Devastating Wheat Fungus Appears in Asia for First Time
In Bangladesh there has been a spread of a fungal disease that has already caused the loss of more than 15,000 hectares of crops. This fungal disease was already in South America but it recently spread to Bangladesh. The author, Ewen Callaway, reveals “The fungus is better known as a pathogen of rice. But unlike in rice, where M. oryzae attacks the leaves, the fungus strikes the heads of wheat, which are difficult for fungicides to reach.” Therefore indicating how devastating this fungus can be. It is unfortunate because researchers have discovered that this disease has been thriving in areas that are hot and humid, like in South America and Bangladesh. It is also unfortunate because “wheat is the second most cultivated grain in Bangladesh.”
I chose to read this article because it connects to a topic we recently discussed in class; resistance. Ewen Callaway states “efforts are also under way to find wheat genes that confer resistance to the disease.” Also, it relates to food science which is what I will be majoring in when I got to college. Although this may not have relevance to us in Bronxville it does affect those in Bangladesh who use wheat. It is also important to keep an eye on this fungus because it could spread and then harm more and more areas.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article. The article does a great job of explaining the effects this fungus has had. The article was really informative, but as I was reading I became curious as to what kinds of efforts people around the world could make to help stop this fungus. One criticism I have is as I was reading I noticed that the article was a little all over the place and at some parts it was hard to follow.
Citations:
Callaway, Ewen, and Nature Magazine. "Devastating Wheat Fungus Appears in Asia for First
Time." Scientific American. N.p., 27 Apr. 2016. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your review of the article: “Devastating Wheat Fungus Appears in Asia for First Time" by Ewen Callaway. This article is a very good choice because many important discoveries have been made recently about parasites, bugs, chemicals and now Fungi that have a dramatic effect on our food supply. I liked how you included the specific new information scientists came across about the location the fungus targets on the wheat crop. I also liked how you specifically cited how this new information will affect Bangladesh and what that effects that will have for the economy there. I also thought you did a very good job at summarizing all of the details in the article and including specific quotes making your review more detailed, and credible. This review was overall very well written and thought out and I thought you did a good job at displaying your thoughts in a descriptive yet concise manner.
I felt that the primary problem with your review was in your relevance paragraph. You had many good points but I feel like you only skimmed the surface on the relevance to humanity. It was a little rushed and I feel like you had a lot more to say. You also mentioned that it will affect the people of Bangladesh but I would have liked more specifics on how and what the consequences of these effects will be. Another aspect that was detrimental to your review was that you had a lack of detail. Although you quoted specific pieces of the article, your summary was a little short and lacked the detail that I would have liked to see.
Overall I really enjoyed reading your review and was especially interested by this topic because I think it is interesting and very scary how life changing a fungus like this can be. It is scary how a staple in most cultures like wheat could be completely destroyed by a fungus and also I think it is interesting that it attacks the head of the wheat where the pesticides cannot reach easily which I assume is a result of evolution.
I read Rachel’s review on the article, “Devastating Wheat Fungus Appears in Asia for First Time” by Ewen Callaway. She did a great job explaining the large scale effect of wheat fungus in Bangladesh and South Africa. More than fifteen thousand hectares of crops were lost due to the fungus, causing loss of food and income for thousands of people. Rachel also did a good job of including a quote from the author, clarifying aspects of the article as well as validating the facts of the article. Ewen Callaway states, “The fungus is better known as a pathogen of rice. But unlike in rice, where M. oryzae attacks the leaves, the fungus strikes the heads of wheat, which are difficult for fungicides to reach.” This helped to show the difference between the wheat fungus and other plant diseases like ones that attack rice. Lastly, Rachel did a good job of identifying how this topic connects to her life. For instance, we learned about resistance in pathogens due to mutations and natural selection in class. She is also studying food science in college so this article directly connects to what she will be studying.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Rachel did a great job of reviewing the article, there were a few aspects that could have been improved on. For example, the relevance to humanity was barely touched on. She also could have talked more about how the people of Bangladesh were affected and what actions have been taken to combat this fungus. Another aspect that could have been improved on was the length of the review. The summary paragraph was very short and she could have went more in depth about the fungus and how long the outbreak has been going on.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading your review. It opened my eyes to what different people in the world are dealing with and how we take our access to food for granted. It was also interesting to learn about pathogen resistance in real life because we’ve been learning about it so much in class.