Unit 5 Flashcards
Subsistence farming
Farming for consumption by the farming family and maybe a few neighbors.
Reserve
In resource management, the known quantity of a resource that can be economically recovered.
Nonpersistent pesticides
Pesticide that breaks down relatively rapidly, usually in weeks or months, and have fewer long-term effects but because they must be applied more often their overall environmental impact is not always lower than that of persistent pesticides.
Water footprint
Total daily per capita use of fresh water for a country or the world.
Tragedy of the commons
The tendency of a shared, limited resource to become depleted if it is not regulated in some way.
Pesticide resistance
A trait possessed by certain individuals that are exposed to a pesticide and survive.
Furrow irrigation
A form of irrigation where the farmer digs trenches, or furrows, along the crop rows, and fills them with water.
Bycatch
The unintentional catch of nontarget species while fishing.
Strip cropping
An agricultural method of planting crops with different spacing and rooting characteristics in alternating sets of rows to prevent soil erosion.
Persistent pesticides
A pesticide that remains in the environment for years to decades.
Limestone
A calcium carbonated sedimentary rock that has been ground up or crushed for easy application as fertilizer.
Flood irrigation
A form of irrigation where an entire field is flooded with water.
Exurbs
An area similar to a suburb, but unconnected to any central city or densely populated area.
Groundwater recharge
The process by which water from precipitation percolates through the soil into groundwater.
Crop rotation
A crop-planting strategy in which different types of crop species are planted from season to season or year to year on the same plot of land.
Crustal abundance
The average concentration of an element in Earth’s crust.
Agroforestry
An agricultural technique in which trees and vegetables are intercropped.
Slash-and-burn agriculture (Shifting agriculture)
An agricultural method in which land is cleared and farmed for only a few years until the soil is depleted of nutrients.
Selective pesticide (Narrow-spectrum pesticide)
A pesticide that targets a narrow range of organisms.
Industrial agriculture (Agribusiness)
Agriculture that applies the techniques of mechanization and standardization to the production of food.
Waterlogging
A form of soil degradation that occurs when soil remains under water for prolonged periods.
Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO)
A large indoor or outdoor structure designed for maximum occupancy of animals and maximum output of meat.
Strip mining
The removal of overlying vegetation and “strips” of soil and rock to expose underlying ore.
Subsurface mining
Mining techniques used when the desired resource is more than 100 m (328 feet) below the surface of Earth.
Windbreaks
An agricultural technique that literally plants tall objects that “break” the wind and prevent soil erosion.
Delaney Clause
A clause in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act designed to prevent potentially harmful cancer-causing food ingredients.
Fishery
A commercially harvestable population of fish within a particular ecological region.
Nomadic grazing
The feeding of herds of animals by moving them to seasonally productive feeding grounds, often over long distances.
Rotational grazing
The rotation of farm animals to different pastures and fields to prevent overgrazing.
Forest
Land dominated by trees and other woody vegetation and sometimes used for commercial logging.
Cone of depression
An area surrounding a well that does not contain groundwater.
Economies of scale
The observation that average costs of production fall as output increases.
Spray irrigation
A form of irrigation where water is pumped into an apparatus that contains a series of spray nozzles.
Anthropogenic
Derived from human activities.
Salinization
A form of soil degradation that occurs when the small amount of salts in irrigation water becomes highly concentrated on the soil surface through evaporation.
Energy subsidy
The fossil fuel energy and human energy input per calorie of food produced.
Externality
The cost or benefit of a good or service that is not included in the purchase price of that good or service or otherwise accounted for.
Free range grazing
Allowing animals to graze outdoors on grass for most or all of their lifecycle.
Sustainability
Living on Earth in a way that allows humans to use its resources without depriving future generations of those resources.
Ecological footprint
A measure of the area of land and water an individual, population, or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to process the waste it generates.
Sustainable development
Development that balances current human well-being and economic advancement with resource management for the benefit of future generations.