11.3 Changing The Landscape

Question 0

When farming began, woodland was cleared to make room for farming settlements, arable land and land for animals to graze on. Deforestation affects the natural environment in 3 ways:

Answer 0

1) Reduces biodiversity because habitats are lost
2) Changes local weather systems
3) Increases soil erosion and reduces soil quality

Question 1

Farming has changed the landscape and ecosystems in 2 main ways:

Answer 1

Deforestation

Draining of wetlands

Question 2

Wetlands are areas with?

Answer 2

Saturated soils such as swamps and marshes

Question 3

Wetlands were drained to make them suitable for farming, just like deforestation this:

Answer 3

Reduced biodiversity

Changed the landscape

Question 4

Pollen analysis or palynology, a sample of soil from different layers is taken. This tells us:

Answer 4

What crops or vegetation may have been present when that soil layer was deposited

Question 5

In palynology, each layer of soil is analysed separately, radiocarbon dating is usually used to date these layers so that the?

Answer 5

Changing pollen composition over time can be measured

Question 6

In palynology, the soil is mixed with water and placed in a centrifuge this separates the :

Answer 6

Lighter pollen from the denser soil

Question 7

Individual grains are then identified and counted. A graph may be made showing the:

Answer 7

Types of pollen present at any particular time.

Question 8

Scientists can distinguish between grass, weed, tree or cereal pollens, this can tell us whether:

Answer 8

Forest clearance has happened
Farming has taken place
Settlements were abandoned

Question 9

When field are abandoned they undergo a process called:

Answer 9

Succession

Question 10

Succession 1) seeds are blown in by the wind so that:

Answer 10

Grasses and small herbaceous plants start to grow on bare earth

Question 11

Succession 2) a scrub forms and grows taller than the grasses and herbaceous plants, and compete with them for:

Answer 11

Sunlight - smaller plants die out

Question 12

If the abandoned field is left for many years, the young trees grow taller, compete with shrubs and smaller plants for light, and events after a 100 or more years the land is covered with forest:

Answer 12

Climax community

Question 13

A climax community remain stable unless:

Answer 13

There is a change in the environment

Question 14

As succession progresses there are more species, meaning:

Answer 14

Greater biodiversity

Question 15

More plant species in an area =

Answer 15

More animals (greater variety of food supply and more habitats)

Question 16

Farming reduces biodiversity because:

Answer 16

Farmers grow just one or a few crops in an area.

They remove other plants that will compete with their crops

Question 17

Modern farming has an even greater impact on diversity as the same crop may be grown over enormous areas :

Answer 17

Monoculture

Question 18

The New Forest is an area of southern England that includes:

Answer 18

Forest
Heathland
Wetland

Question 19

The new forest was mostly dense woodland before farming began
Early farmers cleared areas of woodland and farmed them until soil quality became too poor
It became replaced by arable and grazing fields, settlements and heathland.
In the 11th century, remaining areas of forest were declared a royal hunting ground and as a result:

Answer 19

Large areas of the forest have been preserved to this day