Talk:Domestication/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Cerebellum (talk · contribs) 09:38, 3 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks! I'm used to working through issues with reviewers and will respond promptly (except over Christmas). Looking forward to it. Chiswick Chap (talk) 09:43, 3 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Chiswick Chap: First of all, congratulations on getting life to GA! Wonderful to see. Here goes for this article:

Prose: Just a couple issues. Passes copyvio check.
References: Two issues, explained below.
Coverage: I like that you kept the article short and integrated coverage of the historical and biological aspects of domestication. See below on ants and self-domestication, possible topics for inclusion.
Neutral: Yes.
Stable: Yes.
Images: Pass. Great diversity of images.

Many thanks!

made obtaining food by hunter-gathering difficult "Hunter-gathering" sounds strange to me, I recommend "hunting and gathering" instead.
- Done.

beginning of the Holocene from 11,700 years ago I think you can remove "from" without changing the meaning.
- Done.

favorable climatic conditions and increasing human populations led to small-scale animal and plant domestication I can't follow the logic here and in the previous sentence. Did people begin domestication because it was cold during the Younger Dryas and they couldn't forage, or because it was warm during the Holocene?
- Edited; the second of your options.

the western honey bee, for honey, and, lately, for pollination of crops. In an article covering tens of thousands of years, "lately" is a little ambiguous. Could you specify the time frame? Also, ref #44 on page 7 says bees are feral, not domesticated. I recommend revising the text or finding a different source.
- Edited and added sources.

Platyhelminthes (for biological control) I recommend for biological pest control, it makes the meaning clearer.
- Done.

I'm confused about the centers of origin, the "Plants" section says 24 but the lead says 13.
- Glossed. There are 13 centers of origin; some of these are subdivided, giving a total of 24 named areas.

Sorghum was widely cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa, while peanuts, squash, cotton, and cassava were domesticated in the Americas. I know you can't list every plant but would you consider replacing cotton and cassava with maize and potatoes? I think maize and potatoes are more important.
- Added.

Source #13 says Homo sapiens is not alone in subverting the biology of another species through a process of domestication; leafcutter ant species maintain fungus 'gardens' as a source of food, while other ant species exploit aphids in a semi-symbiotic interaction in which the ant colony gains honeydew and the aphids gain protection from other insect predators. Is it worth mentioning these as instances of non-human domestication? The source does say that this type of domestication is "categorically different" from what humans did, so maybe not.
- I think that's correct, a different category of activity altogether.

Similarly, I see a link to self-domestication in the see also section, is it worth mentioning in the article?
- I think it's a proper See also, an oddball item that some readers may find interesting.

Ref #42: I could not find the information cited on the page linked, it may be on a subpage.
- Linked the subpage.

Ref #82: Diamond says, "At current rates of change, within the next decade the few remaining bands of hunter-gatherers will abandon their ways, disintegrate, or die out" ([1]). That supports the claim you make but I don't think it is credible because it was written more than ten years ago and there are still hunter-gatherers. I would replace with a different source or change to something like whose lifestyle is endangered.
- Done.

Thank you, very helpful. I've addressed all of the items. Chiswick Chap (talk) 22:29, 3 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]