Unit 5: Land and Water Use Flashcards
level of food availability
- famine
- undernutrition
- malnutrition
- obesity
famine
widespread death due to lack of food
undernutrition
bodies aren’t getting enough calories to function
malnutrition
not getting right type of calories (could get good amount but not enough protein/iron etc)
obesity
too many calories
what is the prob w food availbity
DISTRIBUTION (food supply is not the prob, there IS. enough food)
food sources
agriculture(corn, wheat, rice)
meat (livestock, poultry)
fish
green revolution
make plants grow faster and bigger
- monoculture
- fertilizer (nitrogen and phosphorous)
- pesticides (protect our crops)
what did malthus forget when creating his theory
that tech will save us
monoculture
- one crop only (more vulnerable to pests)
- planted and harvested at same time (more profit, more chance for soil erosion)
- heavy use of fertilizers (can pollute run off)
*drains nutrients from soil
industrial agriculture
- relies heavy on monoculture
- how most developed countries farm
- heavy use of fossil fuels
- ability to do large scale farming
- rely on plowing, irrigation, pesticides, monoculture, fertilizer, machinery
irrigation methods
- furrow (evaporation and runoff)
- flood irrigation (waterlogging: raises water table, plants cant absorb oxygen through roots, evaporation loss) **rice
- salinization (due to evaporation, salts make soil toxic)
- overdraft (taking too much groundwater)
more sustainable irrigation
drip irrigation (expensive but most efficient)
spray (less loss to evaporation but still expensive)
Which irrigation technique would be best in a very dry climate?
drip
sustainable agriculture methods
- intercropping (polyculture: 2 or more species at once)
- crop rotation
- organic farming
organic farming
no synthetic pesticides
- ecological principles, tryna create ecosystem
- keep nutrients in soil
What technique attempts to prevent erosion by having year round crops?
crop rotation
ways to conserve soils
dont plow,
way to protect against wind for soil–reduce soil erosion
windbreaks, bush wall
agroforestry (planting crops in between rows of trees, protect agianst wind and erosion)
terrace farming
contour plowing
terrace farming
on steps, to save water from j sliding down
contour plowing
plowing against slope, planting perpendicular to slope so that water rolls off to another row
gmo benefits
- greater yield
- reduce pesticides
- add. nutrients
gmo concerns
- inserting genes
- mess up biodiversity cuz ur making plants too competitie
IPM
integrated pest management
ipm goal
reduce chem pesticides and keep pest pop low
methods of ipm
- bio control(use spiders to eat aphids)
- multicultural, polyculture
- physical methods(screens/scarecrow)
- narrow spectrum pesticides (target a specific pest)
narrow v broad pesticide
narrow- j for one type pest
broad- kill alot of bugs(bad)
*concern ab pesticides: biomagnification(more concentrated up the food chain)
biomagnification
Toxins are found in higher concentrations at higher trophic levels (big fish eats small fish that had pesticide)
whats important to remember when we feed our food
takes water land and energy to do it
What type of food source requires the most amount of land and water to grow?
meat (beef is most)
free range grazing
where animals graze on open fields for their entire lives
what are pluses to free range
- better for animals
- can do diff types of animals for same ground
- less antibiotic (not so tightly backed so animals not getting as sick)
- waste serves as fertilizer for crops
- healthier for animals and humans cuz meat has better quality
- less need to supply food
- more sustainable
problems to free range grazing
- need a lot of land aka more expsnive for farmers aka more expensive for consumers
- waste isnt contained so it can get into runoff-waterways-disease in water
- no control over animals=they’ll overgraze=soil damage
- animals walking over the free range can compact the soil, make it harder for water to move through soil
desertification
soils have been damaged to the point where they can no longer support plan growth,
CAFO
concentrated animal feeding operations
what uses cafo
industrialized agriculture for meat
cafo description
- high density environment
- lots of antibiotics cuz they getting sick more
- animals confined for whole life
- lots of hormones cuz animals not moving and gaining muscle
- waste is contained(waste lagoon or washes into stream)
pros to CAFO
- meats high demand for meat
- more product being made=more profit
- more meat=more protein and vitamin
cons to CAFO
- more waste (contamination of groundwater)
- more animal=more methane=climate change
- bad chemicals in us
sustainable ways to eat meat
- eat local
- organic meats (no hormones or antibiotics)
aquaculture
- efficient (low land/fuel use)
- shrimp, oyster, fish
- large waste
- high levels of antibiotics to prevent disease
