Meanwhile humans spread those planets across the planet, cultivate it, and kill anything that tries to mess with it. Without us those plants would be living a sad little existence defeated by the next time a bug evolves slightly. Who played who?
Isn’t this because they have anti-bacterial properties? So that you can preserve food and especially in hot climates you don’t get food poisoning as easily?
Yup! I studied evolutionary psychology in college. Different seasonings helped make food safer to eat in hotter climates. My prof said “that’s why if you leave a really salty piece of jerky under your bed, it’s probably fine.”
Also explains why cultures up north typically didn’t adapt a preference for spicy food as the cold allowed them to preserve food that way
That doesn’t really make much sense since salted and pickled foods are eaten up north. The more logical explanation is that spicy food doesn’t grow up north.
Maybe in hotter climates you have more problems with bacteria vs fungus / rot in colder climates? Another explanation is that spicy / hot food is popular because it forces you to drink more water. But it’s all speculation on my part, never found any definitive answers.
Probably and was probably an accidental discovery. Someone noticed that spicy meat lasted longer.
What’s the first plant?
deleted by creator
Now I want a Bloody Mary.
What’s that first one? Horse radish?
Looks like it is, definitely different enough from wasabi to not be wasabi (even though it’s the same family of plant).
Almost thought it was ginger but it’s not gnarled enough. Or brown.
I thought that plants benefited from having their fruits eaten. As animals (like humans) defecate the seeds in different places, with enough manure to grow.
In the case of peppers, birds are immune to the effect of capsaicin. It strikes me as an evolutionary way of ensuring your seeds get spread as far as possible, by something that flies.
Could just be chance, though, I’m no expert.
All of evolution is just chance, but it sure is interesting to see what random chance can do if given enough time
Depends on the plant. Some plants like to grow close together, they don’t need an animal to distribute their seeds. Other plants like to spread out, and they benefit if birds eat and distribute the seeds, but not mammals.
Evolution is purely a results driven process, all that matters is can the organism create offspring that are capable of creating offspring.
Some plants like to grow close together
Or maybe they grow well close together because they evolved to do so because their seeds weren’t being spread all that far away?
Sorry couldn’t help but nitpick there. But you’re right, things don’t evolve in any particular direction, it’s all about just being above the bar of “not dying before producing offspring.”
No offense taken. It’s a complex topic that can’t realistically be understood from a few comments on the Internet. Feel free to add detail or correct.
Yeah it’s hard to talk about evolution without injecting intent into it. Selection bias on natural selection as it were. Like a species had a good “evolution strategy,” But no, it just evolved that way because it survived. We just don’t talk about the ones that didn’t survive. Well, unless they were cool like dinosaurs.
Plant: Wait, so you’re going to replant me, in massive numbers, all across the planet? kk nm, go ahead.
