Apes 5.5-5.15 Flashcards
Furrow irrigation
66% efficient, easy and inexpensive, trench dug along crops fills with water
Flood irrigation
80% efficient. Floods entire filed, easier but more disruptive to plants
Spray irrigation
Ground or surface water pumped into spray nozzles. 2nd most efficient and more expensive
Waterlogging
Overwatering can saturate the soil, filling all soil pore spaces with water
Drip irrigation
Most efficient, but also most costly. Holes in hose allow water to slowly drip out.
How much water is used for agriculture
70%. 11% are used for households, and 19% are used for industry
Aquifers
Usable groundwater deposits for humans. Unconfined recharge quickly, while confined take more time.
Saltwater intrusion
Excessive pumping near coast lowers water table pressure, allowing saltwater to seep into groundwater
Cone of depression
Forms when water table is lowered by excessive pumping, depleting water & drying nearby wells
Economic benefit of pesticide use
Much higher yield (resistant to insects and other animals)
Economic advantage vs disadvantage to CAFO
Advantage - lower prices per animal.
Disadvantage - Contaminate nearby water, produces greenhouse gases.
Benefits to free range
Dispersed waste, no need for antibiotics to avoid disease
why is meat inefficient
Requires much more land and energy used than a plant based diet, contributes more to climate change
Overburden
Soil, vegetation, and rocks that are removed to get an ore deposit below
Different types of mining
Open pit, strip, mountaintop, placer
Why is subsurface mining more expensive
Higher insurance and health care costs for workers
Enviro impacts of mining
Acid mine drainage (rainwater mixes with pyrite to form sulfuric acid). PM release during coal mining
Solutions for acid mine drainage
Adding alkaline materials such as limestone
Fishery collapse
When overfishing causes 90% population decline in a fishery
Aquaculture benefit vs drawback
Requires no land and a small amount of water/space. However, the high density populations increase disease risk, and nearby water can become contaminated.
Economic consequences of fishery collapse
Lost income for fishermen, lost tourism dollars for communities
Urban blight
A community’s physical and social decline, caused by leaving businesses + abandoned homes
How do cities cause saltwater intrusion
Excessive groundwater withdrawal near coast lowering water table pressure, allowing saltwater to seep into groundwater.
Ecological footprint
Measure of how much a person/group consumes, expressed in area of land
Factors that impact ecological footprint
Food, raw materials, housing, electricity, disposing waste
Sustainability
Consuming a resource or using a space in a way that doesn’t deplete it for future generations
Maximum sustainable yield
The max amount of a renewable resource that can be harvested without reducing or depleting the resource for future use
Environmental indicator
Factors that help us determine the health of the environment and guide us towards sustainable use of Earth’s resources
Stormwater runoff
Carries pollutants into our waterways, such as oil, fertilizers, trash, etc.
How to mitigate stormwater runoff
Rain gardens - gardens planted in urban areas. Or public transport - more cars on road = more pollutants to runoff.
Build up, not out.
Building vertically decreases impervious surfaces, which decreases urban runoff. Combine this with green roof to sequester more carbon dioxide.
Goal of integrated pest management
Use a variety of pest control methods to minimize env. disruption and pesticide use.
IPM strategies
Monitoring, biocontrol, crop rotation, intercropping
Benefits to IPM
Less contamination into water, better for consumers, reduces death of non target crops
Drawbacks to IPM
Can be more consuming and costly than just using pesticides
Methods for soil conservation
Intercropping, windbreaks, perennial crops, no till
How does limestone help soil fertility
Increases ph which helps soil absorb nutrients better
Green manure
Leftover plant from a cover crop - a crop planted in the offseason
Rotational grazing
Regular rotation of livestock to different pastures prevents overgrazing.
