The Dispersal of Ancient and Modern Apples by Humans and Other Megafauna
Crop domestication often involves selection for larger fruits. In some crops, humans took plant species with relatively small fruits and, over many generations of artificial selection, developed a plant with much larger fruits. Consider giant pumpkins as an extreme example. Yet in the case of apples, relatively large fruits already existed in the wild. Producing larger apples happened quickly…
#apples#cloning#crop domestication#crop wild relatives#Dispersal Stories#fossil record#fruit dispersal#Fruit from the Sands#fruits#glacial refugia#grafting#hybridization#Malus#Malus domestica#Malus sieversii#megafauna#perennial fruits#Robert N. Spengler III#Rosaceae#seed dispersal#Silk Road#speciation