Environmental Impacts Of Potato

First, we estimated the osmolarity of potato tuber cells by measuring the change in the potato’s’ weight after they were incubated in various concentrations of sucrose solutions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 M). First, we obtained 100mL of distilled water, and 100mL of each sucrose solution-which we placed in separate 250mL beakers. We then used a cork borer to extract 7 cylinders of potato. We then cut them all to about 5 cm long, and removed the skin from the ends. We placed all seven potato samples in a covered petri dish so they would not dry out. For consistency, we assigned each person their own, separate task to perform to each potato cylinder. First, one person removed the potato cylinder from the petri dish and used a paper towel to blot. Then

If you had to survive two years living off potatoes, could you do it? And more importantly, would this heavily imbalanced diet even allow for survival? In the bestselling novel, and subsequent blockbuster hit, "The Martian", astronaut Mark Watney does just that, and I'm here to explain how. In case you haven't seen the film (based on the book of the same name by Andy Weir, "The Martian" is the fictional story of astronaut Mark Watney as he improvises survival strategies after being stranded on Mars. In one stroke of luck, Watney is able to grow potatoes to compensate for his dwindling vacuum-packed food supply. You might be thinking, you can't survive off French

The conquistadors eventually used potatoes as rations on their ships and took it back to Spain (Chapman, n.d.). From there, the potato spread to other countries. Unfortunately, the potato was “regarded with suspicion, distaste and fear.” (Chapman, n.d.) Only animals were fed the potatoes at first but as time went on, the aristocracy of Europe began to encourage the lower classes to begin cultivating potatoes. Potatoes, however, did not become a staple until roughly 1795 and the food shortages that came during the time of the Revolutionary Wars in England. (Chapman, n.d.)

Potatoes became a staple in the diet of many as they were discovered around the world. They are still an important part of the diet of many today. ("International year of," 2008)

Introduced to Europe in the mid 1500s, potatoes were able to strongly impact European lives. They originally grew in Peru but spread throughout South America and later in Europe. Potatoes were able to thrive in Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany, and Poland. Potatoes were able to feed many people and improve food supply. The potato was able to supply a steady amount of calories and nutrients which was able to provide a better life for people of the Old World. Potatoes quickly spread throughout Europe and became an important crop. Today people still use the potato for food and other uses such as making stamps and soothing headaches. When growing potatoes today, many diseases can occur. Some include early and late blight, potato scab, and bacterial ring rot.

Potatoes began prospering with the Incan people in the Andes in the form of polyculture. The environment surrounding the Andes was harsh and unforgiving and where one type of potato would thrive, another would perish. The Incan people then changed their needs in order to satisfy the potato and began growing different types of each in different areas of the mountains. This method was extremely successful and resulted in massive genetic diversity for the potato. On the other hand, once potatoes were transported to Ireland, they underwent a change subject to human desires where only one type of potato was grown excessively, otherwise known as monoculture. The Irish had discovered that a single type of potato prospered in their soil and provided substantial nutritional support for the masses, resulting in the cultivation of a single genetic strand. The consequences of this endeavor would come later with the blight, but in this case, the potato had succumbed to the needs of humans. Lastly and more presently in the United States, potatoes have altogether lost their say in evolution by being grown only based on their requirement to feed the many. Certain strains of potatoes have become prevalent due to their need for food purposes, such as “perfect” French fries provided for restaurant chains. Besides

Potatoes have been one of mankind 's most important food staples for the past millennium. First cultivated on the Titicaca Plateau in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia where they formed the basis of both the Inca and Aymara Indian diet. The Aymara Indians developed more than two hundred varietes of the potato at elevations higher than 10,000 feet.

Overall the mass of the potato slice for the groups went down during the experiment. The ranges of weight change warried from around 0.2 to 0.3 grams

The benefits of potatoes include originally allowing for populations that were once starving to now have an easy to grow and abundant food source. This lead to birth rates and population rates doubling in Ireland and Europe when it was first introduced. However, since potatoes were susceptible to disease they also lead to famine and death. People became so dependent on this one food source that when the supply ran dry many people starved, such as the famous Irish potato famine. The use of pesticides and fertilizers can be accredited to the cultivation of the potato in the United States. The Colorado potato beetle threatened the supply of potatoes, leading farmers to use the first pesticide on their crops to help protect them. From here the Green Revolution was born in the 1940’s, which further encouraged the development of pesticides and fertilizers in order to increase the yield of any crop that they could. Another benefit of potatoes is that it can take the carbon dioxide we exhale and convert it into oxygen. This is one reason astronaut’s carry them to space as one source of their food

Data and Results The potato in the 0o, 23o, 37o all produced oxygen 37o producing the most (Table 1). Boiled potato produced no gas. Our data was close to the class averages (Table 2) with the exception of 37oC. The groups with the different pH treatments (Table 3) were very similar to the class averages (Table 4). HCl had the least amount of O2 produced.

One last factor contributed to the slow spread of potatoes, the constant and constinet mistreatment of the peasent class by the noble class of Europe. Although this may be easy to overlook a genral mistrust exsisted between the two classes and if rulers attempted to force farmers to plant potatoes often they would assume that it would only be to help those in charge and not themselves. In essence the oppression of European Serfs breed the attuide that nothing that was advanced to be good for the richest people could also have some benefit for

1536 - Spaniards brought potatoes to Europe, potatoes were first cultivated by families of Basque sailors along the Biscay coast of northern Spain. Forty years later, potato spread to the rest of Europe.

Some benefits of having more vegetables than what is recommended include: reducing blood cholesterol levels, maintaining healthy blood pressure levels and keeping skin and eyes healthy. Having an abundance of vegetables in your diet can help reduce blood cholesterol levels as vegetables are fibre rich foods. This combined with the fact that folate helps the body form red blood cells is the reason why having lots of vegetables can maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Vitamin A, found in many vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots and dark leafy greens, helps to maintain healthy skin and eyes. Having too many vegetables in your diet can cause mineral absorbsion problems, weight gain and digestive problems. It was found that getting 50 grams of fibre from vegetables can affect how your body absorbs vital minerals such as magnesium, iron and/or zinc. Surprisingly, this was found through a study by The New England Journal of Medicine through a recent study in 2011. This study showed that eating too many starchy vegetables, such as potatoes and corn, in the long run . This over consumption was evident in Breanna's diet. Too many vegetables in anyone's diet can cause digestive problems as all vegetables are high in dietary fibre. When there is too much of dietary fibre in a diet it can cause bloating and stomach

The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From early times, philosophers, such as Thomas Malthus, believed humanity could not be sustained. Malthus believed mankind would reach their carrying capacity, specifically with regards to food. Yet, this notion changed in subsequent years, thanks in part to the green revolution. This revolution helped increase crop yields due to new fertilizers, pesticides, etc. While there became more food available, sustainability, with regards to producing food in an environmentally friendly way, ran into some difficulties. While the Brundtland commission defined sustainability, there are three components that must be integrated for the well-being of all—social, environmental, and economic. Each component of sustainability must be looked at critically when considering the sustainable use of any resource. While many simply worried about having enough food available in the world, one must think of food sustainability with regards to environmental, economic, and social implications. As follows, the importance of food sustainability will be discussed, along with the attempts to measure food sustainability.

The potato seems to us today to be such a staple food that it is hard to believe that it has only been accepted as edible by most of the Western world for the past 200 years. Our story begins thousands of years ago, in South America—Peru,