Land cover change Flashcards
What is the definition of the environment
a nautural ecosystem with both abiotic and biotic featres of the earth and human changes like croplands, buildings, roads, industries and cities
What is a biome
community of life forms adapted to a large natural area e.g desert
What is a natural biome
Community of life forms adapted to a large area
What is an anthropogenic biome
These are biomes that are the result of sustained direct human interaction with the ecosystem e.g farms
What is land cover change
Land cover changes refers to how an area land changes overtime changes taken place in natural environment due to natural and human causes e.g forests to plantations
What is an ecosystem
a community of plants and animals in a non-living environment which is made up of biotic and abiotic, there are relationships between biotic and abiotic factors which include the flow of energy between elements an example is coral reefs
What is the difference between abiotic and biotic
abiotic- nonliving
biotic- living
What is biodiversity loss
The extention of plants and animals worldwide and the local reducation in a certain habitat
What is climate change
The long-term (30mill+) global or specific region and refers to temperature falling (ice age) rising (today) rainfall (increasing and decreasing) extreme weather conditions severity, droughts, heatwaves, tropical cyclones
What is sustainability
meeting the needs of the present without comprimising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs through economic, social and environmental advantages and disadvantages with reference to environmental protection, economic prosperity and social advancement
4 processors of land cover change
deforestation, expansion and intensification of agriculture, mining and the growth of urban settlement.
What is deforestation
removal/cutting/burning of forestry and vegetation for other uses
2 types of human induced land cover change
clear cutting which is removing all the trees in ana area,
- slash-and-burn, this is often carried out by indigenous people in tropical areas, as after burning the ash increases fertility in soil.
spatial relationship with deforestation
There is generally a clear spatial relationship between deforestation and the equator because of their generally more fertile land that is used for agriculture
Example of deforestation
Borneo where a large amount of deforestation occurred and the products were sold to countries such as Japan during the 1980s, nowadays the forest areas are being cleared for oil palm plantation
How does deforestation effect land cover change
causes the forests to be chopped down or burnt, and leaves the soil exposed, and when slash-and-burn is repeated over and over it is not sustainable.
Expansion and intensification of agriculture
The increasing of agriculture refers to the increasing amount of land available for agriculture. The increasing the output of farming land with high yeilds per ha
Why does the intensification of agriculture occur? Why is it not very good
- With the land available for agricultural use getting small the best alternative is to intensify agriculture
- however most of our agricultural intensification increases the pressure on the environment and resources.
What impacts of agriculture have on land cover change
- increases deforestation and involves a large amount of water
- pesticides can be very harmful to the environment
- agriculture also causes the soil to be infertile
What is an example of the effects of landcover change on agriculture
Latin America which between 1980 and 2000, 100 million hectares of agricultural land was created.
impacts of growth of urban settlement
It has implications on natural biomes, climate and
may risk food security as during the process
natural vegetation is cleared, and
fragmentation of habitats occur,
creates increased need for mining and more urban heat islands
Example of growth of urban settlement
An example of this is in Nigeria, in which the city has expanded from 496km2 to 1256km2 in the past 30 years.
Impacts of mining and why
impacts of water quality,
greenhouse emissions, biodiversity,
human health,
land that is cleared to mine
chemicals, dust and aerosols during the process
Example of the impacts of mining
the dam disaster in Brazil which resulted in death, impacts to the economy and water supply and large amounts of sediment in rivers and lakes
What is remote sensing
Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft, satellites and drones