As an effect of human intervention, the former prairie of the Mississippi region has been turned into agricultural farmland. But what are the energy-based effects of land use changes?

An energy-based perspective

Through the practice of agriculture, the chemical energy produced in the process of photosynthesis is effectively made available to human use. But how has the expansion of agricultural practices influenced “natural” biospheres? And how much of the photosynthetic energy generated in the Mississippi basin is diverted to human use and how much of it returns to “natural” ecosystems?