Thrips

In the article “Are Viruses Alive?,” Luis P. Villarreal discusses the effects of viruses on life, while presenting different angles as to whether or not they are alive themselves and arguing about the impact viruses have had on evolution. Through a deeper understanding of viruses and their functions, the scientific community may come to fully appreciate viruses, whether they are living or non-living in themselves, as significant evolutionary components.

Primarily, GMOs can accidentally contaminate crops near them and affect production for independent or local farmers and the companies themselves. As chemicals were scientifically introduced to these crops, their properties may affect production for others as invasive crops, causing the companies to pay additional fees. It is a controversial issue within the discussion due to how, “…independent farmers’ crops can be damaged by neighboring GM crops. When this happens, they must pay fees or risk being sued.” (Brassard 1). As it is demonstrated by the author GMOs may be a liability for production and it may cause more issues than necessary. On the other hand, genetically modified foods can resist weather patterns

We are keeping our food reliable through the use of GMOs. GMOs can provide food that can be helpful for conditions in the world. They can be manufactured to fit to threatening conditions, such as drought. They can also be used to withstand diseases that have the potential to cause famine. Blights can cost millions in damages, and with new resistance technology being tested we could save millions of dolars and millions of crops. "Blight-resistant potatoes would be one of the first major foods genetically engineered to incorporate defenses against plant diseases, which annually destroy some 15 percent of the world’s agricultural harvest." These foods can even be modified to prevent bugs from consuming or ruining a crop yield. This resistance to famine can help us become less concerned about starvation due to unfavorable conditions. The crop yield can remain the same. Those opposed to GMOs may claim that they increase pestacides and harm the environment. This is completely false. "It is a matter of fact that GM crops have drastically cut the use of such pesticides. GM cotton, containing a built in insecticide, uses 50% less chemical insecticides. In 1998 around 1000 tonnes less insecticide was used in the US cotton belt than before the introduction of GM cotton. That insecticide was mainly sprayed from planes. Only a small percentage reached its target. The rest drifted into the wider environment killing

Over-farming the soil explains the depleted of viral nutrients that are needed to support plant growth that causes decreased plant output and production.

In the beginning of the movie, the audience sees that a major blight has affected many crops that they thought were impervious, such as okra. With all of these crops being affected, people are dying because there is not enough food. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, blight attacks the shoots of a plant when they are young. This causes the leaves and sometimes the whole plant to die. To make sure blight does not spread one must entirely destroy the plant, prune them, or

cattleianum, is a highly invasive species that damages native Hawaiian forests, ecosystems, and the watershed, which can be managed through mechanical, chemical, and biological controls. In its native homeland of southeastern Brazil, the strawberry guava is limited, unlike Hawaii, where it forms monotypic stands that displace native Hawaiian flora and fauna and drive these indigenous, endemic, and endangered species towards extinction. Strawberry guava contributes further to the displacement of native Hawaiian forests by providing nourishment to feral pigs and mice that feed on native Hawaiian flora and fauna. Besides displacement of native Hawaiian species, strawberry guava puts humans at risk through increased erosion and soil runoff as well as hosting fruit flies that cause large scale damage to crops. Mechanical and chemical controls were used to manage P. cattleianum, however they require a lot of time, labor, and money, yet the strawberry guava prevails majority of the time. The State has recently introduced a biocontrol, T. ovatus, which is host specific to P. cattleianum and not its commercially significant cousin, P. guajava, nor any native Hawaiian plants. Although the T. ovatus will not kill the strawberry guava, the T. ovatus will inhibit the growth of new foliage and fruit formation. With the introduction of T. ovatus and increased public awareness of the effects of strawberry guava, P. cattleianum can be controlled and eliminated to

Papaya crops are the second most important fruit crop currently being produced in Hawaii. When the Papaya Ringspot Virus began attacking and killing a large number of papaya crops, many Hawaiian residents were affected. In the1990s the Papaya Ringspot Virus, a plant virus, almost caused the extinction of the Hawaiian papaya. When papaya is affected by this virus the leaves and trunks become a distorted color. The resulting damage can even appear similar to mite damage. Newly planted papaya trees that have contracted the virus have stunted growth and will not be capable of producing a good crop. The papaya itself may even develop spots and bumps and often have a ring-like appearance. “Between the years 1993 and 2006 the papaya producing regions

Earth has experienced an outbreak of a new, genetically modified virus. The virus began from a rogue GMO; this virus is known as “Sunset Phage”. The virus has no effect on humans, however, it travels through the air and can infect plants. The virus causes plants to stop photosynthesizing. It is estimated that the Earth’s entire ecosystem will be infected within two years by Sunset Phage, causing Earth to be no longer habitable by humans. Photosynthesis in plants produces oxygen for humans and animals to breathe. With no more oxygen being produced, the Earth will not be able to sustain life.

Before new species of grain or vegetable were introduced into the West Coast of the United States, Americans would determine to buy prevailing local rice and vegetables, which would benefit the local farmers. When the demand of a specie would be bigger than the supply, farmers would be more willing to farm. This factor causes the money circulate from purchasers to sellers, allowing farmers and the agriculture industry to make profits through low costs and high selling prices. Nevertheless, surplus money existed in the society and the shortage of native staple food resources would probably give rise to inflation, and the inflation might generate negative results, such as driving up prices of native grain. Furthermore, the new European and Asian immigrants might bring new virus of the vegetable or grains from their original residence. When these viruses find new hosts, a lot of illness may appear, because local residences do not have antibody to revolt. However, the food systems in the United States are resilient and often return to equilibrium. People might use the pesticide and antibiotics to control the new species, and the government would also make some regulations to manage the chaotic underground trade of alien

Sandstrom et al. looked at different ways this gene transfer could have occurred. Insects in general usually host ‘secondary’ bacterial symbionts along with primary endosymbionts. Both symbionts are maternally transmitted. Their results showed that a community of bacteria invades aphid cells and are transmitted both vertically and horizontally among other aphid lineages. They present other potential possibilities of transfer through ingestion from plant surfaces and plant

One of the biggest advantages of agricultural biotechnology lies in its economic efficiency. GM crops are financially beneficial to both the farmer and the consumer. Due to their resistance to pests, viruses, and adverse climates, genetically altered crops produce much larger yields than organic or conventional crops. For example, studies show that if no insecticide is used, a GM crop known as Bt maize has a 48% higher yield than non-modified maize varieties

The scientists behind GMOs believe that it is important to provide “food security”. Food security is about having sufficient physical, social, and economic access to safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable food at the household level, without having to resort to emergency supplies” (Witcombe and Sanchez, 2004, p. 300). In countries such parts of Eastern and Central Africa the African cassava mosaic virus is transmitted by the whiteflies that feed on the

The pollen of Monarch butterfly caterpillars died because of the pollen of Bt-corn, which is a combination of commercial corn and a naturally occurring soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringenesis. Monarch butterfly caterpillars do not eat Bt-corn but the pollen of Bt-corn can be transferred to milkweed plants which Monarch butterfly caterpillars usually eat for growth, through the medium of the air. Since these Bt-toxins are very fatal to many larvae, this had been connected to high mortality rate in caterpillars. Though it was a laboratory experiment which circumstances were artificial, this phenomenon could happen in the real nature very easily. Besides by wind, this indiscriminate transferring could occur by soil also. Non-modified organism which is adjacent to the genetically modified one could cross breed indiscriminately(Losey, Rayor & Carter, 1999). Moreover, if a crop that is engineered for pesticide tolerance and a weed cross breed, the pesticide resistance genes from the crops relocate to the gene of the weed. Converted genes that are modified for herbicide tolerance could transfer to pests which are adjoining it, and the weeds herbicide resistant. As a result, it associates with the birth of super-organisms such as super weeds and super pests. Then, it will be more difficult to control noxious plants because we can’t eliminate weeds by normal level of herbicides. Furthermore, this cross-pollination method induces variety of mutations

This hypothetical situation I just described is actually quite similar to what actually occurred in Mexico in 2002. (Charles Clover) GMO corn crops actually crossed the border into Mexico and weaseled its way into their southern corn crops. About 1,876 seedlings from indigenous varieties of corn from different areas in the country were analyzed by scientists. Of these seedlings 95 percent found traces of a gene from the cauliflower mosaic virus, which was used as a sort of on switch to invoke insecticidal or herbicidal properties on the GMO corn crops created in the United States. This contamination averaged 10 to 15 percent and reached a peak of 35 percent of the rural farmers crops cross pollinated with the GMO strain. These crops spread with such speed that this problem was unpredictable.

our crops to be infected with diseases and infestations such as pests and weeds. By