Biological globalization refers to the phenomenon where domesticated species are brought and cultivated in other favorable environments, facilitated by and for the benefit of humans. It has been defined as "the spread of
plants
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...
domesticated
Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
in one area to favorable
environments around the world".
A growing and changing human population plays an important part on what plants are moved to new locations and which are left untouched.
There have been examples of biological globalization dating back to 3000 BCE,
but the most famous example is more recent, namely the
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) in ...
.
There have been many benefits to this movement of
biological material around the world, a main one being the
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
of food production, so that countries can take advantage of the different growing seasons to ensure the availability of certain food crops year-round.
Early history
Introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
are often seen as a negative thing now, but it has diversified diets, improved human health, domesticated landscapes, and sometimes increased biodiversity.
Biological globalization is not only a phenomenon of recent times, the big considerations are for the
Columbian exchange
The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) in ...
,
but there have been purposeful translocations long before that. Deliberate translocations included for crops, food, sport, military use and study. Also as exotic diplomatic gifts as novelties, as pest control and to
cross-breed
A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...
.
Though alongside deliberate introductions came hitchhikers, which had the potential to become
invasive. Many trade routes that we use today were used in the ancient worlds, especially between Asia, Europe, the Middle-East, Africa and India,
and the overland routes of Asia were known as ‘the Trans-Eurasian Exchange’.
Translocation of Domestic animals
An early example is the spread of domesticated
zebu
The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty ...
, a species of cattle, which originated in South Asia and was introduced to
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
and
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
in 3000 BCE, then on to the central plains of Asia and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1500 BCE, and
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
by 600 BCE.
The zebu is now the most common type of cattle found in
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
.
Translocation of Birds
Some species were introduced by humans so long ago, that it is hard to tell if they are native or not. The influence of the
European aristocracy
The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient ...
can be seen nowadays, from their love of importing exotic plants and animals, that have been around for so long that they
seem native.The
black francolin (''Francolinus francolinus'') was documented as living in the Mediterranean from the time of Pliny the Elder (1st century CE), and so was thought to be a native species. It was prized during the renaissance and medieval times as a gamebird. Through DNA tracing and historical documents, it was found that it originated in Asia, maybe even South East Asia, through various trade routes. This is an example of how wealthy people have been doing these translocations for a long time.
The spread of exotic birds for the menageries of wealthy people has been especially wide spread,
like the peacock from Asia to Greece in the time of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
,
and the
Chukar partridge
The chukar partridge (''Alectoris chukar''), or simply chukar, is a Palearctic upland gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It has been considered to form a superspecies complex along with the rock partridge, Philby's partridge and Pr ...
along the
silk road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
in early BC.
Translocation of plant crops
The spread of stone fruits (peaches, plums and cherries) has been tracked from China to Europe, as well as citrus fruits from South East Asia to Europe in
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
and
Medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
times. Apples and pears came from South East Asia to China around 400 BCE.
Modern globalization
The Colombian Exchange
When the New world was colonized by the Old around 1500 CE there was a major movement of cultivated crops, which was known as the
Colombian Exchange. The Old world brought back seeds for foods such as corn, peppers, tomatoes and pineapples. In exchange, Europeans brought with them apples, pears, stone and citrus fruits, bananas and coconuts.
Nowadays, the United States is a major exporter of many of these transplants for food and ornamental value, such as peaches, grapes, and citrus. The classic American homesteading symbol, the apple tree, actually had two or three major translocation events: Originating in South East Asia and spreading to China around 400 BCE, making its way to Europe, and then brought over by Europeans to North America as it was colonized.
Ornamental
There has also been a movement of ornamental plants in recent centuries, as it became fashionable for Europe's elite to have extensive gardens. This included tulips from Turkey making their way to the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries, causing the
tulip craze, and
Bermuda grass
''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...
from Africa becoming the symbol of the American middle-class.
Wheat
![A_macro_shot_of_snow_covered_wheat_(Unsplash)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/A_macro_shot_of_snow_covered_wheat_%28Unsplash%29.jpg)
Alongside the transportation innovations of globalization, the spread of biological technology has allowed the world to enter a new
global economy. Because agriculture is such a huge economic sector it is large portion of the economy, and a large portion of that is the production of
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
in the last few centuries. Technically wheat is an invasive species in most of the countries it is grown, but because it is economically important to humans we don't classify it as such. In a way, biological globalization allowed for the economic growth of many countries on the global scale, like America and Ukraine, where wheat became a huge export. Innovations in breeding have allowed wheat to spread from milder coastal areas to harsh interior regions such as the sweeping plains of the Midwestern US, and into colder climates like Canada and Russia. The selective breeding and hardiness of the North American wheat varieties were then used by the Old world farmers to cross-breed with their varieties, and this began a back-and-forth of genetics to improve the wheat strains world-wide.
See also
*
Environmental globalization
*
Invasive species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
*
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) in ...
References
External links
*{{Commons category-inline