Agriculture Flashcards
Are agroecosystems artificial or not?
Artificial
What is a monoculture
A single crop that is cultivated over a large area
What are autotrophs
Producers
What are hetrotrophs
Consumers
Explain food chain efficiencys
tropic levels are feeding levels within a food chain
Only 10% of energy is passed from one tropic level to the next
How farming in the UK divided
Pastoral in the North and Arable in the west
Name types of agreoecosystems
Organic
Industrial
Subsistence
Difference between commercial and subsistence
Subsistence farmer only grows for himself and family
commercial is selling crops
Difference between arable and pastoral
Pastoral produces livestock while arable produces crops
Difference between Intensive and extensive
Extensive is more efficient, not alot produced but few inputs
Intensive is alot produced through lots of inputs but not efficient
How does water supply effect the species chosen
Hydrological growing season
Amount, reliability/frequency and intensity
Residual precipitation
Factors which can influence the amount of effective rainfall
Intensity or precipitation
Amount of precipitation which is intercepted
Temperature
How water affects crops
Some need alot of water, some dont
Irregular water supplies can cause fruit to expand and split
Humid conditions can lead to fungal diseases
Why is temperature a factor
Thermal growing season
Length of frost free season
Human social reason for diet
Hindus do not eat cattle
Jews do not eat pigs
Ethical reason - free range
Explain the problem with land ownership pattern
Tennants only rent their farms therefore have a smaller incentive to improve the production system
Land split up when inherited to more than one child
Political factors
State control - Governments have complete control of commercial agriculture
Offer financial support/subsidies
Economic factors for selection of species used
Market demand - influences price
Subsidies/grants
Labour supply
Labour costs
Technological factors for selection of species used
Transport infrastructure - distance
Mechanization - large scale
Fertilisers - Haber process
Irrigation - Allowed farming in more arid regions
Seeds and livestock - Specifically bred varieties
Why manipulate food species
Increase desirable characteristics by control genetics
What are the methods of manipulating food species
Sexual - Selective breeding and cross breeding
Artificial insemination and embryo transfer
Asexual - cloning
What is selective breeding and advantages/disadvantages
Selecting what ever organisms has the desired characteristic and breeding that one
this takes a long time
This deters undesirable characteristics
Case study - Belgian blue cow
Double muscling
More meat on one animals
Faulty myostatin gene
Case study - Featherless Chicken
No need to remove feathers
Easier to keep cool