Agriculture

Question 1

Are agroecosystems artificial or not?

Answer 1

Artificial

Question 2

What is a monoculture

Answer 2

A single crop that is cultivated over a large area

Question 3

What are autotrophs

Answer 3

Producers

Question 4

What are hetrotrophs

Answer 4

Consumers

Question 5

Explain food chain efficiencys

Answer 5

tropic levels are feeding levels within a food chain

Only 10% of energy is passed from one tropic level to the next

Question 6

How farming in the UK divided

Answer 6

Pastoral in the North and Arable in the west

Question 7

Name types of agreoecosystems

Answer 7

Organic
Industrial
Subsistence

Question 8

Difference between commercial and subsistence

Answer 8

Subsistence farmer only grows for himself and family

commercial is selling crops

Question 9

Difference between arable and pastoral

Answer 9

Pastoral produces livestock while arable produces crops

Question 10

Difference between Intensive and extensive

Answer 10

Extensive is more efficient, not alot produced but few inputs
Intensive is alot produced through lots of inputs but not efficient

Question 11

How does water supply effect the species chosen

Answer 11

Hydrological growing season
Amount, reliability/frequency and intensity
Residual precipitation

Question 12

Factors which can influence the amount of effective rainfall

Answer 12

Intensity or precipitation
Amount of precipitation which is intercepted
Temperature

Question 13

How water affects crops

Answer 13

Some need alot of water, some dont
Irregular water supplies can cause fruit to expand and split
Humid conditions can lead to fungal diseases

Question 14

Why is temperature a factor

Answer 14

Thermal growing season

Length of frost free season

Question 15

Human social reason for diet

Answer 15

Hindus do not eat cattle
Jews do not eat pigs
Ethical reason - free range

Question 16

Explain the problem with land ownership pattern

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Political factors

Answer 17

State control - Governments have complete control of commercial agriculture
Offer financial support/subsidies

Question 18

Economic factors for selection of species used

Answer 18

Market demand - influences price
Subsidies/grants
Labour supply
Labour costs

Question 19

Technological factors for selection of species used

Answer 19

Transport infrastructure - distance
Mechanization - large scale
Fertilisers - Haber process
Irrigation - Allowed farming in more arid regions
Seeds and livestock - Specifically bred varieties

Question 20

Why manipulate food species

Answer 20

Increase desirable characteristics by control genetics

Question 21

What are the methods of manipulating food species

Answer 21

Sexual - Selective breeding and cross breeding
Artificial insemination and embryo transfer
Asexual - cloning

Question 22

What is selective breeding and advantages/disadvantages

Answer 22

Selecting what ever organisms has the desired characteristic and breeding that one
this takes a long time
This deters undesirable characteristics

Question 23

Case study - Belgian blue cow

Answer 23

Double muscling
More meat on one animals
Faulty myostatin gene

Question 24

Case study - Featherless Chicken

Answer 24

No need to remove feathers

Easier to keep cool

Question 25

Artificial insemination

Answer 25

Allows the semen from one male to impregnate many
Can inseminate many female
Farmers do not need to keep the bulls
Sperm can be frozen
Requires specialists e.g.vets

Question 26

What is embryo transfer

Answer 26

Enables females to be the mother of many more offspring than she could naturally produce
Female is given FSH to stimulate ovulation
Washed out and collected from the uterus
Fertilised in vitro

Question 27

Animal hormones

Answer 27

Bovine somatotrophin
Can be given to dairy cattle to increase milk yield
Banned in many countries because of possible health effects

Question 28

Method of cloning

Answer 28

Artificial methods must be used

Use genetic material from a body cell and implanting it into the egg from a different individual

Question 29

GM Salmon

Answer 29

If they get out into wild they will out compete the wild salmon as they are alot bigger