants need to have certain properties to diseases each year. produced (post-harvest deal with climate change: • conventional losses) • drought resistance breeding, selecting • flooding resistance • Plant pathology = study for yield • salt resistance In developed countries: of plant diseases, how to treat disease, which Can adapt plants to climate change (GM solutions) by • retail (shelf life, • improved making them resilient/tolerant to drought, floods, salt. cosmetic appearance) – molecular cascades cause Graph agronomy (science changing consumer disease, disease resistance shows of making/using perception is needed etc. predicted plants for stuff • household food waste losses with food/fuel etc) • Plant epidemiology = different study of disease in plant In low income levels of • GM – selecting for countries: populations – big data, climate • poor storage good traits which data modelling, where warming in different conditions increase yield. outbreaks are happening, countries. Difficult to make predict spread, • pests + diseases because we are containment. Plant unsure of upcoming pandemic could happen environmental (disease wipes out whole changes. population), crop pandemic would be bad. E.g. ash dieback. Healthier foods = improving nutritional value of food. Importance: 2 billion suffer from malnutrition (micronutrient deficiencies). Golden rice = GM rice project to combat vit A deficiency, high B-carotene levels (vit A precursor), 750,000 children go blind each year from vitamin A deficiency. Green bioeconomy: problems = fossil fuels are bad, oil reserves running out (graph = energy reserves) = replacements needed, plant-based replacements are potentials: Biofuels = plant based replacement for fuel (algae produces liquids akin to petrol, miscanthus biofuel). Problem with biofuels = taking crops that can be given to people to eat are being used for vehicles. Bioproducts = wide range of natural products made by plants could be exploited if they could be purified, plants could be engineered into 'biological factories' to produce vaccines/pharmaceuticals. Environmental sustainability: *Using resources more efficiently = reduce fertiliser + pesticide use, methods are being researched for how to reduce use or incorporate pesticide into crops. Bad for environment in 2 ways: • Production - uses fossil fuels and reserves (e.g. phosphate) are running out • Application - (1) eutrophication = body of water gets overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which causes excessive algae or plant growth, loss of available oxygen/light in water, kills fish etc. (2) damage to biodiversity = damage to everything else other than the required crop. *Protecting biodiversity: Farming (human activity) has drastic effects on biodiversity, 67% wildlife species found on UK farmland were under threat from agricultural practices in 2000, farming needs to incorporate areas of high biodiversity. Plants are keystone species (=help define a whole ecosystem) to nearly all global organisms – e.g. projects of green belts/primary rainforests (especially in tropics) kept especially around waterways for local wildlife to use.

Plant properties and things plants can do = powerful (roots break concrete), strong (roots are used as bridges), smart (bee orchid mimics female bee, gives off female bee pheromones, male bee tries to mate with it = outsmarting animals), deadly (sundew – carnivorous, drops of sticky residue look like water, attracts insects, arm digests bugs), well adapted Plants must cope with their environment, need to be adaptable - have strategies for survival, nutrition, avoiding damage or disease, reproduction, communication. Plants (fixed in one place) need to endure: need food/water, too hot/cold, too dark/bright, disease, extreme weather, getting eaten, love life, UV damage. Indeterminate growth – growth is not terminated, plant grows/flowers/fruits until killed (whereas animals have determinate growth = growth stops once a genetically pre-determined structure has completely formed). Species are morphologically different according to their growth environment, same species looks different in different environments (whereas not in animals) = responds to changes in the environment, plants can inhabit most habitats. Plants are adaptable to change in: climate, conditions, temperature, water availability, nutrients. Plasticity – plant cells can undifferentiated (turn back into stem cell) then redifferentiate again and regenerate a whole new plant from almost any piece of tissue (when put in correct combo of hormones etc.). Totipotency = single cell can divide and produce all the differentiated cells in the organism (including embryonic), most versatile. AND pluripotency = can give rise to all cell types, not as versatile as totipotent cells. Tissue culture – micropropagation – creating new plants (genetically identical offspring) from tiny pieces in lab conditions, used widely in commercial horticulture...