UNIT 5 - CH 14 Flashcards
Agricultural landscape
Landscape resulting from the interactions between farming activities and a locations natural environment
Agroecosystem
Ecosystem modified for agricultural use
Deforestation
Loss of forest land and soil erosion (wearing away of topsoil by wind, rain, and other phenomena)
Terrace farming
Farming where farmers carve parts of a hill or mountainside into small, level, growing plots
Irrigation
To supplement rainfall, water is brought from its natural sources to farm fields through canals and other means
Reservoirs
Artificial lakes created by building dams across streams and rivers
Aquifers
Layers of underground sand, gravel, and rocks that contain and can release a useable amount of water
Wetlands
Areas of land that are covered by or saturates with water - such as swamps, marches, and bogs
Desertification
Form of land degradation that occurs when soil deteriorates to a desert-like condition - can be the result of poor pastoral nomadism practices in arid or semiarid land
Biodiversity
Variety of organisms living in a location
Pollution
Water runoff from fields may contain chemicals and nutrients from pesticides and fertilizers, as well as bacteria and disease-carrying organisms - which damages the ecosystem
Land cover change
Refers to how the surface of land is altered by different land uses - especially by the way humans use the land
Soil salinization
In arid regions, irrigation water evaporates, leaving salts behind in the soil
Overgrazing
Grazing so heavily that the vegetation is damaged and the ground erodes
Conservation
Managing and protecting natural resources to prevent their depletion
Sustainability
The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained
Debt-for-nature-swap
When agencies such as the World Bank make a deal with third world countries that they will cancel their debt if the country will set aside a certain amount of their natural resources
Biotechnology
A form of technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes
Agricultural biodiversity
Describes the variety and variability of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture
Aquaculture
The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions
Precision agriculture
Use of computer technology and geographic information systems to automatically very the chemicals applied to a crop at different places within a field
Local food movement
Collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Network between agricultural producers and consumers whereby consumers pledge support to a farming operation in order to receive a share of the output from the farming operation
Organic farming
The use of natural substances rather than chemical fertilizers and pesticides to enrich the soil and grow crops
