Abstract
Humans have travelled extensively in search of new food sources from ancient times and found new resources and exotic plant species around the world to use as food. But they had to face plant pathogens, which changed their plans and habits entirely. Microbial competition by plant pathogens and invasive species has profound effects on human populations. Currently for the first time, urban population is more than rural population. Global fertility is rapidly declining, while life expectancy is rising and as a consequence, individuals aged 60 years or older are outnumbering children under 5. Such changes are not only limited to urban sprawl but they force changes in the logistics of commodities and old-age support ratios. In turn people in situations of limited social security systems face greater risks of poverty and consequent greater water and foodborne risks.
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Notes
- 1.
The sexual stage of the pathogenic fungus Endothia parasitica is now referred to as Cryphonectria parasitica .
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Zaccheo, A., Palmaccio, E., Venable, M., Locarnini-Sciaroni, I., Parisi, S. (2017). The Human Behavior and Food Resources. In: Food Hygiene and Applied Food Microbiology in an Anthropological Cross Cultural Perspective. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44975-3_7
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