Disclosure+5+Discussion


 * Disclosure 5**
 * Your most recent conversation with Ed draws your attention to a managed agricultural ecosystem. Consider how this type of ecosystem compares to a natural ecosystem by assessing the following ecological concepts:**


 * **Niches: How can you apply ecological principles that you learned from natural ecosystems to a system that is managed and lacks the structure and diversity that is found in nature?**
 * Add info **


 * **Disturbances: Are they the same in a managed agricultural ecosystem as in a natural ecosystem? Identify all influences of disturbances in agriculture production.**

Managed agricultural ecosystems have less threats than natural systems. Natural threats that would normally affect ecosystems are controlled in a managed system. Threats that are reduced or eliminated in an agricultural ecosystem include:


 * __wind/erosion__ - shelter belts are planted to block winds
 * __lack of water__ - water is supplied via irrigation to prevent plants from becoming deprived
 * __insect infestation__ - insects are controlled using chemical sprays
 * __fire__ - constant irrigation and prevention of fires
 * __lack of nutrients__ - farmers supply nutrients to plants through fertilizer


 * ** ﻿Succession: How does a production ecosystem differ form a natural ecosystem in terms of how plant species respond to pressures and threats? **

__Succession__: Is the natural process or re-growth that happens after a natural or unnatural disturbance.

__Example__: After a forest fire or grass fire the succession is the list of species which are the first to bounce back and begin to grow again.

Commonly the first species to succeed after a traumatic disturbance are grasses, and weeds followed by small shrubbery and still living larger species like trees.

The main differences between the succession in natural ecosystems and managed production ecosystems are:
 * 1) Because natural ecosystems are much more prone to disturbances then managed ecosystems the species in those natural ecosystems are much better adapted to bouncing back or succeeding after a disturbance. While managed ecosystems on the other hand usually rely heavily on people controlling their conditions, so if something goes wrong that the farmers can't fix there will be very little natural succession because they are to reliant.


 * **Resistance and Resilience: What influences in are present in a managed agricultural ecosystem that do not have an influence in a natural ecosystem?**

Resistance: An organism's immunity to disease, the condition in which an organism can resist disease. Resilience: A property of an ecosystem which defines ecosystem behavior in relation to a perturbation (deviation of a system, moving object, or process from its regular or normal state of path, caused by an outside influence.

__Managed Agriculture Ecosystem__ Influences include: Demands for food, fiber, and nonagricultural services services these resources apply.

//"Perhaps the greatest challenge facing agriculture for the foreseeable future is to resolve conflicts caused by a growing compettion for the servies of the soil, water, and other natural resources on which agriculture depends- driven by growing demands for food, fiber, and for nonagricultural services services these resources apply." John M. Antle, Susan M. Capalbo// ====A natural ecosystem is where plants depend on each other for survival. In a managed agriculture ecosystem, the plants do not need to rely on each other because of the fertilizer the farmers add into the soil.====

//**See page about Managed Agriculture for more info.**//

//http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/31079/1/27010001.pdf//