Lesson 2.1 Basic Ecological Concepts / 2.2 Ecological Agriculture Practices Flashcards
Relevance of ecological practices to food security
- Provides the ability of communities to feed themselves and ensures healthy farming and healthy food for all.
- Protects soil from erosion and degradation, increases soil fertility, conserves water and natural habitat and reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.
- Both a climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy.
- Relies on and protects nature by taking advantage of natural goods and services.
Ensuring all people across the world have access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs.
Security
Ensuring people have healthy, nutritious food that is free from contamination or degradation.
Safety
Empowering people to make their own choices about the food they eat, where it comes from and how it is produced.
Sovereignty
It is the physical, chemical and biological decline in soil quality. It can be the loss of organic matter, decline in soil fertility, and structural condition, erosion, adverse changes in salinity, acidity or alkalinity, and the effects of toxic chemicals, pollutants or excessive flooding.
Soil degradation
Types of green house gases ( GHG).
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Methane gas (CH4)
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
Ozone (O2)
A long-term measure aiming to reduce the amount of anthropogenic (human) emissions of GHG.
Climate change mitigation
Increasing the capacity of carbon-sinks through reforestation, and not allowing the ocean to acidify.
Climate change mitigation
Improving the existing energy (electricity) generating units to low-carbon emission.
Climate change mitigation
Increasing the insulation of buildings.
Climate change mitigation
Ensuring that new buildings use more of natural air and sunlight.
Climate change mitigation
- taking action to prepare for and adjust to both the current effects of climate change the predicted impacts in the future.
Adaptation strategy
-Involves taking practical actions to adjust to the changing climate to protect communities and strengthen the resilience of the economy.
Adaptation strategy
Examples of adaptation strategy
-Integrate crop-livestock-forestry systems.
-Rehabilitate Degraded Pastures
-plant Agroforestry system
-Pursue Sustainable Forestry
What are the basic ecological concepts and principles
1.adaptation
2. Behavior
3. Diversity
4. Emergent properties
5. Energy flow
6. Growth and development
7. Limits
8. Regulation
The way a life system looks or behaves is not random or accidental; rather it is the result of changing to survive in a dynamic environment.
Adaptation
Evolution, Life History Patterns, Natural selection, Survival, Predator-prey interaction.
Adaptation
Living systems involve behavioural responses to stress and disturbances to enhance survival.
Behavior
Reproduction,-Prey interactions, Dispersal, Survival ( humans and other animal species ), Pest Control ( exotics, nuisance animals ) Harvesting.
Behavior
Changes in environmental conditions over time have led to variety within each level of organization.
Diversity
Competition,land use, practices Genetics, Survival, Fragmentation.
Diversity
When different levels of organization are functioning together, new properties are created that were not operational at lower levels.
Emergent Properties
Complexity, Synthesis, Teamwork, Government.
Emergent properties
Energy cannot be created nor destroyed but it can change form. Energy quality is always degraded through transformation.
Energy flow
Thermodynamics, Food chains, Tropic level, Heat exchange.
Energy flow
As organisms and systems increase in size, changes occur that allow survival. Growth rate is slow as maximum capacity is met.
Growth and development
Succession, Reproduction, Population Dynamics, Competition
Growth and development
There are limits to how much stress can be tolerated by living systems.
Limits
Sustainability,
Conservation, Disease, Natural disaster. Agriculture, Pollution.
Limits
Energy is spent if a signal is sent to increase or decrease some function to maintain balance.
Regulation
Feedback Loops, Organismal systems, Cybernetics.
Regulation
The process in which the living organisms such as the plants absorb sunlight from the sun.
Reception of energy
The process in which there is metabolic processes and exchange of gases between living organisms.
Production of organic materials
It involves the interaction between living organisms, in which the consumer can benefit from it.
Consumption
It involves the interaction between living organisms, in which the producer can benefit from it.
Decomposition of organic compounds
Organic compounds in the waste to sustainable forms (nutrients).
Transformation to suitable forms
What are the fundamental steps in the operation of the ecosystem.
-Reception of energy
-Production of organic materials
-Consumption
-Decomposition of organic compounds
- Transformation to suitable forms
What are the fundamental concepts of productivity of an ecosystem
Standing crop
Material removal
Production rate
Abundance of organism existing in the area at any one time.
Standing crop
Refers to the materials removed from the area per unit time
Material removal
Refers to the amount of material formed by each link in the food chain per unit area or volume is the production rate.
Production rate
A place of residence of an organism which a plant or an animal naturally or normally live and grow.
Habitat
What are the types of habitats.
Coastal
Freshwater
Arid
Polar
Forest
Urban
Refers to the ecological role of an organism in a community in regard to food consumption.
Niche
The organism who makes their own food.
Producers
An organism who eats other organisms for food.
Consumers
A type of organism who breaks down dead material.
Decomposers
A term that feeds on both plant and animal tissues.
Omnivores
A term who eats dead plant and animal materials.
Scavengers
It refers to feeding relationships in ecosystems.
Trophic levels
In trophic levels where the omnivores and scavengers belong?
3rd level
Amount of energy that autotrophs store in organic materials over a given period.
Primary productivity
Example of primary productivity?
Producers
What are the four ecosystem process?
- Energy flow
- Nutrient cycling
- Hydrology (water) cycle
- Biodiversity
-Ecosystem is the energy transfer system
-The flow of energy is based on the flow of energy through different trophic levels in an ecosystem.
Energy flow
The ecosystem is maintained by the flowing energy and nutrients obtained from different external sources.
Energy flow
-At the first trophic level, primary producers use solar energy to produce organic material through photosynthesis.
-Accumulated biomass s by the producers is now available for transfer to the different trophic levels through the food chain.
Energy flow
At the second trophic level, they use plants as food which supplies them energy. A large part of this energy is used up for the metabolic functions of those animals like breathing,digesting food, supporting growth of tissues, maintaining blood circulation and body temperature.
Herbivores
They feed on the herbivores and derive energy for their sustenance and growth.
They feed on the herbivores and derive energy for their sustenance and growth.
Carnivores
The ff. example are scavengers, except?
Jackel
Crow
Hyena
Philippine eagle
Philippine eagle
The ff. example are scavengers, except?
Turkey vulture
Coyote
Lion
The amount of energy by the producers providing food to the primary consumers.
100%
Only follows just one path as animals find food.
Food chain
It is a gradual process that occurs when the impact of water or wind detaches and removes soil particles, causing the soil to deteriorate.
Soil erosion
Shows that many different paths plants and animals are connected.
Food web
What are the ways to enhance energy interception and utilization in the farm
-Maximizing both space and time
-increase leaf area for photosynthesis
-Cycling the solar energy through the food chain
Movement of nutrients from the soil through the crops and animals and back to the soil.
Nutrient cycle
The ff. example are the nutrient process except?
-Water and air penetrate to the soil
-Plant matter breaks and down into the soil
-Decomposers break down inorganic matter
Decomposers break down inorganic matter
-Water and air penetrate to the soil
-Plant matter breaks and down into the soil.
-Decomposers break down organic matter
-Soil stores nutrients
-Plants absorb nutrients and grow
Nutrient cycle
It organizes nutrients into biological useful compounds
Plants
An organism that returns nutrients back into simple elemental state
Decomposers
Large quantities of nutrients are added to the ecosystem from the atmosphere.
Atmospheric input (precipitation)
Is the Biochemical processes where elemental form nitrogen is combined into organic forms by metabolic processes.
Biological nitrogen fixation
It is one amongst the most necessary long-term sources for nutrients for plants use.
Rock weathering
Different natural gains of nutrients to ecosystem
-Atmospheric input
-Biological nitrogen fixation
-weathering
-Sediments and immigration
Conditions and practices that inhibit the natural nutrient cycling.
Erosion
Leaching
Volatilization
Organic matter depletion
Excessive export and farm produce
The normal water recycling systems on Earth.
Hydrologic or water cycle
The medium for the movement of nutrients in and out of the ecosystem.
Water
Recharges ground water supply increases the risk of flooding; surface runoff and soil erosion.
Seepage
Management practices to improve the water cycle:
-Mulching
-Minimizing tillage
-Growing of cover crops
-Adding compost or manure to the soil
It is an agricultural practice that covers land surface by plastic or organic mulch to protect the soil from erosion and maintain moisture to be absorbed by the plants. Also control weeds population.
Mulching
Sustainable agriculture seeks in principle to use nature as the model for designing agricultural systems.
Biodiversity
It helps break weeds and pest life cycles and provides complementary fertilization among the crops in the planting sequence.
Diversification and crop rotation
Three types of diversity
Genetics diversity
Species diversity
Ecological diversity
It is primarily the variability of species expressed at the genetic level by every individual in a species.
Genetics diversity
The biodiversity observed within a community. It stands for the number and distribution of species. The number of species in a region varies widely depending upon the varied environmental conditions.
Species diversity
It defines the diversity observed among the ecosystems in a particular region.
Ecological diversity
It is a broader concept that is much closer to sustainable agriculture
Ecological agriculture
A more specific subset of sustainable agriculture that places a strong emphasis on ecosystem dynamics and mimicking natural processes in the farming system.
Ecological agriculture
Aims to meet the needs of the current generation while ensuring the future generations can meet their needs as well.
Sustainable agriculture
Crop rotation, agroforestry, integrated pest management (IPM), and utilizing beneficial insects to control pests.
Ecological agriculture
Seeks to balance economic profitability, environmental stewardship, and social equity.
Sustainable agriculture
Approaches aim to reduce the negative impact of agriculture on the environment and society while promoting resilience and productivity.
Ecological and sustainable agriculture.
Means of growing food in a diverse system that are 100% organic (Chemical free) and which do not use monocultures.
Ecological agriculture
Meeting society present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs
Sustainable agriculture ( Likita Tanko)
Describe a change in the average conditions such as temperature and rainfall in a region over a long period of time.
Climate change
Causes of climate change in natural?
Volcanic eruption
Sun’s intensity
Natural greenhouse gases
Natural forest fire
Ocean current
Causes of climate change in anthropogenic.
Chemical fertilizers
Deforestation
Increase vehicles
Emissions of GHG
Industries
What are the environmental impacts of climate change?
Water temperatures
Devastating storms
Increase drought
Rising sea level
Extinction
Food shortage
Increase in health issues
Poverty and forced migration
Regulating strategies employed under actual or expected climate stimulation.
Adaptation to climate change
Deals with weakening the adverse in impacts of climate change.
Adaptation to climate change
Addresses the degradation rate of climate change
Mitigation to climate change
What is the contribution of rehabilitating degraded pastures to climate change adaptation benefits?
Reduce local temp.
Increase air humidity
Better resistance to drought
The more diverse an agricultural system, the greater its ability on average to adapt to climate change
Integrate crop-livestock-forestry systems
-reducing the impact of extreme weather events (drought, heavy rains, flood, heatwaves),
- improving soil and water availability
- attracting pollinators and
-improving biodiversity
Plant Agroforestry system
-capturing greenhouse gases
-protecting the soil
Pursue sustainable forestry
A community of living organisms that live in and interact with each other in a specific environment
Ecosystem
What is an ecosystem?
Forest Ecosystem
Lake ecosystem
Small pond ecosystem
Rotting log ecosystem
-Living organisms( plants, animals, microorganisms in freshwater
-physical environment ( rocks, soil, water, and sun)
Types of ecosystem?
Terrestrial ecosystems
Aquatic ecosystems
A land-based community of organisms and the interaction of biotic and abiotic components in a given area.
Terrestrial ecosystems
-a water-base environment
-include both freshwater and marine ecosystems
Aquatic ecosystems
Importance of ecosystems?
-provide food & fiber, fuel, wood, and grass.
-supply medicines
-regulates our environment in controlling risks from landslide, floods, and other catastrophic events.
Is the biological process in which organic substances are converted to inorganic substances by soil microorganisms.
Mineralization
the condition or period of an animal or plant spending the winter in a dormant state.
Hibernation
a type of dormancy, which is a survival strategy used to sustain lack of food and other extreme conditions
Aestivation
A level or a position of a group of organisms in a food chain, or a food web, or an ecological pyramid.
Tropic level
Practices that enhance mineral cycle
-Recycling of farm and household waste
-composting rather than burning of biomass
-planting of leguminous crop and trees in the farm.
-catch cropping to reduce nutrient leaching losses
-planting of crops with high value relative to nutrient composition
- Agronomic and mechanical practices that prevent erosion
-Farm feeding of livestock
Characteristics of an effective hydrologic cycle
-Little or no surface run off that results in soil erosion
- fast water entry into the soil
- Soil capacity to store large amount of water
Precipitation failing during the growing period of the crop that is available to meet the evo-transpiration requirement of crops.
Effective rainfall
Does not include precipitation loss through deep percolation below the root zone or through surface runoff.
Effective rainfall
Results of the effective water cycle:
Low surface run off
Low soil surface soil evaporation
Low drought incidence
Low flood incidence
High transpiration of plants
High seepage of water to underground reservoir
Number of species
Genetics diversity within species
Broad age structure in each popui
Diversity
It is a natural unit consisting of all plants, animals and microorganisms.
Natural ecosystems
A place where plants and animals are dependent upon one another.
Natural ecosystem
Are created by human beings where management, balance of nature is disturbed regularly.
Artificial ecosystem
Its examples are sugarcane, rice fields, gardens, dams and aquarium.
Artificial ecosystem
Strength of natural ecosystems
Efficiency
Diversity
Self- sufficiency
Self-regulation
Resiliency
