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Environmental Impacts of Agriculture > 4 - Agriculture Impacts on the Lithosphere > Flashcards

4 - Agriculture Impacts on the Lithosphere Flashcards

1
Q

what are the six main negative impacts of agriculture on the Lithosphere?

A
  1. Erosion
  2. Compaction
  3. Decline in soil Organic Matter
  4. Loss of Soil Biodiversity
  5. Soil Contamination
  6. Soil Salinization
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2
Q

What are the main causes of wind erosion in the 1930s Dust Bowl?

A
  • Failure to understand ecology of dry prairies
  • Frequent and extended droughts
  • Inappropriate Soil Management Practices
  • Poor Land Use Policies
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3
Q

What are three types of inappropriate soil management practices?

A
  1. Extensive Deep Plowing
  2. Heavy Use of Farm Machinery
  3. Residue Burning
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4
Q

What did the Dust Bowl impact?

A
  • Desertification
  • Financial Loss
  • Loss of Fertile top soil
  • Land Abandonment and human displacement
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5
Q

Approximately how much money was lost during the 1930s Dust Bowl?

A

$25 million per day ($400 million today)

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6
Q

Impacts of the Dust Bowl led to the establishment of _________________ in the US.

A

Soil Conservation Services (SCS)

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7
Q

What is the SCS?

A

Soil Conservation Services

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8
Q

What is the PFRA?

A

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration

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9
Q

Is the PFRA Canadian or American?

A

Canadian

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10
Q

When was the PFRA established?

A

1935, in response to the drought crisis.

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11
Q

Who is considered the Father of Soil Conservation?

A

H.H. Bennet

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12
Q

What did the PFRA intend to do?

A
  • Farmers conserve soil
  • Prevent erosion
  • Manage water resources and pasture land
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13
Q

When was the PFRA dissolved?

A

2009

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14
Q

Provide the causes of Soil Erosion (10):

A
  • Burning Crop Residue
  • Clean Weeding
  • Clear Cutting
  • Cultivation of Arable Crops
  • Excessive Tillage
  • High Intensity Rain
  • Lack of Proper Soil Conservation Measures
  • Overgrazing
  • Steep Sloping Land
  • Wind with High Velocity
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15
Q

What are the two main mitigations for soil erosion?

A
  1. Decrease Detachment of Soil
  2. Decrease Transport
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16
Q

What are the ways to decrease soil detachment?

A
  • Avoid Fallowing
  • Conservation Tillage
  • Crop Cover
  • Mixed Cropping
  • Mulching
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17
Q

What are the ways to decrease soil transport when mitigating soil erosion?

A
  • Contour Farming
  • Cover Crops
  • Strip Cropping
  • Terracing
  • Wind Breaks
  • Vegetative Buffer
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18
Q

Define Conservation Tillage:

A

Disturbing the soil as little as possible.

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19
Q

Define Conventional Tillage:

A

Normal tilling of land before seeding.

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20
Q

What does Conservation Tillage aim to do?

A
  • Conserve Soil Erosion
  • Minimizes Soil Erosion
  • Reduce Compaction
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21
Q

What does Conventional Tillage aim to do?

A
  • Lead to Soil Compaction
  • Increases Soil Erosion
  • Increase Moisture Loss
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22
Q

Any agricultural practices which affect such factors will duly influence biodiversity, and can therefore have both ________ and __________ effects upon the soil.

A

direct, indirect

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23
Q

What are the 5 factors governing Soil Biodiversity?

A
  1. Air
  2. Food
  3. Environmental Conditions
  4. Space
  5. Water
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24
Q

What are the 2 directs of agriculture on biodiversity?

A
  • Application of pesticides which target specific biotic groups
  • Often effects on non-target organisms within the same and other biotic groups
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25
Q

What is an indirect effect of agriculture on biodiversity?

A

Greater influence on biodiversity; operate at abroad system-level.

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26
Q

Define Soil Contamination:

A

Various sources of contaminants which decreases soil quality.

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27
Q

Soil contamination could get into _____________, which affects humans and other top predators.

A

food chains

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28
Q

Contamination affects the soils’ ability to __________, ___________ and _________ chemicals.

A

filter, buffer, transform

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29
Q

True or False: Contaminants can move into groundwater and surface water supplies.

A

True

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30
Q

What are the four types of soil contaminant?

A
  • Fertilizer Nutrients
  • Heavy Metals
  • Pesticides
  • Antibiotics
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31
Q

How are Fertilizer Nutrients a soil contaminant?

A

When excess nutrients are added beyond what is needed by the crop.

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32
Q

What is the main source of Heavy Metals as a soil contaminant?

A

From various sources including livestock manures, inorganic fertilizers, lime, and composts.

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33
Q

Define Soil Salinization:

A

Accumulation of soluble salts (salt pollution)

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34
Q

Where is soil Salinization common?

A

Arid Environments

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35
Q

What two agricultural activities result in soil salinization?

A
  • Irrigated Land
  • Over fertilization with inorganic and organic fertilizers
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36
Q

True or False: Most salts are not toxic to plants, humans or animals.

A

True

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37
Q

What is Physiological Droughtness?

A

When there is soil salinity, plants cannot uptake water.

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38
Q

Soil Salinity can affect beneficial ____________.

A

Microorganisms

39
Q

Salts are ___________; can be leached with good quality irrigation water.

A

solube

40
Q

What are the two ways of reclaiming salt-affected soils?

A
  • Salts are soluble; can be leached with good quality irrigation water
  • May need to add amendments prior to leaching depending on the type of salt
41
Q

What 4 points are included in Sustainable Soil Management?

A
  • Better diversity maintaining live plants
  • Good Crop Cover
  • Integrated Farming
  • Minimum Disturbance
42
Q

Define Soil Restoration:

A

To return to a biological community to its pre-disturbance structure.

43
Q

Define Soil Remediation:

A

Remove pollution using chemical, physical, or biological methods causing as little disturbance as possible.

44
Q

What are the three key positive impacts of agriculture on the lithosphere?

A
  • Nutrient / Water Storage and Cycling
  • Crop Residue Effects
45
Q

What are the three key negative impacts of agriculture on the lithosphere?

A

Soil Erosion, Degradation and Desertification

46
Q

Why is nutrient storage and cycling important?

A

Because plant nutrients are stored in the soil and nutrients are cycled through the:
- Biosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Atmosphere; and
- Pedosphere

47
Q

How does agriculture contribute to nutrient storage?

A
  • Cropping BNF Plants
  • Fertilizer / Manure Application
  • Improving soil’s ability to retain nutrients
  • Incorporation of Crop Residue
48
Q

What are the 3 main fertilizers?

A
  • Nitrogen
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
49
Q

Where are Nitrogen fertilizers sourced from?

A

Nitrogen gas from the atmosphere

50
Q

Where are Phosphorus fertilizers sourced from?

A

Rock phosphate deposits

51
Q

Where are Potassium fertilizers sourced from?

A

Potash Deposits

52
Q

Adding fertilizers influence ______________.

A

nutrient cycling

53
Q

How do Nutrient Cycles describe the movement of nutrients? Describe how they move:

A

How nutrients move from the physical environment into living organisms, ad subsequently are recycled back to the physical environment.

54
Q

Nutrient flow moves from one place to another, they can be either ______________ or _______________.

A

Intentional, unintentional

55
Q

What are some examples of an intentional flow of nutrients?

A
  • Fertilizer Application
  • Cropping Nitrogen Fixing Plants
56
Q

What are some examples of an unintentional flow of nutrients?

A
  • Gaseous Loss
  • Nutrient Leaching
  • Nutrient Runoff
57
Q

In the early stages of agriculture, nutrient cycling was _____________.

A

efficient

58
Q

What are 3 reasons why there is little cycling of nutrients in industrial agriculture?

A
  • Nutrients in produce are shipped off the farm.
  • Nutrients in crop residues are not returned efficiently
  • Nutrient runoff and leaching losses are much larger than from natural systems.
59
Q

What was the first major break in nutrient cycling?

A

Occurred as cities developed. Nutrients began to travel with farm products to feed the urban populations. Thus, nutrients have accumulated in urban sewage and polluted waterways around the world.

60
Q

What was the second major break in nutrient cycling?

A

Through farm specialization; separating animals from the land that grows their feed. Thus nutrients accumulate in manure while crop farmers purchase fertilizers to keep their fields from becoming nutrient deficient.

61
Q

What are the six negative impacts of agriculture on soil quality?

A
  1. Compaction
  2. Contamination
  3. Decline in Soil Organic Matter
  4. Erosion
  5. Loss of Soil Biodiversity
  6. Salinization
62
Q

What does SOM stand for?

A

Soil Organic Matter

63
Q

Why is soil organic matter important? (4)

A
  • Represents the Largest Stock of terrestrial C.
  • SOM has N, P, and S.
  • SOM is essential for soil microbes which support a range of processes essential of the overall functioning of the soil system
  • SOM influences other soil physical and chemical properties.
64
Q

Traditional cropping practices have dramatically reduced ____________________.

A

SOM levels

65
Q

What are the main aspects to overcome from the decline in SOM?

A
  • Application of Organic Manure
  • Avoiding Burning
  • Better Crop Varieties
  • Crop Rotation
  • Conservation Tillage
  • Cover Crops
  • Mulching
  • Pasture Rotaions
  • Rotational Grazing
66
Q

What is Soil Compaction?

A

A physical reduction in pore space expressed on a volume basis.

67
Q

How does Soil Compaction affect productivity and soil functions?

A
  • Increases Soil Resistance
  • Increases the Overload Runoff Following Rainfall
  • Increases the Risk of Flooding and Soil Erosion
  • May Affect Nutrient Cycles
  • May Increase GHG Emissions
  • Reduces Water Storage Capacity
  • Reduces Water Infiltration and Drainage
68
Q

Why does soil resistance improve soil compaction?

A

It makes it harder for roots to penetrate.

69
Q

What are 3 main ways to deal with Soil Compaction?

A
  1. Alleviating Compaction
  2. Prevention
  3. Protecting the Soil Compaction
70
Q

What is included in the Soil Compaction Prevention?

A

Improving equipment design and better soil management practices.

71
Q

Making soil more resilient is a way to mediate ___________.

A

Soil Compaction

72
Q

What are 3 ways to make soil more resilient?

A
  • Increasing the SOM Content
  • Improving drainage
  • Minimizing Tillage Operations
73
Q

Alleviating compaction is done through _______________.

A

mechanical intervention

74
Q

Define Soil Erosion:

A

Removal of soil from a location resulting in a reduction of soil mass and soil volume.

75
Q

Soil Erosion involves the detachment and transport of soil by __________, ____________, ___________, and _____________.

A

Glacier, Tillage, Water, Wind

76
Q

On what scale does Soil Erosion occur?

A

Globally

77
Q

Soil Erosion is accelerated by what four human activities?

A
  1. Agriculture
  2. Construction
  3. Deforestation
  4. Mining
78
Q

Wha are the two-folds of the Soil Erosion Problem?

A
  • Lost Productivity
  • Sediment Pollution
79
Q

Lost Productivity has ___________ effects.

A

On-site

80
Q

Sediment Pollution has ____________ effects.

A

off-site

81
Q

Provide the six on-site effects of soil erosion:

A
  • Changes the Landform
  • Destroys man made structures
  • Exposes the less fertile subsoil, thus reduce soil fertility and productivity
  • Leads to land degradation
  • Topsoil removal
  • Yield Reductions
82
Q

In North America there was a ___% in corn yield reductions and _____% in soybean yield reductions.

A

9-18% and 17-24%

83
Q

What are the five Off-Site effects of soil erosion?

A
  • Causes Flooding
  • Makes lakes and rivers more shallow
  • Reduces Capacity of Reservoirs
  • Siltation of Lakes & Reservoirs
  • Sediments
84
Q

Erosion Mechanisms involved which two physical processes?

A
  1. Detachment
  2. Transport of Sediments
85
Q

Detaching forces of soil erosion include:

A
  • Rain drops
  • Tillage
  • Wind
86
Q

Transporting forces of soil erosion include:

A
  • Flowing water
  • Wind
87
Q

Define an Aggregate:

A

Groups of soil particles that bind to each other.

88
Q

If aggregates are stable when wet, they have _________________.

A

a resistance to erosion

89
Q

If aggregates fall apart, they are _________________.

A

more susceptible for erosion

90
Q

Wet aggregate stability is a ______________________.

A

measure of susceptibility to erosion loss

91
Q

Define Tillage Erosion:

A

The movement of soil during tillage

92
Q

Tillage Erosion can result in:

A

Net losses and accumulations of soil within the landscape.

93
Q

The “loss of topsoil from upper slopes leading to decrease in productivity” is an example of what?

A

Tillage Erosion

Environmental Impacts of Agriculture (9 decks)

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