APES Chapter 9

Question 1

Agriculture

Answer 1

the practice of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption

Question 2

Cropland

Answer 2

land used to raise plants for human use

Question 3

Rangeland

Answer 3

land used for grazing livestock

Question 4

Soil

Answer 4

a complex system consisting of disintegrated rocks, organic matter, water, gases, nutrients, and microorganisms

Question 5

Traditional agriculture

Answer 5

cultivating, harvesting, storing and distributoing crops performed by human and animal muscle power

Question 6

Industrial agriculture

Answer 6

replacing the horses and oxen with more powerful means to harvest, cultivate, transport and process the crops

Question 7

Soil degradation

Answer 7

soil that deteriorates in quality and declined in productivity

Question 8

Monoculture

Answer 8

uniform planting of a single crop

Question 9

Green Revolution

Answer 9

new technologies, crop varieties, and farming practices to help the developing world

Question 10

Parent material

Answer 10

the base geologic material in a particular location

Question 11

Bedrock

Answer 11

a continuous mass of solid rock that makes up the Earth’s crust

Question 12

Weathering

Answer 12

physical, chemical, and biological processes that convert large rock particles in to smaller rock particles

Question 13

Leaching

Answer 13

the process where solid particles are suspended or dissolved in liquid are transported to another location

Question 14

Horizon

Answer 14

each layer of soil

Question 15

Soil profile

Answer 15

the cross section as a whole

Question 16

Topsoil

Answer 16

the A horizon that is crucial for agriculture and ecosystems, conisting of inorganic mineral components and organic matter

Question 17

Clay

Answer 17

particles of dirt that are less than .002-.05 mm

Question 18

Silt

Answer 18

particles of dirt that are .002-.05 mm

Question 19

Sand

Answer 19

particles of dirt that are .05-2 mm

Question 20

Loam

Answer 20

soil with an even mixture of clay, sand, and silt

Question 21

Land degradation

Answer 21

a general deterioration of land that diminishes its productivity and biodiversity impairs the functioning of its ecosystems, and reduces the ecosystem services the land can offer us

Question 22

Desertification

Answer 22

a form of land degradation in which more than 10% of productivity is lost as a result of erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, overgrazing, etc.

Question 23

Dust Bowl

Answer 23

a drought that caused the topsoil to erode and dust storms to erupt

Question 24

Conservation districts

Answer 24

areas that are controlled by federal govt but the states organize them, they implement soil conservation programs to help empower and help set priorities and goals in areas

Question 25

Natural Resources Conservation Service

Answer 25

the soil conservation service that changed its priorities to include water quality protection and pollution control

Question 26

Crop rotation

Answer 26

when farmers alternate the type of crop in a given field from one season or year

Question 27

Contour farming

Answer 27

plowing furrows sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to its slope and following the natural contours of the land

Question 28

Terracing

Answer 28

transorming spoes into a series of steps so farmers can farm on hillsides without a lot of topsoil erosion

Question 29

Intercropping

Answer 29

planting different types of crops in alternating bands

Question 30

Shelterbelts

Answer 30

rows of trees or tall plants that are okanted along edges of fields to slow the wind

Question 31

Irrigation

Answer 31

artifical provision of water to support agriculture

Question 32

water logging

Answer 32

when the water table rises to the point that water bathes plant roots, depriving them of access to gases and suffocating them

Question 33

salinization

Answer 33

the build up of salts in the surface soils

Question 34

fertilizer

Answer 34

any of various substances that contain essential nutrients

Question 35

inorganic fertilizers

Answer 35

synthetically manufactured mineral supplements

Question 36

organic fertilizers

Answer 36

the remains or wastes of organisms

Question 37

overgrazing

Answer 37

too many livestock eat too many of the plant cover, not allowing plants to grow back or replacing biomass

Question 38

Conservation Reserve Program

Answer 38

a program that pays farmers to stop cultivating highly erodable cropland ad place conservation reserves instead