Is A Seaweed A Boom Or A Boon?
Biologist Elizabeth Cottier-Cook discusses seaweed farming.
Vocabulary: monoculture, biodiversity, cultivar
Common Core State Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.2
Next Generation Science Standards. LS1A: Structure and Function, LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships In Ecosystems, CC2 Cause and Effect, CC4 Systems and System Models, SEP2: Developing and Using Models, SEP3: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, SEP4: Analyzing and Interpreting Data,
Demand for seaweed is on the rise, as is the amount of seaweed being farmed off the coasts of countries like China, Korea, and Indonesia. Considering its myriad uses in items such as food, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and industrial gels, Scottish Association of Marine Science biologist Elizabeth Cottier-Cook says there’s a lot of good that could come from more seaweed cultivation. But a seaweed monoculture carries risks similar to those that have plagued other popular crops, she says. She describes the good and the bad of surging seaweed aquaculture.
Print this segment transcript.
Questions for Students
- How is seaweed agriculture an example of a monoculture?
- Explain how seaweed farming can be characterized as both a good thing and a bad thing?
- How does seaweed farming support the idea that biodiversity is economically better for agriculture?
Activity Suggestions
- Have students use the seaweed segment as a jumping off point for a discussion about the benefits of biodiversity in agriculture. Challenge students to look at different case studies of crop diseases that might be made worse by monoculture practices, such as this article on a fungus that will wipe out bananas and this resource on Gray Leaf Spot in corn. Challenge students to research solutions to disease in these other crops, and make a recommendation for how to decrease the impact of ice-ice disease on sea weed cultivation.
- Model disease transmission in terrestrial crops by rain in this data collection experiment from Science Friday. Have students use their data on the disease transmission radius of different plants to argue for or against intercropping, a method of planting that puts disease-resistant crops in between susceptible ones.
