Plants and People

Abstract

The Biology of Plants The Rise of the Sciences Plant Biology: The Cell The Plant Goes Underground Stem Leaves Flowers Anatomy of Flowers Dicots and Monocots Fruits Seeds Water Photosynthesis References Evolution of Plants and People Toward Natural Selection Punctuated Equilibrium: A Modification of Darwinism Evolution of Plants Earliest Life Toward the First Plants Rapid Evolution of Terrestrial Plants Evolution of Roots Variety of Land Plants Pathways of Evolution First Forests Evolution of Seed Plants Rise of Flowering Plants Flowering Plants at the End of the Cretaceous Period Rise of the Grasses Tropical Rainforests Evolution of Plants in Perspective Human Evolution Australopithecines Homo habilis Homo erectus Toward a Variety of Humans H. heidelbergensis Neanderthals H. sapiens Homo floresiensis Mitochondrial Eve Out of Africa References Early Uses of Plants Overview Role of Plants in Human Evolution Woman, the Gatherer Plants and Human Evolution Edible Plants in the Americas Partial and Tentative Movement toward Agriculture within the Context of Hunting and Foraging References The Neolithic Revolution Overview Southwestern Asia Europe, Egypt, and North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa East Asia Southeast Asia The Pacific Islands South Asia The Americas References Rise of Empiricism in Antiquity: An Overview Greco Roman Agricultural Writers Place of Agriculture in the Greco Roman World Empiricism and the First Stirrings of the Plant Sciences in the West Soil Depletion and Its Remedies Plowing, Weeding, and Planting The Olive Tree, Other Fruit Trees, and Grapevine Grains and Other Crops References The Columbian Exchange From the Old World Soybean Rice From the New World References The Rise of the Land Grant Complex Overview Movement toward Federal Funding of the Agricultural Sciences The Land Grant Colleges Toward the State Agricultural Experiment Stations A Variety of Plant Sciences at Public and Private Institutions References The Hybrid Corn Revolution Overview Improvement of Corn through Breeding Rise of the European Corn Borer The European Corn Borer Spreads to the Gateway to the Corn Belt Spread of Hybrid Corn in the Corn Belt Hybrid Corn in the Developing World References The Green Revolution Geopolitics and the Green Revolution Overview of Science and the Green Revolution Achievements of the Green Revolution Response to Criticism Toward the Future: The Agencies that Made Possible the Green Revolution References Plant Biotechnology Overview Basics Techniques for Plant Transformation Biotechnology of Herbicide Resistance Biotechnology and Insect-Resistant Crops Biotechnology and the Search for Resistant to Plant Diseases Biotechnology and Abiotic Stress Public Acceptance of Plant Biotechnology and Its Present State References The Malthusian Crisis An Essay on the Principle of Population Population Problem Trends in Food Production Problems of Plentitude References Bibliography