BIOL1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Cyanobacteria, Viridiplantae, Coffee Bean
6 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
Plants have been used in medicine for tens of thousands of years e. g. silphium, first described in egypt in the 7th century bce as a general remedy for illness and disease. For 700 years it was cultivated as a medicine and used as a common culinary ingredient. Silphium was extinct by the 3rd century ce, likely as a consequence of over-harvesting or over-grazing. Plants produce many chemical compounds which humans use to improve their wellbeing. To(cid:271)a(cid:272)(cid:272)o ni(cid:272)otene, coffee (cid:271)ean caffeine, willow a(cid:272)etylsali(cid:272)y(cid:272)li(cid:272) a(cid:272)id (cid:894)aspirin(cid:895). Environmental salinity, erosion, pollution, loss of top soil, increasing co2 emissions causing a rise in global temperature etc. Nutritional increase in carbohydrates but a loss of mineral ions. Natural rehabilitation of land, maintain biodiversity, remove pollutants, sustainable farming. Managed plant breeding, tissue culture, genetic engineering, new crop species. Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms on the basis of shared characteristics. Species are ascribed taxonomic ranks to describe their relatedness to other species.
