Topic 20 Flashcards
1
Q
Agricultural machinery
A
- tractors/ combine harvesters
- used instead of manual labour and working animals
- quicker/ more efficient/ crops can be grown and harvested over larger areas of land
2
Q
chemical fertilisers
A
- if plants don’t get the certain minerals they need their growth can be affected
- sometimes these ions are missing from the soil because a previous crop used it up
- fertilisers provide the minerals and increase cop yeild
3
Q
insecticides
A
- insects that eat or damage crops can be killed using insecticides
-kill insect without killing crop - fewer plants damaged which increase crop quality and yeild
4
Q
herbicides
A
- kill weeds
- plant faces less competition from weed for nutrients, water and light
- increases quality and yield of crop plants
5
Q
selective breeding
A
- improve breeding and livestock
- produce more meat and cop plants grow faster and are disease resistant.
6
Q
advantages of monoculture
A
- more efficient/ more cost effective/ easier to manage
- higher yield - more food - more profit
- food cheaper for consumer
7
Q
disadvantages of monoculture
A
- genetic variation low - disease can kill all crop
- lots of pesticides used - can pollute freshwater environment - can kill beneficial insects for food chain
- reduces biodiversity - fewer plant species than natural ecosystem
8
Q
advantages of intense livestock farming
A
- animals use less energy moving/ controlling body temperature so more energy to grow (more meat produced)
-easier for farmer to protect and monitor them from predators
-greater profit = cheaper food
9
Q
disadvantages of intense livestock farming
A
- waste can build up (diseases spread easier)
- chemicals used to treat diseases can pollute environment
- producing feed for these animals is inefficient
- ethical objections
10
Q
impacts of deforestation
A
- loss of biodiversity
- extinction
- loss of soil
- flooding
increase CO2 in the atmosphere
11
Q
Eutrophication
A
- Fertiliser enters the water adding extra nutrients and ions.
- Nutrients can cause producers like algae to grow faster and block out light
- lack of light = can’t photosynthesise
- microorganisms feed on dead plants and as they respire aerobically dissolved oxygen in water decreases as decomposers increase
- organisms that need the oxygen dissolved in water die e.g fish
12
Q
non-biodegradable plastics affect aquatic ecosystems
A
- food chain contamination: eating plastic can cause intestinal blockage, poisoning from chemicals . plastic enters the food chains and consumer has plastic inside them
- entrapment of organisms: large quantities of plastic can build up in the ocean and get washed up onto islands by currants. organisms can get entangled, trapped or strangled
13
Q
non biodegradable plastics affect terrestrial ecosystems
A
- food chain contamination: plastics can give out poisonous toxins and chemicals that can cause land pollution (may kill many organisms)
- air pollution: toxic gases released when plastics burned. CO2 produced contributes to global warming
- landfill: takes up space for housing and used to grow crops to feed the population. plastics take a long time to decompose. buried waste releases toxins to soil.
14
Q
sustainable resource
A
one which does not run out because it is made as rapidly as it is removed from the environment
15
Q
fish stocks conservation
A
- legal quotas - limit number of fish caught
- closed seasons
- protected areas
- control net types and mesh sizes
- monitoring
- education
