Hope for the Axolotl On the Amphibian Extinction Crisis

Hope for the Axolotl On the Amphibian Extinction Crisis Today is the fifth annual Save The Frogs Day, a day to spread awareness about the amphibian extinction crisis. When I was in high school I used to spend this day at my little brothers elementary school with my pet frogs and a powerpoint presentation. This year Im sharing with you an essay I wrote two years ago. Some research has happened since then, and I encourage you to Google and PubMed for updates (and please post what you found in the comments for the rest of us to see). I hope you enjoy and I hope you learn something new. One of the strangest, most opportune gifts Ive gotten was a small plastic aquarium, from one of my best friends, on my sixth birthday. Misha had scrawled his name on the card, but you could tell it was one of those disappointing educational gifts that was actually picked out by the parents. I found it almost a year later in my closet, full of beads and wrapped in a pink feather boa. In a bout of the haphazard enthusiasm characteristic of that age, I dumped the beads on the floor and filled the aquarium with tap water and a bag of bright blue aquarium sand I found under the sink. That evening my parents bought me two aquatic frogs (both male). The bulk of my childhood was defined by those frogs. I spent hours every week watching them eat and swim in the mornings before my parents woke up. After my little brother was born we curled up next to their aquarium and watched them together, and when they died seven years later I had trouble falling asleep without their singing. The Axolotl Since then Ive branched out, extending my love for frogs to amphibians in general. My favorite amphibian today is the axolotl, because it eschews the very first characteristic were taught to associate with the class. Most amphibians are born in the water, metamorphose into their adult forms, and crawl out onto the land, not to return to their home ponds, streams, or lakes until theyre ready to lay their own eggs. The axolotl, on the other hand, never leaves its aquatic birthplace. In fact, it forgoes metamorphosis altogether, retaining its larval characteristics even as it reaches sexual maturity. Consequently the axolotl possesses for life not only its characteristic feathery external gills, but also unique regenerative powers. In humans and most other species, cells are trapped in their final forms after they differentiate. But because the axolotl does not metamorphose, its cells are capable of reverting to a state similar to stem cells, prefatory cells that can develop into anything. Rather than plaster wounds with scar tissue like we do, the axolotl rebuilds injured tissue. The result is like new. Amazingly, these abilities extend well beyond the level of tissues: the axolotl is capable of regenerating entire limbs, even when they include parts of the spinal cord and the neurons inside it, and even parts of the brain. Since the 1960s, the axolotl has been studied in hopes of understanding its regenerative powers and applying them to other organismsâ€"perhaps even humans. The axolotl is, in essence, the closest thing in nature to a fountain of youth. Unfortunately, the days of the axolotl and any secrets it hides are numbered. Of the two Mexico City lakes the wild axolotl once persisted in, one, Lake Chalco, has been drained to subdue flooding, destroying the axolotls and other animals within it. The other, Lake Xochimilco, has been reduced to a heavily polluted system of canals and small lakes fed by water treatment plants. Axolotls exist in six isolated areas of the former Lake Xochimilco, mostly clumped around the few remaining natural springs. When the Aztecs began building Mexico City, Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco were a system of five large groundwater-fed lakes. The axolotl was prevalent in Aztec culture, ubiquitous in food, in cultural ceremonies, and in medicine. Today, Mexico is home to 375 identified amphibian species, making it the country with the fifth greatest amphibian diversity. At the same time, Mexico City is home to 18 million people, making it the third largest metropolitan area in the world. In the past two decades, the wild population of the axolotl has fallen sixtyfold. Today there are estimated to be between 700 and 1,200 axolotls in the wild. The primary threat to axolotls is habitat loss and the degradation of what little habitat remains. Pollution from Mexico City corrupts water quality, and UV-B radiation, caused by the degradation of the ozone layer, weakens young axolotls, making them more susceptible to predators and to disease. In addition, at least ten species of nonnative fish have been introduced into Lake Xochimilco. These invasive species have substantial niche overlap with the axolotls to compete with them for food and to eat their eggs and young. Human exploitation for food and medicine, meanwhile, is no longer a concern, as axolotls are scarce enough to be a rare catch for fishermen. The Amphibian The threat of imminent extinction looms over other amphibian species as well. Three summers ago, biologists from the University of the Andes in Colombia used a combination of genetics and almost a decade of field work to discover 11 new amphibian species in Panama, only to find that five were extinct by the time they were identified. In the past decade, 40% of amphibian species at the El Cope national park in Panama have disappeared. At 300 million years old, amphibians are the oldest four-legged vertebrates on Earth. Since the 1970s, however, they have been in decline. Today, according to the International Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, an inventory of all known species conservation statuses, 2.1% of known amphibian species are extinct, 32.5% are threatened with extinction, and 43% are declining. Threats to amphibians mirror those to the axolotl. Like the axolotl, other amphibians also suffer from habitat loss, pollution, exploitation by humans, and competition from invasive species. In addition, over 2800 amphibian species are threatened by the chytrid fungus, a deadly pathogen that kills up to 80% of amphibians within a year of being introduced and is spreading at a rate of 28 to 100 kilometers a year. Even the fungus can be traced to human influence. Many researchers believe that a warmer climate favors the propagation of chytrid, and that the current outbreaks are due to warmer temperatures, though this is controversial. Less debated is that recent changes in amphibian habitat, from climate change to urbanization, cause enough stress to compromise the amphibian immune system, making it more vulnerable to chytrid. Worse, disease transmission increases with diversity loss. As amphibian diversity vanishes, susceptibility to chytrid will only increase. One trait that makes amphibians particularly valuable to us is their skin. Amphibians depend on their skin for everything from breathing to hydration to self-defense. Their thin, permeable skin gives them an especially intimate connection with the world around them, which includes the water they are born in, the land they live on, and the air they breathe. Because amphibians are especially sensitive to toxins and other harmful changes in the environment, they are often considered indicators of their habitats health. When trouble strikes, amphibians are often the first to go. And, indeed, trouble has struck. According to the IUCN Red List, almost 20% of vertebrate species are currently classified as threatened by extinction. Some, including nature writer David Quammen, worry that if present trends continue, the Earth will fall into a mass extinction comparable to those in Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous periods, characterized by a loss of over 75% of species. This was confirmed by a study published in Nature in 2011. Recent patternsâ€"multiple, atypical high-intensity ecological stressors, including rapid, unusual climate change and highly elevated atmospheric CO2â€"mirror those of past mass extinctions, say the authors of the study. Certain Doom? When I was in middle and high school, my parents and I used to canoe to the most sordid section of the muddiest marsh we could find. We put the stickiest seaweed in a Tupperware container where it lived, undisturbed, on my bedside table. Slowly, critters hatched out from the murk. All variety of creatures crawled out of the stagnant mess to explore. Usually the mosquitoes dominated the ecosystem. Tiny dots darted through the leaves and each other, growing into frenzied black clouds until finally the Tupperware was a thick fog of mosquito. Suddenly, after weeks, it stopped. The water dirtied and all lifeâ€"the jumpers and the swimmers and the crawlers and, finally, the champion mosquitoesâ€"vanished. Luckily for the axolotl, the probability of its extinction in present circumstances is low. A 2007 study by the National Autonomous University of Mexico determined that the population, while small, is stable. Furthermore, the 2011 Nature study warning of a sixth mass extinction concluded that the current loss of world biodiversity does not yet amount to one. However, the same study that concluded that axolotls are safe also noted that their population consists primarily of one-year-oldsâ€"though axolotls can live up to 17 years in captivityâ€"because pressure from predators and insufficient habitat kill most axolotls at a young age. The study concludes that a small reduction in egg and larvae survival rate increases the calculated probability of extinction within the next 20 to 50 years to 100%. The same goes for the rest of the world. According to the 2011 Nature study, the extinction of those species currently marked as critically endangered would be enough to pull us irretrievably into a sixth mass extinction. After the species currently marked as endangered and vulnerable go extinct, the loss of biodiversity corresponding to a mass extinction will take only several centuries, orders of magnitude faster than the typical two million years. Our world would soon be unrecognizable. Possible Solutions According to the 2007 study by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the best options for saving the axolotl are to restore their habitat to a state more conducive to the survival of eggs and young. This includes improving the quality of water, extricating foreign fish, and re-establishing Lake Xochimilco as more than a series of canals. Current efforts revolve around building axolotl sanctuaries in Lake Xochimilco, in which the axolotl are separated from the invasive fish by wooden gates. Another option, reintroduction (freeing lab-raised axolotl populations into the wild), has been considered but rejected, for fear of spreading chytrid fungus to and reducing the genetic diversity of the wild population. The possibility of introducing healthy captive populations into the wild has similarly been considered for saving other amphibian populations, but cautiously. In one case, the reintroduction of the Majorcan midwife toad introduced chytrid to the island of Majorca, infecting the reintroduced toads as well as other amphibians on the island. Another option is to fight fungus with bacteria. Some amphibians naturally have symbiotic bacteria on their skin that produces antifungal agent, protecting them from chytrid. Culturing bacteria from healthy wild populations in the lab and then inoculating as yet untouched populations can boost their immunity. This was attempted in 2008, when scientists captured all the tadpoles from a pond in Majorca, treated them with medication for chytrid, and, after draining the pond with a bucket and leaving the basin to dry in hopes of eradicating the fungus, reintroduced the tadpoles in hopes that they would survive to repopulate the region. This method lowered the level of infection, but it did not eradicate the fungus. Lowering the level of infection may, however, be enough. A 2010 collaboration between the Oregon State University and the University of Colorado-Boulder concluded that the chytrid fungus requires a threshold of 10,000 zoospores per frog to initiate the collapse of an entire population. Since eliminating chytrid altogether does not seem realistic, reducing the amount of chytrid, perhaps by capturing frogs before the infection hits and treating them with antifungal agent, may be the best option. One method of achieving the effect on a larger scale, proposed in a 2011 study published in Nature, is to introduce these bacteria to soil in amphibian habitats. Another option, proposed by a 2011 study published in Science, focuses on keeping species alive in captivity in zoos and aquariums around the world. Though the axolotl is threatened with extinction in the wild, for example, there are currently over 1000 axolotls in captivity at the University of Kentuckys Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center, which sends 15-20,000 axolotl embryos per year to labs worldwide. Captive populations could allow us to treat current problems before they lead to extinction, or to maintain the option of reintroducing the animals if their native habitat is restored. Unfortunately, note the authors of the 2011 Science paper, only 3% of threatened amphibian species are represented in zoos. Overall, only 37% of threatened species and 18% of near-threatened species are represented in zoos. This is commendable, but not enough. Biodiversity in Policy The above solutions are regional and short-term. Solutions to the greater, directly human-caused problems of habitat destruction and global climate change must happen on a much broader scale. Cutting down our contributions to habitat destruction and climate change is the most difficult and most important thing we can do to preserve the world as we know it. In 2002, at the first meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, world leaders committed to significantly cut down extinction by 2010. 2010, in a similar manner, was declared the International Year of Biodiversity. A 2010 analysis of data in the IUCN Red List and recent progress in conservation, published in Science, estimates that without our efforts to mitigate our effects on the environment, twice as many species would now be threatened with extinction. But this is not enough. We fell radically short of our goal of reducing extinction rates by 2010: the rate of biodiversity loss has not slowed, according to a 2010 report on progress toward the Conventions goals, also published in Science. The 2010 analysis of the IUCN Red List insists that the only way to cut down biodiversity loss is to completely turn our act around: hope lies in reversing detrimental policies, fully integrating biodiversity into broad-scale land-use planning, incorporating its economic value adequately into decision making, and sufficiently targeting, funding and implementing policies that tackle biodiversity loss, among other measures. The Convention on Biological Diversity met again in 2010. The measures taken were not nearly as drastic as science has deemed necessary. Every year, according to the first 2010 analysis, an average of 52 vertebrate species move one Red List category closer to extinctionâ€"from vulnerable to endangered, from endangered to critically endangered, and, finally, from critically endangered to extinct. If we are to have any hope of preserving the world as we know it, we cannot afford another decade of falling short.

Analysis Of The Shenandoah Valley Near The Border Of...

In the Shenandoah Valley near the border of Virginia, Joel Salatin and his son Daniel, accompanied by two farm hands, run â€Å"one of the most productive and influential alternative farms in America† (Pollan 126). Polyface farm is rather unique in its business tactics as well as agricultural practices. The only way to eat products from Polyface farm is to live next to it. . .or within a half-day’s drive. Joel Salatin is a firm believer of â€Å"relationship marketing† wherein the only way to ensure integrity is to meet the man who raised your meal (Pollan 240). Farms like Joel’s are often forgotten or considered to be at the bottom of the socioeconomic food chain, yet customers come back every single week to pick up the food that they know has†¦show more content†¦As a part of the American Marketing Service (AMS), the NOP was founded in 1939 and strives to develop â€Å"national standards for organically-produced agricultural products† (â €Å"National†). Their mission is to ensure goods with an organic seal are controlled and distributed as uniformly as possible, and they take every complaint with a heavy hand to keep irregularities to a minimum. In 1990, the USDA was instructed to â€Å"establish uniform national standards for organic food and farming, fixing the definition of a word that had always meant different things to different people† (Pollan 154). Since then the term organic has been manipulated and distorted by large companies in order to push their products to as big a market as possible, leaving consumers dazed and confused about the actual standards of the foods they were purchasing. Often times, the true meaning of the extravagant or misleading words on the packaging is hard to translate for the average consumer-organic being no different. The seal that dawns certified organic products provides no insight into the qualifications needed in order to receive that stamp nor is the USDA very f orthcoming about the actual meaning of the word organic. Any retailer can slap an â€Å"organic† label on their product so long as â€Å"at least 95% of the farm-grown ingredients are organic and you sell direct to customers inShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Shenandoah Valley Near The Border Of Virginia, Joel Salatin And His Son Daniel1929 Words   |  8 Pages In the Shenandoah Valley near the border of Virginia, Joel Salatin and his son Daniel, accompanied by two farm hands, run â€Å"one of the most productive and influential alternative farms in America† (Pollan 126). Polyface Farm is rather unique in its business tactics as well as agricultural practices. The only way to eat products from Polyface farm is to live next to it. . .or within a half-day’s drive. Joel Salatin is a firm believer of â€Å"relationship marketing† wherein the only way to ensure integrity

The Gilded Age Of The Late Ninetieth And Early Twentieth...

In the late ninetieth and early twentieth century; also known as the Gilded Age, there was a rapid growth in the Unite States’ economy and a large increase in population due to the significant changes made in the industrial industry of the country. The reasoning behind the rapid influx of European citizens migrating to United States was because payment wages in America were dramatically higher than those in Europe and the availability of jobs were also significantly higher as well. All the new immigrants coming in from Europe, the Native Americans, and the African Americans trying to adapt into the labor force of the country were referred to as the â€Å"non-white† category. The changes made in society forced these groups of individuals to assimilate into industrial labor process of America and by adapting to the way of society. Which caused all the minority groups to take away or change their own certain cultural value and ways of life . Being forced to adapt to n ew ways in society is how a country grows and proposers, by living in the country you sometimes have to make certain changes you do not want to make in order to survive in the country. The changes were not made in order to target and attack certain minority groups, but rather to help the United States economy and bring more job opportunities for all the people. Racism and segregation played a big role in the adapting process in the United States economy because the job opportunities provided many new benefits

The New Angle On Buy a Research Paper Cheap Just Released

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Strategic Analysis in Place

Question: Give a reflective learning report on action. Answer: Reflection on action transferable lessons about group processes: In my opinion, the group process helps in developing the organizational structure and also helps in the improvement of the team members within the workplace. The group process helps to improve the productivity as well within the workplace. Reflection on action transferable lessons for strategic tool / framework application: According to my view point, Petsiavas S.A. also helps the business to improve the organizational structure and thus helps in developing the group within the workplace. In my opinion, the strategy includes the Formation of the group, Storming of the team, Norming of the team and Evaluation of the performance of the team within the workplace (Hwang and Lin 2012). Thus, these help the team to work effectively and thus increase the quality of production in the business. Reflection on action transferable lessons for understanding clients and their issues: I believed that the pharmaceutical company, Petsiavas S.A. has developed an effective group process strategy which helps to improve the skills of the group and thus help the business to increase the rate of profitability in the competitive market. The various challenges also led the business to analyze the need for changes which help towards development (Bar-Tal 2012). According to my opinion, the consumption of drugs has emerged immensely in Greece, which further led the expansion of Petsiavas S.A. in the market. I have also identified the factors that help the pharma industry to expand its market in Greece. Greece is undergoing health issue which drives the city towards utter poverty and thus stands as a challenge in the competitive market (Napier and Gershenfeld 2012). Learning agenda: I believed that the learning skills helps Petsiavas S.A. to improve the productivity and thus helps the company to gain competitive advantage. The implementation of new strategy also helps the pharma industry towards the advanced development and helps the business to increase the rate of productivity as well. The skills of the employees within the business also need to be improved to lead the business towards increased growth rate (Pickard 2012). The expansion of the market helps the business to gain GDP in the competitive advantage which further adds value towards branding of the business as a whole. As per my opinion, the country suffers from immense drug addicts who even drive the whole country towards utter poverty and thus also affect the various pharma industries in Greece as well. The excess usage of the drugs in Greece also affects the health of the individual and thus lowers the rate of development structure of the country as a whole. I also believed that the pharma industry needs to face various challenges to compete in the market (Tierney 2012). The expansion thus gets influenced through the pricing strategy of the business which affects the purchasing behavior of the customers towards the products as well. I also believed that the pricing strategy also helps the employee to get more motivated and thus help the business as a whole to increase the quality of production. The pharma industry with innovations regarding biotech also helps to protect the health of the people in the city. The biotech helps the industry towards the development n the market. It also helps the business to protect the health of the people and thus helps the country to retain the satisfaction level of the customers towards the organizational products as well. The effective implementation of the pricing strategy by Petsiavas S.A. also helps the business to gain more loyal customers and thus help the business to increase the sales rate of the business as well. The pricing strategy helps the business to promote the products and thus help in attracting more customers towards the products (Lu et al. 2012). The various pricing strategy also includes the effective advertisement of the products which help the business to get exposure and helps in increasing the profitability of the corporate as well. The various shops also help the pharma industry to attract more customers and help the industry to gain loyal customers more towards the industry. As per my opinion, the effective strategy also helps the industry to improve the potentiality of the employees within the workplace and thus helps the business also to develop internally. The innovation helps biotech and thus helps in protecting the health issue of the people. This also helps the business to gain consumer satisfaction which further helps the business to increase the product sales of the company in the market (Tierney 2012). Thus, it helps the business to attain sustainability and also help in penetrating easily in the competitive market. Reference List: Bar-Tal, D., 2012.Group beliefs: A conception for analyzing group structure, processes, and behavior. Springer Science Business Media, 12(1), pp.38-47. Hwang, C.L. and Lin, M.J., 2012.Group decision making under multiple criteria: methods and applications(Vol. 281). Springer Science Business Media, 22(2), pp.28-32. Lu, J.J., Pan, W., Hu, Y.J. and Wang, Y.T., 2012. Multi-target drugs: the trend of drug research and development.PloS one,7(6), p.e40262. Napier, R.W. and Gershenfeld, M.K., 2012.Groups: Theory and experience. Houghton Mifflin, 32(2). pp. 45-56. Pickard, A., 2012.Research methods in information. Facet publishing, 42(1), pp.342-352. Tierney, W.G., 2012. Reflective evaluation.Increasing access to college: Extending possibilities for all students, 12(1), pp.217.

Memoir (ENGL) Essays - Albums, DraftGods Rainbow Manner

United States? I was about three 3 years old when I was removed from my mum's house. At the time I didn't think much of it, thought I was just staying somewhere else for a little while. Little did I know, I was actually moving to what would be the first of many foster care homes. They weren't too bad if I'm honest and at my age I didn't think of it as I still saw my siblings and parents every now and then. This all changed , however , in the early 2008 when I was told I was being adopted by my Uncle who up until that point I hadn't even met yet. On top of that I would be leaving England (my home for the past 7 years) and moving to "America" (Formally known as the United States of America). At the time I didn't know much about the country except for the fact they weren't very good at football (soccer) nor did they care much about it. I mention that because at the time the only thing I really cared about or paid payed attention to other than my family, was football. Loo king back I remember how much I didn't want to come, I remember swearing I wouldn't leave and that I would have to be dragged to the airport kicking and screaming. The ironic thing about that was when the day finally did come (June 17th 2008) and I had all my bags packed and ready to go, there wasn't any rage or "fight" in me. Instead the room (me included) were just quiet and , if i'm honest , quite sad. It's like even though none of my immediate family wanted me to leave (nor did I) we all had come to accept the circumstances. A seven and a half hour plane ride later I was walking down the terminal at (IAD) W w ashington D d ulles A a irport in near by Virginia. There I met my Grandma and another of one my uncle's. The m two along with my uncle would be my family" for the foreseeable future. I remember while driving home and looking out the window perplexed ". This was because during the months leading up to my arrival all my friends and families were filling my head up with crazy idea ' s and misrepresentations of what America would be like. I was preparing for sky scrapers and silver/glass buildings everywhere . , Instead i nstead what I saw was empty spaces and trees everywhere, the tree ratio for USA vs UK has to be like 10-1. (note: I was also 7 at the time so I had a big imagination). The empty spaces in particular really struck out to me as in England and more specifically in London (where i'm from) it is absolutely packed and almost the opposite of a state like Virginia. There was a plus , however , as the weather was much better over here than my homeland as it probably averaged 80+ degrees that summer. The biggest/hardest change that I had to deal with once coming here came right after that summer, w W hen I began attending Arcola E e lementary S s chool in Montgomery County, Maryland. When looking back at my move as a whole i've come to realize that schooling was the real change I had to deal with. Not only was I at a totally new school with new people I didn't dress or talk like anyone else at the school. I still had a pure british accent and when you combine that with the fact I was only 7 years old my voice definitely probably sounded like a little girl to all the A a merican students. To make matters worse in England all the kids wear a school uniform (Slacks/Skirt and a Dress Shirt with a Blazer or Jumper on top) so at the time I didn't have many clothes nor know how to really dress , if i'm honest. Everybody was wearing N n ike/ J j ordan shoes with jeans and t-shirts etc; while I only had football kits ( j J erseys) and

The History of Domestication for Broomcorn Millet

The History of Domestication for Broomcorn Millet Broomcorn or broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), also known as proso millet, panic millet, and wild millet, is today primarily considered a weed suitable for bird seed. But it contains more protein than most other grains, is high in minerals and easily digested, and has a pleasant nutty taste. Millet can be ground up into flour for bread or used as a grain in recipes as a replacement for buckwheat, quinoa or rice. Broomcorn History Broomcorn was a seed grain used by hunter-gatherers in China at least as long ago as 10,000 years. It was first domesticated in China, probably in the Yellow River valley, about 8000 BP, and spread outward from there into Asia, Europe, and Africa. Although the ancestral form of the plant has not been identified, a weedy form native to the region called P. m. subspecies ruderale) is still found throughout Eurasia. Broomcorn domestication is believed to have taken place about 8000 BP. Stable isotope studies of human remains at sites such as Jiahu, Banpo, Xinglongwa, Dadiwan, and Xiaojingshan suggest that while millet agriculture was present ca 8000 BP, it did not become a dominant crop until about a thousand years later, during the Middle Neolithic (Yangshao). Evidence for Broomcorn Broomcorn remains which suggest a highly developed millet-based agriculture have been found at several sites associated with Middle Neolithic (7500-5000 BP) cultures including the Peiligang culture in Henan province, the Dadiwan culture of Gansu province and the Xinle culture in Liaoning province. The Cishan site, in particular, had more than 80 storage pits filled with millet husk ashes, totaling an estimated 50 tons of millet. Stone tools associated with millet agriculture include tongue-shaped stone shovels, chisel-edged sickles and stone grinders. A stone millstone and grinder was recovered from the early Neolithic Nanzhuangtou site dated to 9000 BP. By 5000 BC, broomcorn millet was flourishing west of the Black Sea, where there are at least 20 published sites with archaeological evidence for the crop, such as the Gomolava site in the Balkans. The earliest evidence in central Eurasia is from the site of Begash in Kazakhstan, where direct-dated millet seeds date to ca 2200 cal BC. Recent Archaeology Studies of Broomcorn Recent studies comparing the differences of grains a broomcorn millet from archaeological sites often vary a great deal, making them difficult to identify in some contexts. Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute and colleagues reported in 2012 that millet seeds are smaller in response to environmental factors, but relative size also can reflect immaturity of the grain. depending on charring temperature, immature grains can be preserved, and such size variation should not rule out identification as broomcorn. Broomcorn millet seeds were recently found at the central Eurasian site of Begash, Kazakhstan, and Spengler et al. (2014) argue that this represents evidence for the transmission of broomcorn outside of China and into the broader world. See also Lightfoot, Liu and Jones for an interesting article on the isotopic evidence for millet across Eurasia. Sources and Further Information Bettinger RL, Barton L, and Morgan C. 2010. The origins of food production in north China: A different kind of agricultural revolution. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 19(1):9-21.Bumgarner, Marlene Anne. 1997. Millet. Pp. 179-192 in The New Book of Whole Grains. Macmillan, New York.Frachetti MD, Spengler RN, Fritz GJ, and Maryashev AN. 2010. Earliest direct evidence for broomcorn millet and wheat in the central Eurasian steppe region. Antiquity 84(326):993–1010.Hu, Yaowu, et al. 2008 Stable isotope analysis of humans from Xiaojingshan site: implications for understanding the origin of millet agriculture in China. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(11):2960-2965.Jacob J, Disnar J-R, Arnaud F, Chapron E, Debret M, Lallier-Vergà ¨s E, Desmet M, and Revel-Rolland M. 2008. Millet cultivation history in the French Alps as evidenced by a sedimentary molecule. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(3):814-820.Jones, Martin K. and Xinli Liu 2009 Origins of Agricul ture in East Asia. Science 324:730-731. Lightfoot E, Liu X, and Jones MK. 2013. Why move starchy cereals? A review of the isotopic evidence for prehistoric millet consumption across Eurasia. World Archaeology 45(4):574-623. doi: 10.1080/00438243.2013.852070Lu, Tracey L.-D. 2007 Mid-Holocene climate and cultural dynamics in eastern Central China. Pp. 297-329 in Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics: A Global Perspective on Mid-Holocene Transitions, edited by D. G. Anderson, K.A. Maasch and D.H. Sandweiss. Elsevier: London.Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute G, Hunt H, and Jones M. 2012. Experimental approaches to understanding variation in grain size in Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) and its relevance for interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 21(1):69-77.Pearsall, Deborah M.2008 Plant domestication. Pp. 1822-1842 In Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Edited by D. M. Pearsall. Elsevier, Inc., London.Song J, Zhao Z, and Fuller DQ. 2013. The archaeobotanical significance of immature millet grains: an experimental case study of Chinese millet crop processing. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 22(2):141-152. Spengler III RN, Frachetti M, Doumani P, Rouse L, Cerasetti B, Bullion E, and Maryashev A. 2014. Early agriculture and crop transmission among Bronze Age mobile pastoralists of Central Eurasia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281(1783). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2013.3382USDA. Panicum millaceum (broomcorn millet) Accessed 05/08/2009.Yan, Wenming. 2004. The Cradle of Eastern Civilization. pp 49-75 In Yang, Xiaoneng. 2004. Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century: New Perspectives on Chinas Past (vol 1). Yale University Press, New Haven Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is an important grain crop in the world today, thought to have been domesticated from the wild species green foxtail (S. viridis) at least 11,000 calendar years ago (cal BP) in northern China. Grown world-wide, foxtail millet is cultivated as a dietary staple in arid and semiarid regions of China and India. Nearly 1,000 diverse foxtail millet varieties exist in the world today, including both traditional landraces and modern cultivars. Unfortunately, its smaller size, relative to rice and broomcorn millet, may have led to a lower chance of preservation in the archaeological record, and it wasnt until modern flotation methods were used in excavations that foxtail seeds were regularly recovered. Data for the origin sites is still limited, and ongoing research is studying the points of origin as well as foxtails fairly rapid spread. Domestication of Foxtail Scholars agree that incipient, low-level millet agriculture began about 8,700 cal BP in the upland foothill sandy deserts along the upper Yellow Rivera recent identification of millet starch grains has pushed the likely date back to 11,000 cal BP (see Yang et al. 2012). The theory is that specialized hunter-gatherers experiencing increasing climatic instability began tending plants to provide a stable food source. Why Foxtail? Foxtail millet has a short growing season and an innate ability to tolerate cold and arid climates. These characteristics lend themselves to adaptation in different and difficult environments, and in Neolithic contexts, foxtail is often found as a package with paddy rice. Researchers argue that by the 6000 cal BP, foxtail was been planted either alongside rice during the summer seasons, or planted in the fall as a late season supplement after the rice harvests were collected. Either way, foxtail would have acted as a hedge for the riskier but more nutritious rice crops. Flotation-supported studies (such as Lee et al) have shown that the arid- and cool-adapted foxtail was dominant in the Yellow River valley beginning about 8,000 years ago (Peiligang culture) and remained dominant throughout the Neolithic into the early Shang Dynasty (Erligang, 1600-1435 BC), roughly 4,000 years. Agricultural systems based entirely on millet were present in the foothills of western Sichuan province and the Tibetan Plateau by 3500 BC, and evidence from central Thailand suggests that the millet moved in first before rice: the terrain in these places is quite steep, and the terraced paddies seen there today are much more recent. Archaeological Evidence Early sites with evidence for foxtail millet include Nanzhuangtou (starch grains, 11,500 cal BP), Donghulin (starch grains, 11.0-9,500 cal BP), Cishan (8,700 cal BP), Xinglonggou (8,000-7,500 cal BP), in Inner Mongolia; Yeuzhuang in the lower Yellow River (7870 cal BP), and Chengtoushan in the Yangtze River (ca. 6000 cal BP). The best data concerning foxtail millet comes from Dadiwan, where over the next 1,000 years (a very brief gestation stage for agriculture), foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and rice developed into intensive agriculture. Called the Laoguantai food production system, this hunter-gatherer adaptation required the reduction of mobility, and the fragmenting into small groups adapted to plant use, storage and tending. Eventually, at the start of the Banpo period (6800-5700 cal BP), millet agriculture developed into an intensive pattern with settled, larger populations. Millet spread into the southwestern China highlands as a package with rice, both plants having the characteristics of versatility and capacity for intensification. Sources Bettinger R, Barton L, and Morgan C. 2010. The origins of food production in north China: A different kind of agricultural revolution. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 19(1):9-21.d’Alpoim Guedes J. 2011. Millets, Rice, Social Complexity, and the Spread of Agriculture to the Chengdu Plain and Southwest China. Rice 4(3):104-113.d’Alpoim Guedes J, Jiang M, He K, Wu X, and Jiang Z. 2013. Site of Baodun yields earliest evidence for the spread of rice and foxtail millet agriculture to south-west China. Antiquity 87(337):758-771.Jia G, Huang X, Zhi H, Zhao Y, Zhao Q, Li W, Chai Y, Yang L, Liu K, Lu H et al. 2013. A haplotype map of genomic variations and genome-wide association studies of agronomic traits in foxtail millet (Setaria italica). Nature Genetics 45(8):957-961.Jones MK, and Liu X. 2009. Origins of Agriculture in East Asia. Science 324:730-731.Lee G-A, Crawford GW, Liu L, and Chen X. 2007. Plants and people from the Early Neolithic to Shang period s in North China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(3):1087-1092. Nasu H, Gu H-B, Momohara A, and Yasuda Y. 2012. Land-use change for rice and foxtail millet cultivation in the Chengtoushan site, central China, reconstructed from weed seed assemblages. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 4(1):1-14.Song J, Zhao Z, and Fuller DQ. 2013. The archaeobotanical significance of immature millet grains: an experimental case study of Chinese millet crop processing. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 22(2):141-152.Wang C, Jia G, Zhi H, Niu Z, Chai Y, Li W, Wang Y, Li H, Lu P, Zhao B et al.   2012. Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Chinese Foxtail Millet [Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.] Landraces. G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics 2(7):769-777.Yang X, Wan Z, Perry L, Lu H, Wang Q, Zhao C, Li J, Xie F, Yu J, Cui T et al. 2012. Early millet use in northern China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(10):3726-3730.Zhang G, Liu X, Quan Z, Cheng S, Xu X, Pan S, Xie M, Zeng P, Yue Z, Wang W et al. 2012. Genome sequence of foxtail millet ( Setaria italica) provides insights into grass evolution and biofuel potential. Nature Biotechnology 30(6):549-554. Zhao Z. 2011. New Archaeobotanic Data for the Study of the Origins of Agriculture in China. Current Anthropology 52(S4):S295-S306.