Agriculture: the real nexus for enhancing bioavailable micronutrients in food crops

Human existence requires that agriculture provide at least 50 nutrients (e.g., vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, essential fatty acids) in amounts needed to meet metabolic demands during all seasons. If national food systems do not meet these demands, mortality and morbidity rates increase, worker productivity declines, livelihoods are diminished and societies suffer. Today, many food systems within the developing world cannot meet the nutritional needs of the societies they support mostly due to farming systems that cannot produce enough micronutrients to meet human needs throughout the year. Nutrition transitions are also occurring in many rapidly developing countries that are causing chronic disease (e.g., cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis) rates to increase substantially. These global developments point to the need to explicitly link agricultural technologies to human health. This paper reviews some ways in which agriculture can contribute significantly to reducing micronutrient malnutrition globally. It concludes that it is imperative that close linkages be forged between the agriculture, nutrition and health arenas in order to find sustainable solutions to micronutrient malnutrition with agriculture becoming the primary intervention tool to use in this fight.     

Sexual Division of Labor in African Agriculture: A Network Autocorrelation Analysis

A model of causes and consequences of sexual division of labor in agriculture is tested using a sample of African societies. Crop type and the presence or absence of slavery are shown to be effective predictors of the degree of female contribution to agricultural subsistence, and the degree of polygyny is shown to be affected by female agricultural contribution and the form of residence. Autocorrelation effects are found and are shown to be a consequence of Bantu societies having higher female participation in agriculture than would otherwise be expected. This effect is an example of one of the kinds of phenomena that anthropologists have referred to as Galton's problem . [sexual division of labor, cultural ecology, Galton's Problem, Africa]     

Variazioni del paesaggio agricolo italiano in relazione all'evoluzione delle tecniche agronomiche

Abstract

Variation of the Italian agricultural landscape in relation to the evolution of the agronomic techniques.- The agricultural activity and the practices that are connected with it more or less directly, have been transformed during the history of mankind according to the evolution of the various societies and policies. These variations are with no doubt the most “responsible” of the evolution of the agricultural landscape. The agronomic techniques that were used in the ancient agricultural societies were initially rough, the land being used temporarly by nomadic people and then abandoned when fertility or weather were not favourable to crop growth and replaced with new fertile areas. Therefore the impact of ancient agriculture on the landscape was very limited, also because of the low population density.

The permanent agriculture developed with the beginning of the great civilisations when the rural environment begun to assume a more stable aspect. During the Reinassance the diversification of agricultural activities had beneficial effects on the landscape, that used to be very variable, both as a result of the mixed cropping systems and the multiple agronomic techniqies used.

The most important upsetting of the agricultural landscape occurred in the last century, when agriculture become an economic activity, with the same dignity of the other productive sectors and related advantages and disadvantages. In this paper the impact of the main aspects of agricultural activity on the agricultural landscape are analysed, with particular attention to the choices that farmers had to make about crops, livestock and management of the rural landscape.     

Stature and robusticity during the agricultural transition: Evidence from the bioarchaeological record

The population explosion that followed the Neolithic revolution was initially explained by improved health experiences for agriculturalists. However, empirical studies of societies shifting subsistence from foraging to primary food production have found evidence for deteriorating health from an increase in infectious and dental disease and a rise in nutritional deficiencies. In Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture (Cohen and Armelagos, 1984), this trend towards declining health was observed for 19 of 21 societies undergoing the agricultural transformation. The counterintuitive increase in nutritional diseases resulted from seasonal hunger, reliance on single crops deficient in essential nutrients, crop blights, social inequalities, and trade. In this study, we examined the evidence of stature reduction in studies since 1984 to evaluate if the trend towards decreased health after agricultural transitions remains. The trend towards a decrease in adult height and a general reduction of overall health during times of subsistence change remains valid, with the majority of studies finding stature to decline as the reliance on agriculture increased. The impact of agriculture, accompanied by increasing population density and a rise in infectious disease, was observed to decrease stature in populations from across the entire globe and regardless of the temporal period during which agriculture was adopted, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, and North America.     

Postmodernism and African conservation science

In Africa, the movement away from traditional protectionist conservation to community-based approaches is partially related to postmodernist influences. Proposed transfrontier conservation areas will incorporate local communities, and a clearer understanding of the limitations of community-based conservation is thus needed. The sustainability of community-based conservation projects is questioned on economic and other grounds, and many African countries lack the prerequisites (ecological, demographic and sociological) for successful programmes. The romanticisation of pre-colonial societies gives undue weight to traditional systems of resource management, and we challenge the postmodernist notion that traditional peoples practised sustainable harvesting of natural resources. It is suggested that this will occur only under unlikely conditions of low human population density, lack of access to modern technology, and limited exposure to consumerism. In agriculture, postmodernists interpret the overstocking of livestock as a rational socioeconomic response, thus giving the practice unjustified legitimacy. The allied proposition that peasants enjoy a rich diversity of farming practices is largely unfounded, at least in some parts of Africa. We conclude that postmodernist thinking has had a significant negative impact on conservation science in Africa, largely by marginalising the central issue of human population pressure. Towards more effective African conservation, we suggest roles for the ecologist, for the social scientist, and for the donor community.     

The prevalence of male homosexuality: the effect of fraternal birth order and variations in family size

The prevalence of male homosexuality probably varies over time and across societies. One reason for this variation may be the joint effect of two factors: (1) variations in fertility rate or family size; and (2) the fraternal birth order effect, the finding that the odds of male homosexuality increases with each additional older brother. Because of these effects, the rate of male homosexuality may be relatively high (at least in terms of sexual attraction if not behavior) in societies that have a high fertility rate, but this rate has probably declined somewhat in some, particularly western, societies. Thus, even if accurately measured in one country at one time, the rate of male homosexuality is subject to change and is not generalizable over time or across societies.     

Urban agricultural economy of the Early Islamic southern Levant: a case study of Ashkelon

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany - Archaeobotanical research in the southern Levant has focused on the development of agriculture and urban societies, but less so on how agriculture sustained...     

The relative importance of substratum characteristics and recruitment in determining the spatial distribution of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis Nobili

The roles of sediment characteristics and the pattern of recruitment in influencing the abundance of the fiddler crab Uca uruguayensis on Argentinean mudflats were evaluated. The density of adult crabs showed a patchy distribution related to the sediment thickness (depth at which a layer of fossil shells are buried), but the density of juvenile crabs was not coupled with the density of adult crabs. In a field experiment, fossil shells were removed and the density of crabs significantly increased, which demonstrates that the presence of the layer of shells is a structure that may hinder the establishment of burrows. The density of crabs was related to sediment thickness, sediment torque and organic matter content. The importance of each of these variables was different for adult and juvenile crabs, indicating that the distribution of adult crabs may be caused by mechanisms affecting adult crabs themselves and is not established by the recruitment pattern. Moreover, in a field experiment, the density of juveniles decreased when adult crabs were added, and increased when adult crabs were removed.The morphology of burrows was related to sediment characteristics. Burrows were deeper, longer and more voluminous when sediment thickness was high. The volume of burrows decreased with increasing sediment torque. These results suggest that the morphology of burrows is related to the space available and the ease with which sediment it can be excavated. However, an important amount of variability remained unexplained, suggesting the presence of additional environmental variables or behavioural plasticity not considered by this study. Together, these results demonstrate that the spatial heterogeneity in the environmental factors can be translated to a spatial heterogeneity in the distribution of fiddler crabs.     

Immunocytochemical localization of fibronectin (LETS proteins) on the surface of L6 myoblasts: light and electron microscopic studies.

Fibronectin (LETS protein) is a major cell surface glycoprotein component of a variety of nontransformed, substrate-attached cells in culture. Its presence has been related to increased adhesive properties. Using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method to localize antibodies to fibronectin, we have observed that the distribution of fibronectin on L6 myoblasts varies with the density of the culture and the differentiative state of the cells. Low density, undifferentiated cultures of L6 myoblasts have a sparse accumulation of fibronectin; the antibody-antigen reaction indicates its presence on cell membranes, especially where several cells are in proximity. Undifferentiated cells in high density cultures have two forms of fibronectin localization-a diffuse staining on the membrane and a dense staining on an extracellular filamentous matrix. This matrix is composed of filaments ranging from 20–25 nm in diameter which occur singly or coalesce to form bundles. The filaments in this matrix are also observed to have dense globules scattered along their length. These filaments, which are at least in part composed of fibronectin, also react with concanavalin A, as do certain plasma membrane components. In contrast to the observations seen in undifferentiated cells, differentiated cells or myotubes have a diffuse membrane staining with antifibronectin antibodies, and the filamentous form is usually absent.     

Relation between small-mammal species composition and anthropic variables in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Anthropic activities are frequently related in many ways to forest fragmentation and alteration of natural communities. In this study, we correlate the presence of hunting, tourism activity, agriculture/pasturing, and the distance of the study sites to the nearest human residences with the species composition of small Atlantic forest mammals. To do this, we utilize a multiple regression analysis of similarity matrices. The presence of both agriculture/pasturing and human residences near the study sites proved to be determinant factors in species composition of small mammals of the studied areas. Working with socioeconomic variables related directly with the study site could be a reliable and a direct way to predict the influence of human presence and entailed activity on small mammal communities.     

Handedness, homicide and negative frequency-dependent selection

Humans exhibit hand preference for most manual activities in which they are specialized. Right- and left-handers have coexisted at least since the Upper Palaeolithic, and left-handers are in the minority in all human populations. The persistence of the polymorphism of handedness is a puzzle because this trait is substantially heritable and several fitness costs are associated with left-handedness. Some countervailing benefit is required to maintain the polymorphism. Left-handers may have a frequency-dependent advantage in fights--the advantage being greater when their frequency is lower. Sports data from Western societies are consistent with this prediction. Here, we show that the frequency of left-handers is strongly and positively correlated with the rate of homicides across traditional societies. It ranges from 3% in the most pacifistic societies, to 27% in the most violent and warlike. This finding is consistent with a frequency-dependent selection mechanism maintaining left-handedness in these societies.     

Sex-biased dispersal in the contemporary United States

Females in the contemporary United States disperse farther and are less philopatric than males, a pattern rare among mammals. This difference occurs primarily during the period of first independence following graduation from high School. I examine the patterns and possible causes of sex bias in internal migration using data derived from high school reunion booklets and a survey conducted on a sample of individuals selected from reunion booklets. The bias, which is small but significant, is largely eliminated when locality and socioeconomic factors are controlled. This suggests that these factors affect the sexes differentially. In general, females who move away to college or obtain jobs that are important to their residence are more likely to disperse relatively long distances, while males appear to be more constrained in their dispersal patterns. Female-biased dispersal (virilocal residence) in many nonindustrialized human societies is apparently a consequence of differences between the sexes in patterns of resource accumulation, exemplified by patrilinial inheritance. Similar differences still characterize, to a lesser extent, modern industrialized societies, and may be responsible, at least in part, for the pattern of sex-biased dispersal found in this study.     

Diagnosis of Phytophthora infections in raspberry and strawberry plants by ELISA tests

Plant diseases caused by Phytophthora spp. may be reproducibly diagnosed by DAS ELISA techniques, but this type of analysis has long been hampered by the presence of phenolic and related compounds in plants to be tested, not least in strawberry and raspberry plants. The compounds will interfere with the ELISA test procedure, leading to high non-specific optical density readings. To overcome this, a series of experiments was performed. Phenolic and related compounds in the samples were first absorbed to polymers during antigen extraction and thereafter separated by filtration at slow rate. To inhibit non-specific binding of enzyme-conjugated antibodies, the plastic wells were preincubated with non-sensitized wells, equally high background values of optical density were seen under untreated conditions and after the use of polymeric adsorbents. A marked reduction in optical density was, however, seen after blocking with non-fat dry milk, but the optimal conditions for all concentrations ofantigen were seen first after combined pre-treatment with polymeric adsorbents and non-fat dry milk. When the threshold absorbance for positive detection was calculated, the low optical density values from healthy plants, at all antigen concentrations studied, contributed to an excellent discrimination between samples from diseased and healthy plants.     

Evolution of monogamous marriage by maximization of inclusive fitness

The majority of human societies allow polygynous marriage, and the prevalence of this practice is readily understood in evolutionary terms. Why some societies prescribe monogamous marriage is however not clear: current evolutionary explanations—that social monogamy increases within‐group co‐operation, giving societies an advantage in competition with other groups—conflict with the historical and ethnographic evidence. We show that, within the framework of inclusive fitness theory, monogamous marriage can be viewed as the outcome of the strategic behaviour of males and females in the allocation of resources to the next generation. Where resources are transferred across generations, social monogamy can be advantageous if partitioning of resources among the offspring of multiple wives causes a depletion of their fitness value, and/or if females grant husbands higher fidelity in exchange for exclusive investment of resources in their offspring. This may explain why monogamous marriage prevailed among the historical societies of Eurasia: here, intensive agriculture led to scarcity of land, with depletion in the value of estates through partitioning among multiple heirs. Norms promoting high paternity were common among ancient societies in the region, and may have further facilitated the establishment of social monogamy. In line with the historical and ethnographic evidence, this suggests that monogamous marriage emerged in Eurasia following the adoption of intensive agriculture, as ownership of land became critical to productive and reproductive success.     

From Bachelor Threat to Fraternal Security: Male Associations and Modular Organization in Human Societies

Humans live in modular societies with a minimum of two levels of organization, the conjugal family and the local community. Yet any human community is likely to contain at least one other social unit whose evolutionary significance has not always been recognized: a same-sex association, such as a men’s “club” or “brotherhood.” The purpose of this article is to explore the role of all-male associations in relation to the conjugal families that are often taken to be the main constituents of human groups. What has been called bachelor threat in other mammalian species is a major problem in human societies, which may include follower males as well as all-male units. Yet tensions between married men and bachelors are often eclipsed by the need for warriors to defend the local community. The ethnographic record includes many cases in which fraternal security takes precedence over conjugal bonds, resulting in the physical segregation of the sexes, including husbands and wives. At the extreme, a husband usually sleeps at a men’s house while making regular visits to his conjugal family. Though this pattern is classically associated with tribal Amazonia and Melanesia, it is seen here as part of a continuum of variation in small-scale societies worldwide. These societies reflect a series of historical compromises, it is argued, between bachelors and elders, on the one hand, and between men’s associations and conjugal families, on the other.     

A Social Anthropologist's View of Papua New Guinea Highlands Prehistory

The Highlands of Papua New Guinea have usually been regarded as relatively homogeneous, socially, culturally, and ecologically. In this article I begin with the view that the ethnography of the Eastern and Western Highlands shows great diversity. I argue that this diversity is also evident in the prehistory of the Highlands and that the Eastern and Western Highlands have followed markedly different paths in the development of agriculture and pig husbandry and in their rates of change and transformation. Intensive agriculture and linked pig exchange are very old in the Western Highlands, nascent in the Eastern Highlands. This difference is clear in the ethnographic present, but I argue that it is upon the very different prehistories of the Eastern and Western Highlands that a synchronic comparison of Highlands societies should be mounted.     

The Energetic Metabolism of Societies: Part II: Empirical Examples

Part I of this set of articles proposed methods to account for the energetic metabolism of societies. In this second part, the methods explicated in Part I are used to analyze the energy flows of societies with different "modes of subsistence": hunter-gatherers, a contemporary agricultural society in southeastern Asia, and a contemporary industrial society (Austria). The empirical examples are used to demonstrate differences in the "characteristic metabolism" of different modes of sub-sistence. The energy system of hunter-gatherers can be described as an "uncontrolled solar energy system," based mainly upon harvesting biomass without attending to its reproduction. Hunter-gatherers use only about 0.001% to 0.01% of the net primary production (NPP) of the territory they inhabit. Agricultural societies harness NPP to a much higher extent: Although agriculture often reduces NPP, the amount of biomass that agricultural societies use is much higher (about 20% of potential NPP). Because ecological energy flows are the main source of energy for agricultural societies, NPP strictly limits the energetic metabolism of agricultural societies. Industrial society uses area-independent energy sources (fossil and nuclear energy), which, however, result in new sustainability problems, such as greenhouse gas emissions. By providing methods to account for changes in energy flows, the metabolism approach proves itself to be a useful concept for analyzing society-environment interactions. The article demonstrates the difference between the metabolism approach and conventional energy statistics and discusses the significance of the proposed approach for sustainable development.     

Drivers of change in global agriculture

As a result of agricultural intensification, more food is produced today than needed to feed the entire world population and at prices that have never been so low. Yet despite this success and the impact of globalization and increasing world trade in agriculture, there remain large, persistent and, in some cases, worsening spatial differences in the ability of societies to both feed themselves and protect the long-term productive capacity of their natural resources. This paper explores these differences and develops a countryxfarming systems typology for exploring the linkages between human needs, agriculture and the environment, and for assessing options for addressing future food security, land use and ecosystem service challenges facing different societies around the world.     

Fragmentation in the Legal Amazon,Brazil: Can landscape metrics indicate agricultural policy differences?

Large-scale land conversion for agriculture in Brazilian Amazonia is occurring at persistently high rates. Basin-wide net land use and land cover changes imply substantially different situations between distinct regions and states due to different agricultural policies. This research used eight landscape metrics to quantify and investigate the spatial patterns of cattle pasture and cropland throughout the states of Pará, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, and Amazonas. These metrics were patch density (DEN), mean patch size (MPS), largest patch index (LPI), mean edge density (MED), mean twist number (TWI), corrected perimeter-to-area ratio (CPA), fractal dimension (FDI), and fragmentation index (FRG). A total of 1852 patches were analyzed, originating from 86 samples in 71 different plots, covering a total of 177,500 km² throughout all four states.Principal component analysis showed a partial overlap in the spatial pattern of agricultural patches between all states. The largest percentage of variance was explained by patch area metrics, which can be related to the different approaches in agricultural policies, but no clear division between the states was identified in this dimension. The metrics quantifying patch shape were de facto independent of deforestation area, and related to the second principal component axis. Although some overlap in this dimension was present as well, these metrics proved a possible measure for discerning the patterns of agriculture attached to a certain state. Different land use policies are hypothesized to lead to more heterogeneity in landscape patterns in an early stage, yet the increasing influence of both cropland and pasture agriculture eventually leads to more uniform landscapes in which spatial differences gradually disappear.     

Subsistence and the Evolution of Religion

We present a cross-cultural analysis showing that the presence of an active or moral High God in societies varies generally along a continuum from lesser to greater technological complexity and subsistence productivity. Foragers are least likely to have High Gods. Horticulturalists and agriculturalists are more likely. Pastoralists are most likely, though they are less easily positioned along the productivity continuum. We suggest that belief in moral High Gods was fostered by emerging leaders in societies dependent on resources that were difficult to manage and defend without group cooperation. These leaders used the concept of a supernatural moral enforcer to manipulate others into cooperating, which resulted in greater productivity. Reproductive success would accrue most to such leaders, but the average reproductive success of all individuals in the society would also increase with greater productivity. Supernatural enforcement of moral codes maintained social cohesion and allowed for further population growth, giving one society an advantage in competition with others.