Levels of Organization
Level 10 Guiding QuestionHow does the level of orgainization in a cropping system help provide resistance and resilience?
Resistance and ResilienceCommunties tend to resist change in general and they are resilient in response to distrurbance. Thus, communities are often said to possess the dual properties of resistance and resilience.The degree to which a community can successfully resist change or be resilient enough to recover from disturbance depends greatly on the type of community and nature of the disturbances to which it is subjected. In general, the more complex and species diverse a communtity is, the stronger its resistance and resilience.
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Above is an example of a cover crop that contains a variety of plant species; vetch, oats, clovers and sweet peas.
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The Sustainability BarrelJourney 2050 takes us on a virtual simulation that explores world food sustainability. Using an inquiry based approach the program encourages participants to make decisions and adjust them as they see their impact on society, the environment and the economy at a local and global scale. Experience the lives of three farm families in Kenya, India, and Canada.
Interact with each family as we learn the role of best management practices in feeding the world, reducing environmental impacts and in improving social performance through greater access to education, medical care and community infrastructure. Our Journey to feeding the world has started. |
Your Thoughts on the Sustainability Barrel
Level 10 Investigation: Understanding the Environmental Factors (Soil Temperature)
Dominance and Relative AbundanceIn any community, some species maybe relatively abundant and others less abundant. The species with the greatest impact on both the biotic an abiotic components of the community is referred as the dominant species. Dominance can be a result of an organism's relative adbundance, its phyiscal size, its ecological role, or any of these factors in combination. For example corn can alter the light and heat environment for all the other species in the cropping system.
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Background for LabThe temperature of the soil is an important but often overlooked variable, affecting root growth, water and nutrient uptake, root metabolism, microbial activity, decomposition of organic matter, soil chemistry and soil moisture levels. Each type of cropplant responds differently to soil temperature, depending on its range of tolernace of soil tempertures and its temperature optimum. In agrosystems, the goals is to maintain within the crop's rnage of tolerance. Each combination of crop and environment, howver, requires a different approach. In modifying soil temperature, growers can take advantage of boty soil covering and the microclimate modifying abilities of the crop.
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Lab Procedure Soil Temperature
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Investigation: How Mulch affects average Soil Temperature Data Sheet
Investigation: Data Anaylsis (How Mulch affects average Soil temperature)
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Level 10 Videos
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Level 10 Elaborate: Determining Diversity
Biological diversity can be quantified in many different ways. The two main factors taken into account when measuring diversity are richness and evenness. Richness is a measure of the number of different kinds of organisms present in a particular area. For example, species richness is the number of different species present. However, diversity depends not only on richness, but also on evenness. Evenness compares the similarity of the population size of each of the species present. As species richness and evenness increase, so diversity increases. Simpson's Diversity Index
is a measure of diversity which takes into account both richness and evenness.
Simpson's Index (D) is a measure of species diversity. Select one biome to apply the Simpson Diverstiy Index (SDI) and count the total number of plant and animal species, record it in the chart provided and then count the number of individuals and record it. After you have record the two types of data calculate the SDI using the following
formula:
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Mulch Comparsion Chart
Using the chart below post your data from the, "Investigation: Data Anaylsis (How Mulch affects average Soil temperature)" lab and calculate Simpson Index for diversity on the weeds you find in each biome in the garden.
Level 10 Review: In cropping systems name 3 ways we can promote diversity?
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To help others understand what are 3 best practices to promote resistance and resilience in our agroecology you and a partner will make a "Educreation" VDO on "Best Practices for Improving Diversity in Agrosystems". To help you use the Educreation app on the iPad watch the tutorial on the left.
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