Chapter 8: .Agriculture, Food, and Biotechnology Flashcards
Define: Cropland, Rangeland
land used to grow plants for human use, land used for grazing livestock
Around how long ago did agriculture first begin on earth?
About 10,000 yrs ago
Define: subsistence agriculture
when a family only grows enough food for themselves
Monoculture
vast fields of a single type of crop
What was the Green Revolution?
The increase in agricultural productivity during the mid- to late twentieth century
What is extensification?
Increasing resource productivity by bringing more land into production
What is intensification?
Increasing productivity per each unit of land
What were the positive effects of the Green Revolution? negative effects?
positive: prevent deforestation and habitat conversion
negative: pollution, salinization, erosion, desertification
What are drip irrigation systems?
These systems target water directly to plants, allowing more control over where water is aimed, and waste far less water than typical irrigation systems
Name the pros and cons of monoculture
Pros: more efficient, large expanse of single crop
Cons: devastates biodiversity, vulnerable to disease and pests
Define: Pesticides
poisons that target pest organisms
What is the Evolutionary Arms Race?
When chemists increase the chemical toxicity of pesticides to compete with resistant pests
What is Biocontrol?
Battling of pests with organisms that eat/infect them
Why is biocontrol not always a preferred method to pesticides?
The introduced organism may become a pest itself, removing a biocontrol organism is harder than stopping pesticide use
What is integrated pest management?
The usage of multiple techniques to suppress pests.
What is pollination?
The process by which male sex cells of a plant fertilize female sex cells of a plant.
What are the current main threats to pollinating insects?
landscape change in agricultural settings(loss of food source for bees)
growing use of pesticides
introduction of invasive plant species
pathogens and parasites
climate change(affects the range of pollinator species)
What is genetic engineering and recombinant DNA?
lab manipulation of genetic material,
DNA patched together from the DNA of multiple organisms
What is a GMO?
When the extra genes from the DNA of one organism are artificially transferred into the DNA of another
What is an organism that contains DNA from another species called
Transgenic
What is biotechnology?
The application of bio science to create products derived from organisms (ex. transgenic organisms, GMOs)
How is genetic engineering like traditional agricultural breeding? How is it different?
Same: both apply to plants and animals, alter gene pool
Different: traditional uses genes from same species, in traditional, genes come together on their own
What are the potential impacts of GMOs?
Impact to human health
resistance of pesticides
escaping transgenes can pollute ecosystems
What defines sustainable agriculture?
does not deplete soil, pollute water, or decrease genetic diversity
What is no till agriculture?
uses smaller amounts of pesticide, fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuel energy than industrial agriculture
What is organic agriculture
Uses no synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides.. uses biological methods such as biocontrol
What is community supported agriculture?
When consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their crop yields
