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The Impact of Human Travel on Agriculture
Paul Gepts
Professor of Agronomy and Range Science University of California,
Davis
Cosponsored by Penn's Department of Biology
Wednesday, October 11
5:00 – 6:30 pm
Room
10, Leidy Labs, Biology
3740 Hamilton Walk (off 38th b. Spruce & Civic Center Blvd.)
Event free and open to the public.
The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture 10,000 years
ago was a milestone in human evolution. Over the millennia since,
migration, exploration, conquest, and developments in transportation
have turned agriculture from a mechanism of adaptation into a global
production system. The distinguished biologist Paul Gepts will describe
the worldwide spread of agriculture through human travel and its profound
impact on the ecosystems of our planet. |
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Paul Gepts is an agronomist who studies
the evolution, domestication, and biodiversity of crops. As head of
the Paul
Gepts Lab at UC Davis, he and his team are concerned with understanding
what processes have shaped how crop plants have evolved under cultivation.
He is particularly concerned with Phaseolus beans because, as he says,
"they are such an important part of the human diet, especially
in developing countries, and provide many health benefits." |
