King Corn!
The purpose of watching this movie is to
• identify natural and altered nutrient cycling in a modern agroecosystem,
• to assess our role in our ecosystem, and
• to identify social, economic, and political impacts on our agricultural practices.
Total possible points-
(1) Why do Ian and Curt set out to farm an acre of corn in Iowa? List at least 2 reasons.
(2) Using specific examples of how Ian and Curt farm their acre, list actions farmers take that disrupt or change energy (1 change) and nutrient cycling (3 changes) in the agroecosystem. For example: Irrigation------water is added through irrigation, affecting the hydrologic cycle
(3) How have livestock and agricultural practices changed in time? List at least 4 changes.
(4) What changes in our agricultural practices did our government encourage? Why?
(5) What are the impacts of our current agroecosystem? Consider environmental, human health, social, political, and economic impacts and list them below.
a. Environmental impacts (list at least 2)
b. Human health
c. Social impacts
d. Political impacts
e. Economic Impacts
After the movie:
(6) Revisit your list in question 2. For each action you list, explain how that process would occur during the development of a primary producer (autotroph) in a naturally-occurring ecosystem.
For example: Irrigation-Rather than tightly controlling the volume of water over the area, rain would be the primary source of water for plant growth. This means that some years may be wetter than average, and others may lead to drought, causing high or low levels of primary productivity.
(7) What are 3 life-supporting processes that would occur in a natural ecosystem that are not allowed to occur or are absent in an agroecosystem?