why will banana's become extinct?
538624
Bananas can't reproduce themselves: they require human propagation to reproduce. Ever notice the little back spots in a banana? Those are what's left of their seeds after domestication. Don't believe me? You plant a banana and see what happens.\nAlso, a variety of diseases are attacking them:\nWhile in no danger of outright extinction, in the next 10-20 years the most common edible banana cultivar 'Cavendish' could become unviable for large-scale cultivation. The predecessor to 'Cavendish', the cultivar 'Gros Michel', has already suffered this fate. 'Cavendish' is an extremely popular fruit in Europe and the Americas; unfortunately, like almost all bananas, it lacks genetic diversity which makes it vulnerable to diseases such as:\n\n \nInspecting bananas for fruit flies.Panama Disease (Race 1) – fusarium wilt (a soil fungus). The fungus enters the plants through the roots and moves up with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums. These plug and cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt. Prior to 1960 almost all commercial banana production centered on the cultivar 'Gros Michel', which was highly susceptible to fusarium wilt. The cultivar 'Cavendish' was chosen as a replacement for 'Gros Michel' because out of the resistant cultivars it was viewed as producing the highest quality fruit. More care is required for shipping the 'Cavendish' banana and some argue that the 'Gros Michel' tastes better. \nTropical Race 4 - a reinvigorated strain of Panama Disease first discovered in 1992. This is a virulent form of fusarium wilt that has wiped out 'Cavendish' in several southeast Asian countries. It has yet to reach the Americas; however, soil fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools. This is how Tropical Race 4 moves from one plantation to another and is its most likely route into Latin America. The Cavendish cultivar is highly susceptible to TR4, and over time Cavendish is almost certain to be eliminated from commercial production by this disease. Unfortunately TR4 is currently resistant to all known fungicides, the only known defense is genetic resistance. \nBlack Sigatoka - a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964. Black Sigatoka (also known as Black Leaf Streak) has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics due to infected banana leaves being used as packing material. It affects all of the main cultivars of bananas and plantains, impeding photosynthesis by turning parts of their leaves black, and eventually killing the entire leaf. Being starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow suffer premature ripening, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever increasing resistance to fungicidal treatment, with the current expense for treating 1 hectare exceeding US$1000 per year. In addition to the financial expense there is the question of how long such intensive spraying can be justified environmentally. Several resistant cultivars of banana have been developed, but none has yet received wide scale commercial acceptance due to taste and texture issues. \nBanana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) - this virus is spread from plant to plant by aphids. It causes stunting of the leaves resulting in a "bunched" appearance. Generally, a banana plant infected with the virus will not set fruit, although mild strains exist in many areas which do allow for some fruit production. These mild strains are often mistaken for malnourishment, or a disease other than BBTV. There is no cure for BBTV, however its effect can be minimised by planting only tissue cultured plants (In-vitro propagation), controlling the aphids, and immediately removing and destroying any plant from the field that shows signs of the disease. \nThese four diseases represent the main threats to both commercial cultivation and the small-scal
151379
Is this what cloning basically is? Asexual reproduction? And are we headed toward making a "perfect" species?  \n*** does this mean humans will become extinct in the not too distant future?
461824
Extinct species, if not extinct by human activity (shooting them, cutting their forests down, etc.), have extinct for a reason - they did not fit well to the enviournment.\nRecreation of such species may destabilize the delicate balance of nature.\nMoreover, any human interferance with nature, whether trying to do good or bad, can only harm it.\n\nThere are two (1.5) reasons. I think you can start with these, and probably the rest will come to mind after writing this. If not, I believe that other people will have further ideas.\n\nGood luck!
13108
When some apes left the trees and started to walk upright it wasn't the end to dwelling in trees. Some of the upright walking apes turned into fairly gorilla-like vegetarians which held out for a while before becoming extinct.\n\nBut then the tree-dwelling apes developed further, too, changing into modern apes or becoming extinct.
746428
The Do-Do is a well known extinction, they died out because the people ate them all. Predators got to their eggs and there wasn't any kind of conservation going on then.
247868
Not only biologists but everybody must feel concerned about the vanishing species on earth.This is  because nobody lives in isolation.We are all ( The plants,animals and man) related and dependent upon each other.)\n With every extinction an important link in the life on the earth is broken and gone. It has a cascading effect.\n In Australia, with the disappearance of Dodo ( A bird since extinct) the trees that were dependent on Dodo for germination of their seeds also disappeared. It was established that the seeds must pass through the digestive system of the bird before germination as the hard cover used to get digested by the bird.Scores of insects and bees bring about pollination in plants.Disappearance of these bees due to indiscriminate use of the pesticides will undoubtedly affects those plants.\nLife on this planet is like an intricate web, damage to any of its part will destroy the web and even man will not be spared.
236694
.THIS PLANET IS NOW DRYING OUT.In northern china the 2 major deserts are merging to create a super desert.\n\nthousands of farmers that once were food producers are now running for their lives before the advancing dust storms.The Sahara is growing by 7 kilometros a day\n\n.The world population has doubled in the last fifty years ,faster than  humanity has ever done since we became homosapians. we are loosing species every minute.We are in fact witness to a mass extinction for the first time again since the day of the dinasaurs.\n\nAGRICULTURAL LAND IS LOST ALL OVER THE GLOBE.TO DESERTIFICATION ,OVERPUMPING OF CARBON AQUIFIERS.\nForest fires and deforestacion (to create more farmlands )are detroying that which make the water.\n\nEACH YEAR THERE ARE LESS AND LESS FARMERS,their sons becoming something else , in Africa there are many dying of aids  In china many lost their lands, \n\nAnd each year these less and less farmers have to feed an increase of (,at the moment) 70 million people.(But this is speeding up.)\n\nTo produce a ton of maize takes 1000 tons of water.If you havent got water but you have money,such as China,you will buy water in the form of maize,and at high prices.\n\nCanada and Australia have limited their sales already and only to their regular good customers.Other countries WILL sell causing inflation and rising food prices at home and so produce unstable governments.\n\nwe find ourselves in a bubble econemy about to burst.\n\nthe bottom line is that with less land,less farmers and less water.the global farming comunity will not be able to feed everybody in the world.\n\nThe disapearing biomass is threatening our very atmosphere.\neach rise of temperature by one degree means 10% of croploss.And the planet is getting hotter.\n\nThe sea is rising ,which means more loss of agricultural land.\n\nThe world desperately needs alternative ways to produce food.\n\nso to save Mankind,to save the world ,to change the tide, to tip the balance and to answer the question ,\n\nthe solution is that \nif the billions of people on this planet who have any ground at all ;grow something.\n\nTo combat rising food prices by bringing an enormous amount of food unto the local markets ,\n\ncombat the threat to the global environment ,by creating an enormous amount of biomass which will produce humidity,\nAnd all of it outside and beyond the concept of agriculture.\n\nThe many billions of pieces of land are there,and so are the people.Just buy a spade and get some seeds.the books exist,\n\nI recommend Permaculture since that is my area ,but their are many other concepts.\n\nAnd you will get healthy and cheap food,not to speak of making the place beautifull.\n\nIn this way we can get to Paradise without having to die first
1076260
Ray Comfort is so freakin' whacked out that I can't imagine even the most devout Christian taking him seriously! The modern banana bears NO resemblance to its ancestors because it has been GENETICALLY MODIFIED BY HUMANS, through selection, to its present size, color, and flavor!  All of the yellow bananas in the stores are of the same variety; they are clones, basically, and banana crops are in danger because the lack of genetic diversity means that a plague in a single plantation could spread to kill other banana crops, due to their lack of immunity. This is a real fear of plantation owners, and steps are being taken to develop cross-breeds that can resist any bugs that nature throws at them.\n\nSo, where does God fit in? It is HUMANS who are doing all the specialized breeding, here! And what does this say about apples, oranges, and other round fruits that are hard to grasp? And I guess God never intened for humans to eat coconuts or he wouldn't have given them hard-to-open shells. ¬_¬
817429
I hope you aren't breeding or planning to.  There's already enough halfwits swinging around the tree of humanity who can't even peel their own bananas.
985320
To keep from going bananas.
938998
Well there are lost worlds and lost civilizations. \nOur civilization now will extinct someday too, not to mention possibilities of meteors attacking earth.\nSomeday another person will ask the same question and get the same answer.
193070
If the scarlet macaw ate a particular species of insect or animal, that species, devoid of one predator, may grow to a larger population.  Since the scarlet macaw is endangered, such an action has already likely occured.
576925
because the areas where they live are destroyed by man, meaning there is less food and less safe places to live. they do not breed easily so do not reproduce quickly enough to keep population numbers high. eventually there will be none left unless people help protect them.
500082
Instead of banana shouldn't it be plantain?
889798
Losing any plant can drastically affect the local environment.  Loss of the phlox (which grows on sandy soil) is bound to have serious erosion consequenses as the roots of the phlox bind the soil together.  Insects will lose a source of nectar and so the food chain will suffer further up.  \nYou may find the site belwo of interest...;
159232
because they can't adapt to their environment. ones who can't adapt, can't get food or settlement. that's why they became extinct..
991061
No.  The human body needs an abundance of potassium and very little in the way of sodium.  Most people get things backwards.\n\nYou cannot die from eating too many bananas.  You may start scratching your armpits and going "Ook, Ook, Ook", but you can't die from it.\n\n(Just kidding on that last part)\n\n-Dio