Final answer:
The relationship between subsistence strategies and food shortages is complex, with modern agriculture providing a more reliable food supply, but macroeconomic policy failures often causing food distribution problems. Agriculture can lead to increased food availability, which should logically decrease food shortages, but effective government policy is essential for proper distribution and utilization of this surplus.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question relates to the impact of subsistence strategies on food shortages. In the context provided, modern agriculture techniques have played a crucial role in increasing food availability. The adaptation of agriculture as a subsistence strategy has usually led to a more reliable food supply (10.b). This is because agriculture allows for the production of food surplus, which means that there is typically more food available than required by the immediate population.
However, food shortages still occur, not necessarily due to a lack of food production, but often due to the failure of governmental macroeconomic policies. Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen highlighted that macroeconomic policy failures are a significant factor behind food shortages. These policies relate to inflation, employment, education, and property rights, among others. Effective policies in these areas contribute to reducing food insecurity and ensure a more even distribution of food.
It should be noted that in cases where there is an ecological change, such as an increase in predation or a decrease in available food (b. and d.), it could impact the genetic variation of a species over time. This is because these pressures can lead to different survival and reproductive success among individuals, influencing genetic diversity.