Sunday, May 18, 2014

Botany of Desire

Haven't been to class for a while because of APs and golf, lots of make up work to do, lets begin.

In the article botany of desire, Michael Pollan points out some interesting points that I have never thought of before. While most people believe that we are dominant and often control factors of the nature, Pollon counter intuitively points out the opposite. He emphasizes the reliance humans have on these plants while the little reliance those plants have on humans and also the idea that the plants lures and makes humans plant them like we have been for thousands of years.This seemingly complicated relationship that the author is depicting appears to be what we call coevolution. This is the idea that both species/ organisms are evolving at the same time and they rely on each other. For example for apples, they produce a kind of sweetness to attract others to eat them and thus spreading their seeds. While something like tulips uses their natural beauty to attract insects and others to help pollinate and reproduce. The demanding need for cannabis because of its usefulness allows it to spread and reproduce in the forests. And finally, potatoes are quite common due to human influence because of its rich nutritious starch. Here are some images, websites and videos that can help with the topic of coevolution:


http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIIFCoevolution.shtml

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