Food production Flashcards
what do you need to remember when doing a graph
Scale
Label
Unit
Ruler
Plot
What is intensive farming
The use of farming methods which maximise the amount of food produced including machines fertilisers and pesticides
what is monoculture
Growing of a single crop in a given area
What has the increase in population resulted in a need for
Increase in food yeild and production
what are GM crops
crops which have had their genes altered to give them an advantage
Why are GM crops good for biodiversity
reduce the need for fertilisers and serve as an alternative to the use of pesticides
why do we need nitrates
to make amino acids in order to synthesis proteins
where can plants recieve nitrogen
through nitrates in the soil
what are protein
complex molecules made off long chains of amino acids
what is a fertiliser
something you add to soil to increase plant growth
why is fertilisers added to soil
to increase nitrogen intake
What is the process called when fertilisers get into fresh water
Leaching
Name the steps of algae blooms
- Fertiliser is added to soil but can be washed into fresh water by the rain
-algal population increases because they have lots of nutrients this causes algal blooms to form - algal blooms stop light from reaching plants so they cannot photosynthesis so they die
-Bacteria increases as they eat the dead plants for food - bacteria use up oxygen and animals die as a result
alternative to fertilisers
GM crops
What are pesticides
chemicals that are sprayed onto crops to kill pests that damage them and reduce the crop yeild
what happens to pesticides used overtime to organisms
it can accumulate in the organisms bodies over time and be passed up the food chain
What happens as Pesticides move up the food chain
The toxicity increases and can reach leathal levels this is called Bio accumulation
Explain Biocaccumulation
When pesticides build up in organisms bodies and are passed up a food chain and become more toxic and can reach lethal levels
What can be used as an alternative to Pesticides
Biological control
and GM crops
what is a biological control
When a particular organism is introduced to control a particular pest
what are three biological control
predator
parasite
pathogen
pros of biological controls
less impact on water quality
no bioaccumulating
less danger of impact to environment
cons of biological control
often high cost
can take a longer time
can be time consuming to maintain
can impact on food webs
