ISS 310-Quiz 4

Land degradation

*A natural or human-induced decline in land quality or reduction in its productivity

Agricultural Revolution; When did it start? Where?

*A revolution because the ability to grow food and raise livestock in one location completely and remarkably transformed human societies and the way humans lived. *Occurred roughly the same time period in regions around the world, resulting in a large area of cultivated lands in Southwear Asia, central & South America, north China, NE India, and E Africa.

Tree metaphors

*Author Michael Pollen *Offers a unique perspective on the relationship that people have with trees. Colonial Tree: Symbolic of progress and advancement (the triumph of man over nature). Political Tree: Sign of ownership and property right. A decree, a statement of right and authority. Romantic Tree: Preserved rather than planted, since its spiritual authority derives from its independence of man.

Green Revolution

*Began in Mexico in 1944 *Involved the development of new varieties of food plants and altered agricultural practices, both of which have significantly increased crop yields.

Superfund; CERCLA

*Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 *Addresses the cleanup and recovery of hazardous waste sites in the US

Soil conservation methods

*Conservation tillage: Involves leaving crop residue on the soil surface, which reduces runoff and soil erosion, conserves soil moisture, helps keeps nutrients and pesticides on the filed, and improves soil, water, and air quality. *Contour tillage: strié cropping, polyculture cropping, crop rotation, field mulching, leguminous cover crops for nitrogen fixation, terracing, vegetative barriers and buffer strips, windbreaks, steam bank vegetation, selective timber cutting, nutrient management, and controlled fire management.

commercial agriculture

*Farmers produce crops and animals primarily to sell to others rather than direct consumption by them and their families. *Not usually sold to consumers, but to large companies that process, package, store, and distribute food

The relationship between biodiversity, resilience, and stability

*Forest biomes with a more diverse assemblage of plant and animal species, in larger numbers, generally have greater stability and productivity. These forests are also more able to recover when disturbed, which indicates that they are also resilient. People tend to simplify ecological communities, such as forests, which decreases biodiversity. This, in turn, increases the vulnerability of that ecosystem to disturbance and possibly failure (that is, less resilient). -Inherently less diverse, less stable, and less resilient when threatened by adverse weather conditions, pests, or disease.

Norman Borlaug

*Headed the green revolution project *University of Minnesota *Developed high0yielding wheat seed

Direct causes of deforestation

*How it occurs* -Commercial logging *Primary cause* -25% and 35% of the worlds timber is used to make paper. -for the land: subsistence-level agriculture, fuel or building materials -Commercial agriculture both crop and livestock -make room for new infrastructure -excessive fuel wood removal, overgrazing, poor harvesting methods, dams and energy development, mangrove and shrimp farming, mining, and oil and gas exploration. -Invasive species and fires

high-yielding varieties

*Initially included grains such as wheat, corn, and rice *With the adoption of high-yielding came the use of pesticides *made it possible for marginal areas to overcome the constraints of the environment to produce food.

Love Canal; what is it? why did it happen?

*Love Canal, New York *1920s it became a municipal and industrial dumpsite *Hooker Chemical Company dumped tons of toxic waste *Niagara Falls School Board built an elementary school on site *Caused birth defects, genetic mutations, and cancers all linked to chemical exposure. *President Carter declared an environmental emergency.

Farm Bill

*Main mechanism of the government for setting agricultural policies and priorities *Anything from school lunch programs to land conservation programs are covered by the Farm Bill.

subsistence agriculture

*People consume all they produce; essentially, substance is food grown for you and your family. *Usually relies on much human labor, and little animal or machine power. *Low in technology and lower in productivity *Still exists in parts of China, India, Africa, and Latin America

Agricultural Census

*Provides a detailed picture of US farms and ranches and the people who operate them.

Soil-forming factors

*Soil horizons, and therefore the complete soil profile, are a direct reflection of the environmental conditions in which the soil formed. *5 categories of environmental factors that influence soil-forming: -Parent Material: can either be created in place from decomposed bedrock or organic material or transported from one location and then deposited in the location where the soil forms. -Climate: Water and warmth are needed to initiate the processes the form soil horizons in parent material. Increase weathering of the parent material, biochemical activities, soil depth, & horizon thickness. Affect what materials and the amount of materials that are transported within and out of a soil profile. -Organisms: Plants/animals add organic matter to the soil when they die and decompose, and by mixing and moving the soil around (bioturbation). -Topography: If a soil is located on a relatively flat landscape it tends to be stable and have low erosion if its located on an incline, it tends to be unstable and have high erosion. -Time: Time is passive, the longer the other 4 factors have to guide soil formation the better developed a soil will be.

Deforestation; what is it? where does it occur?

*The act or process of clearing or harvesting any forest to the point that the tree removal is not balanced by new growth. -Can and does occur all over the world, in any area that has forests. -3% OF DEFORESTATION HAPPENS IN NON-TROPICAL FORESTS

Root causes of deforestation

*Why it occurs* 1. Population growth 2. Development 3. Consumption 4. Inequality 5. Poverty and debt 6. Policy

deforestation and agriculture

-Agriculture including both crops and cattle ranching is the leading cause of deforestation. Causes: *Conversion of tropical forests to cropland and pasture *

The role of trees in the carbon cycle

-Growth, death, and disturbance of forests can all tip the carbon balance. -Growing vegetation/photosynthesis

Gateway activity

-Logging is labeled as a gateway activity. -When logging begins, roads are constructed to gain access to places and large equipment is brought in. -Once the operation is finished the forest is vulnerable to things like agriculture, development, exploration, and hunting.

Photosynthesis; respiration

-Photosynthesis: vegetation takes in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases oxygen back into the atmosphere -Respiration: Opposite of photosynthesis.

Components of soil

-Soil is 50% solid matter and 50% pore space. -Specifically, 45% mineral matter, 5% organic matter, 25% air and 25% water.

Soil definition and functions

-Soil is a zone at the earths surface with a distinctive organization of mineral and organic matter and pore space. *Soil provides a medium for the growth of higher plants. *Soil controls the fate of water in the hydrologic system by regulation and purifying the water supply. *Soil recycles raw materials, decomposing organisms and biological material and storing/reusing it. *Soil provides a habitat for organisms. *Soil supports the anthropogenic ecosystem through its use as an engineering medium.

The carbon cycle; what is it? what are the main pathways of movement? what are sinks?

-The pathways of carbon movement in the environment. Between land, atmosphere and oceans. -Photosynthesis: vegetation takes in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases oxygen back into the atmosphere -Respiration: Opposite of photosynthesis. -When organisms die organic matter is decomposed and carbon can move into the soil. -In cooler environments decomp is slower so soils become huge stores of carbon. *Major Carbon Sinks: living and dead organisms, fossil fuels, sedimentary rocks, soils, the atmosphere, the ocean

Why are forest plantations popular in the south?

-The region had an ideal climate

Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)

-Thousands of animals might be crowded together in one operation -Led to an accumulation of animal waste in ponds and storage structures in one place and an increase in the use of synthetic fertilizers in another.

Reasons for soil degradation

-Water erosion, wind erosion, chemical and physical deterioration *Overgazing, deforestation and mismanagement of agriculture practices.

mechanization of agriculture

1. Changes in rural labor activities, such as machines, that replace and /or improve on human labor. 2. The introduction of fertilizers, hybrid seeds (not just high-yielding), agrochemicals, and biotechnology to alter or increase yields. 3. Development of industrial substitutes for agricultural products (for example, high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and thickeners instead of cornstarch or flour).

Soil orders and patterns of distribution

1. Gelisols -soils that are permanently frozen within 2 meters of the surface -very cold climates 2. Histosols -organic soils -areas with poor drainage 3. Spodosols -acid soils with an accumulation of (Fe, Al)-humus complexes -cool, moist climates under (coniferous) forests 4. Andisols -soils formed in volcanic ash -areas of volcanic activity 5. Oxisols -intensely weathered soils -tropical humid areas, under rainforests, and the subtropics 6. Vertisols -clayey soils that significantly shrink/swell when dry/wet -occur on every continent, except Antarctica 7. Aridisols -calcium carbonate-containing soils with well-developed horizons -arid and semi-arid climates 8. Ultisols -soils with clay accumulation and relatively low fertility -humid subtropical and tropical wet/dry areas under forests 9. Mollisols -fertile grassland soils -midlatitude grasslands (prairies) 10. Alfisols -soils with some clay accumulation and relatively high fertility -temperate humid and subhumid areas under forests 11. Inceptisols -soils with weakly developed horizons; often young soils -occur in a wide range of environmental settings, especially on steep slopes, young landscapes, and resistant parent materials 12. Entisols -soils with little or no development; often young and/or infertile soils -occur in a wide range of environmental settings (essentially considered unaltered parent material)

Ways to curb deforestation

1. developing independent wood certification programs that ensure wood was logged legally and using sustainable-yield methods 2. encouraging the development of more forest plantations, especially in developing countries 3. encouraging use of plantation wood 4. reducing harvests of natural forests 5. improving harvesting methods and educating loggers about using such methods 6. encouraging community-level involvement in forest conservation 7. encouraging green consumerism (when people demand wood harvested with sustainable-yield methods and beef raised in non-tropical regions) 8. encouraging paper recycling

When traveling from north to south in Michigan, the climate warms and the dominant forest species change from coniferous to deciduous. These changes result in two different soil types. In the southern part of the state, the dominant soil order is most likely:

Alfisols

food desert

Areas without easy access to places that sell a wide variety of foods have a food environment

Reasons forests are valuable

Biodiversity: Forests are home to as many as 2/3 of the species on Earth. Carbon, water, oxygen: Home to the largest terrestrial carbon reservoir with 50%, recycle the worlds oxygen and water. Cultural values: Home to 60 million people, whom don't just live there but survive off them. Closely linked to the natural and cultural heritage of many groups of people. Economic Values: $400 billion to the world economy, employs 1 million US citizens. Landscape value: The provide protection and help to anchor the soil in place.

Biodiversity; resilience; stability

Biodiversity: The degree of diversity of species populations both in number of different species and quantity of each species. Resilience: The ability of a forest community to recover from disturbance. Stability: A relative term that involved the balance in birth and death rates, and the ability to maintain the composition of the biotic populations within.

Global forest biomes, locations and characteristics

Boreal Forest: Found in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere across North America and Eurasia. Dominant tree species include: needles conifers because they can survive the winter conditions. Midlatitude Forest: Found in midlatitudes including eastern North America, and Asia, across Europe, South America and Australia. In areas characterized by humid subtropical or continental climate regimes. Pretty autumn leaves and winter dormancy. Tropical Rainforests: Located in the equatorial and tropical region that circles the globe across South America, Africa, Southeast Asia. Provides year-round growing conditions with warm temperatures and rainfall. With Three-layer stratification: emergents --widely spaced, extremely tall, between 130 and 200 feet) trees with enormous canopies; these trees often have smaller leaves due to their exposure to drying winds, canopy --trees between 50 and 130 feet tall with a closed canopy that greatly reduces the amount of light passing through, and understory --trees between 15 and 50 feet tall also with a closed canopy that allows very little light to pass through to shrub or ground layer vegetation; little air circulates in this layer so it tends to have high humidity.

Which of the following descriptions of the Agricultural Revolution is false?

During the Agricultural Revolution, the natural environment controlled what crops were grown and where.

What is a forest?

Forests are tracts of land covered by trees that grow close enough together for their canopies to overlap and thus shade the ground.

While driving down the road, you look off to the side and see an exposed bluff of soil. With this view you can observe several distinct layers called soil:

Horizons

Why is a geographic perspective on the availability of fresh produce and access to those foods important to the health of the population of an area? [Select the best answer.]

It may help us better understand the obesity problem.

limiting factors and adaptations

Limiting factors: The things which dictate the presence or absence of the worlds forests. Including: climate, soil, topography, and disturbance. *The general distribution of trees, and all plants, around the world is more significantly dictated by the availability of water than any other limiting factor.

Trees, leaf types, and leaf fall

Needleleaf Trees: Thin, needle-shaped leaves. Waxy coating helps prevents loss of moisture. Suited for areas with high snowfall, because the snow falls off instead of breaking branches. Broadleaf Trees: Broad, flat leaves. Deciduous Trees: Have both leaf-on and leaf-off portions of the year. Evergreen Trees: Retain green leaves year round enabling photosynthesis to begin quickly in the spring. The dark green leaves allow for maximum absorption of heat from the sun. These trees are well adapted to a variety of growing conditions. Coniferous Trees and Shrubs: Cone-bearing, typically needleleaf evergreens.

organic; organic agriculture

Organic: Those grown without the use of artificial fertilizers or pesticides during the growing process and organic meat and poultry has been raised on organic land, fed organic feed, and without antibiotics or hormones.

In the world's tropical regions, rainforest vegetation quickly uses up the nutrients in the generally low-fertility soil type known as:

Oxisols

Profile; horizon

Profile: If you were to take a vertical slice of Earth Horizons: Within the profile you would see distinct layers of soil

food environment

Refers to the availability of and access to food items in an area.

What is the lithosphere?

SOIL *plays a critical role in both spheres* -Is the outermost layer of the Earth including both soil and minerals.

Soil has five essential functions. All of the following provide good examples of those functions, EXCEPT:

Sand dune

As presented in your lesson, the case of managed pine plantations in the United States most lends support to which of the following conclusions?

Silviculture cannot make up for the loss of frontier forests.

Soil-forming processes

Soil Additions: Organic material is added by organisms to the top. Minerals are added at the surface by humans. Precipitation adds water to soil. Soil losses: Materials in soil can be leached by being carried down and out of the soil by water. The uppermost horizons can be lost by erosion. Water can be lost from soil by percolation, evaporation or plants. Translocations: Materials in the soil can be eluviated (exit, moved out of) from surface horizons and illuviated (moved into) lower horizons (mostly B). Water and the activity of soil organisms, called pedoturbation, are also capable of moving (translocating) materials around within a soil. Transformations: Fresh organic matter on the aurface is transformed to rotten organic matter by decomp.

What is the biosphere?

TREES -Consists of all life on Earth, including plants animals insects microorganisms and humans.

In 1993, David Zirnhelt, the former Canadian Minister of Forests, was quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying: "It's obvious we have to find ways to get more jobs from every tree. Diversification and value-added manufacturing are our best hope for the future." This quote form Minister Zirnhelt is most representative of which perspective of trees?

The Colonial Tree

You are a physical geographer who researches sand dunes. In the middle of the dune, which is made up of sand, you find a layer of soil development that occurred 2,000 years ago. You know that the dune has been forming for 5,000 years, in sand, on or near the same location on the landscape, and at the same slope. What, then, was the likely factor that was different when the soil formed?

The climate

food mile

The cumulative distance that food is transported from the point of harvest to the point of consumption

Fragmentation

The dissecting of a forest community that leaves behind smaller disconnected patches of forest, which are then vulnerable to further disturbance and often unable to maintain their same biotic populations

Silviculture

The practice of establishing forests for the purpose of commercial/industrial wood production.

Frontier forest

Those that have been left undisturbed by people and large enough to maintain all of their biodiversity for as long as they remain undisturbed. *20% is considered frontier*

Kakum National Park, Ghana, is located at 8 degrees North latitude, in west - central Africa. What type of forest biome would you likely find in the park?

Tropical rainforest

True or false? A logging company comes into an area and clears 300 acres of forested land for a new residential development. This is an example of deforestation in which the forest is not considered a renewable resource.

True

True or false? The conversion of forests to agricultural land is no longer only for subsistence agriculture in tropical regions.

True

True or false? You see a farm where the remains of last year's corn crop (after the corn is harvested) are left to decompose in the existing soil. That farmer is following recommended Best Management Practices for soil conservation.

True

Farmer Sally needs to make some money, so once her corn crop is harvested, any above-ground plant material that remains is cut, shredded, and stored as silage for the neighbor's dairy cows. This cycle continues year after year. In this case, is there a better way that Farmer Sally could manage her resources?

Yes, she could employ conservation tillage to reduce erosion and increase soil nutrients.

Which of the following descriptions provides the best example of a soil-forming process?

a river depositing silt on its floodplain.

Which of the following is most a result of the shift away from traditional farming practices, toward confined animal feeding operations?

an increase in the use of synthetic fertilizers

Evergreen trees retain their dark, green leaves year-round. This feature is most an adaptation to a _______________ climate.

cold

The breakfast cereal you ate this morning contains ingredients that originated from many different locations. The combined total of the distance these ingredients traveled to arrive at your table is considered the ________________ for that cereal.

food miles

Agriculture expansion, including crops and livestock ranching, is taking place rapidly in the tropics. How does logging contribute to the expansion of agriculture?

logging is considered a gateway activity for agriculture

Which of the following would not be possible without technologies directly associated with the Green Revolution?

marginal areas can produce enough food for export

In a compost pile, aerobic bacteria gain energy by oxidizing organic compounds, especially carbon, from such things as leaves and vegetable waste. This statement describes how soil:

recycles raw-materials.

Historically, families were larger and children contributed to growing food for the family. This is a characteristic most associated with:

subsistence farming.

In tropical rainforests, ___________ and _____________ are optimal for forest growth, as well as limiting factors below the canopy.

sunlight; precipitation

In 2000, several Douglas fir trees, hundreds of years old, were chopped down in Cathedral Grove of British Columbia because trees in this area are vulnerable to wind throw during storms. This was described by protesters as a brutal massacre in which trees were removed without care and with a complete disregard for the consequences. Which of the following tree perspectives, as described by Pollan, is most likely held by the protesters?

the Romantic Tree

In 2004 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Wangari Maathai from Kenya, an environmentalist who is responsible for the planting of 30 million trees in Kenya. She feels that these trees can not only maintain peaceful relations between citizens, but also empower the women who have helped plant them. Wangari Maathi and her trees reflect which of the following perspectives as described by Pollan?

the Romantic Tree

Soil orders can best be described as:

the most common soil profiles.

In Lesson 8 you watched Dr. Kevin Walker's video, "Food and You," in which he noted that, worldwide, the amount of overweight people is now on par with the amount of malnourished people. Reflecting on the themes of this course, what does this fact help illustrate?

the prevalence of overconsumption

Which of the following is NOT an example of a carbon sink?

the production of cement

In the production of food, the largest portion of energy is consumed by:

the use chemical fertilizers.

The Industrial Revolution impacted farming in all of the following ways except:

the variety of crops available decreased.