A Real Life Example: The Irish Potato Famine
In the year 1842, a disease that attacked potatoes, called a blight, ruined potato crops from Nova Scotia to Boston. Three years later the blight reached Ireland, where it created a famine.
Part of the problem was the fact that the Irish people lived, at that time, on a diet of buttermilk and potatoes. They did not have another source of food. As a result of the potato blight, over a million people died--one of out of every 8.
What are the chances of a plant being wiped out again?
Yes, it is definitely possible that a plant could be wiped out again.
Such a thing nearly happened to America's most important crop: corn. In 1970, a corn leaf blight
struck in the United States. The blight only attacked one kind of corn. However, the kind of corn
the blight struck was the kind planted by nearly every farmer in the country! Fortunately,
alternative corn genes still existed, and we were able to replace the lost type of corn.
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It is possible that a plant could be wiped out by disease.
It may be hard to believe that a certain kind of plant could be wiped out by disease, but it does
happen. Across American cities, elm trees have been nearly wiped out by a kind of blight. How
about in your town? Have you had any trees or plants that were wiped out by disease?
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