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
What can remote sensing find
the location, type, rate and extent that land cover change is occuring.
Example of remote sensng
in Brazil, they combined three different photos each taken years apart and used different colour to represent how lots of the tropical forest has been removed for agriculture.
reason for increase in population but not at the same rate evenly
- humans are living longer
- most of the population growth is occurring in developing countries
- fertility rates are declining below replacement rate
How does an increase of population effect land cover change
- more deforestation due to the increased demand of mining, agriculture and urban growth as well as change in diet
How has the advancement of technology influenced land cover change
easier,
more efficient
cheaper,
GMO mean that crops can be grown in other areas at different times of the year
What type of economy does Australia have
They rely on the export of primary goods, especially in our mining sector as it contributes to a very large part of our economy, as well as meats which required large areas of cleared space.
How does our agricultural exports effect land cover change
as it is a developed country agriculture is carried out to an extensive and intensive scale, especially in remote areas so they do not effect urban areas.
How does our mining exports effect land cover change
the opportunity for land clearing for agriculture is very limited by the government but due to the dependence on mining for our economy more land cover change is able to occur especially in remote areas.
What is brazils economy
In Brazil, their economy is largely based on the agricultural exports such as soybeans, beef, sugar, ethanol and iron-ore.
- They are also a developing country meaning they rely on agriculture heavily to increase their GDP
What effect has brazils economy had on land cover change
there are less strict laws protecting their natural resources so they are often abusing them to get as much economic growth as possible. This means deforestation and agriculture occur to a large extent and intensity.
How have government policies in Australia influenced land cover change (rehabilitation)
they are very strict in relation to the rehabilitation of mine sites and other deforested area to restore the natural vegetation
How have government policies in Australia influenced land cover change (logging)
- restrictions on forestry logging or jarrah, karri and wandoo forest.
- due to the dependence on mining for our economy, these restrictions do not apply for mining
How have government policies in Australia influenced land cover change (agriculture)
There are also restrictions on deforestation of land to create more farms and agriculture
How have government policies in brazil influenced land cover change (developing country)
- they prioritized economic development and capitalized on their natural resources
- as they are a developing country they rely on agriculture to increase GDP
- they gave our free plots of land in remote areas and built highways to areas of the amazon
How have the government in Brazil influenced land cover change?(Government parties)
- while there are some codes that protect the forest
- the brazilian ‘ruralist’ party increased their hold of the government meaning these new codes were weakened
- more deforestation and expansion and intensification of land cover occured
How have the government in Brazil influenced land cover change? (rehabilitation)
There is no requirement of rehabilitation meaning after farms close the land is not restored and the soil is often infertile due to the unsustainable agriculture practices.
3 impacts in relation to the degradation of the marine environment?
Eutrophication, Ocean Acidification, and diseases and pollution due to farming
What is eutrophication and how does it occur
Eutrophication can occur from fertiliser and pesticide run off, when excess nutrients enters the water course and cause an algal bloom and coral bleaching.
What impact does eutrophication have?
The algal bloom causes reduced oxygen in the water which can result in the death of fish and marine dead zones - areas that do not have enough oxygen to sustain marine life.
What is ocean acidification
Ocean acidification can occur from a rise in carbon dioxide being absorbed into the ocean, this causes the pH to decrease meaning the water becomes more acidic
4 impacts of ocean acidification
- animals have harder time building calcium based shells
- fish may develop acidiosis where the fish’s cells try to balance the oceans pH by changing the pH of their blood –> death
- These complication affects marine-based industries and jobs
- puts the food web at risk as some animals have a harder time detecting predators and finding habitats in higher pH
Impacts of marine farming
- can introduce diseases, it can also cause pollution, parasites and fish mortality.
What is an urban heat island and how does it occur
this is the warming of temperatures in urban areas due to human-made environment, This is caused by the infrastructure absorbing and re-emitting the heat
How does reduced vegetation result in urban heat islands
reduced shaded areas
- plants absorb this heat and do not re emit it as much
- plants release water vapour which cools it down
- more plants will die due to lack of moisture in the air
What other factors increase urban heat islands
- the type of material used to build infrastructure (water resistant and non-reflective)
- electricity usage and transport
Where does the case study take place
in Fish River Settlement in the northern territory.
What is a cool burn
A cool burn is when fire burns at a much lower temperature in a regular controlled pattern to clear natural vegetation
What kind of spatial patterns do cool burns occur in and 2 reasons why
They burn in a mosaic pattern meaning small patches, so there is still vegetation and habitats for the wildlife and it allows time for the patches to regenerate.
Why are cool burns better than hot burns
The cool burn meaning that you aren’t cooking the trees and the canopies.
If you have hot burns it scorches the earth and that is not good for the native animals
What kind of fuel do you need for cool burns
you want to find the grass which is still a little bit green that isn’t fully dried meaning it still have a bit of moisture, so that the temperature is reduced so it is a cool burn.
What kind of wind do you need for cool burns
- make sure the wind is blowing the right way and at the correct strength (they burn the opposite way to slow it down)
What kind of time of year/day do you need for cool burns
- they burn just after the rains have stopped and they burn later in the evening so it is cooler
How has the increased affluence impacted land cover change
more demand for products such as meat (because diets have changed), wood and minerals, wealthier cities have a tendency to increase in size and spread out.
What are 3 factors of the type of economy for brazil
- developing country
- contributes to the employment
- dependant on agriculture
What are three factors of the type of economy for Australia
- mainly dependant on mining (some on agriculture)
- less regulations apply for mining
- occurs in remote areas
What are three factors of the governmental policies for Brazil
- no requirement for rehabilitation
- ruralists party hold increased
- they prioritized agriculture (gave away land, built highways, capitalized on natural resources)
What are the three factors of the governmental policies for Australia
- prioritized mining so there is less restrictions
- requirement for rehabilitation
- laws on logging of forests
What are the impacts of urban heat islands
heat islands increase temperature and increase pollution.
