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ESS > Unit 5: Soil Systems > Flashcards

Unit 5: Soil Systems Flashcards

1
Q

What are the Four Components of Soil?

A

1) Minerals
2) Organic matter
3) Air
4) Water

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2
Q

How does Soil Interact with the Hydrosphere?

A

The water cycle moves through the soil by infiltration and water may evaporate from the surface.

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3
Q

How does Soil Interact with the Atmosphere?

A

The atmosphere may contain particulate matter that is deposited on the soils and particles may blow up into the atmosphere = gaseous emissions/exchange.

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4
Q

How does Soil Interact with the Lithosphere?

A

Rocks in the lithosphere weather to form soils, and soils at depth and pressure may form rocks (+ leaching and mineral exchange).

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5
Q

How does Soil Interact with the Biosphere?

A

Plants in the biosphere may extract nutrients from the soils and dead plants may end up forming parts of the soil (decomposition + nutrient exchange).

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6
Q

What are the Roles of Soil?

A
  • Supplies nutrients and water for plant growth
  • Water storage and purification system
  • Habitat for organisms
  • Modifies atmosphere through respiration
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7
Q

What Factors are the Characteristics of Soil Dependent Upon?

A
  • Climate (precipitation/evaporation)
  • Organisms (breakdown of organic matter)
  • Relief (elevation)
  • Parent material (original material soil develops from)
  • Time (amount of time it takes to form)
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8
Q

List the Soil Horizons

A

O – Organic matter + litter layer
A – Surface soil + minerals
E – Leaching occurs
B – Subsoil + organic compounds
C – Parent rock + unbroken rock + soluble compounds
R – Bedrock + parent material + base of soil type

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9
Q

What are the Inputs of a Soil System?

A
  • Organic material
  • Precipitation (water)
  • Gasses from respiration + atmospheric
  • Excretion from plant roots
  • Minerals from the breakdown of parent material
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10
Q

What Type of System is Soil?

A

Dynamic open system.

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11
Q

What are the Outputs of a Soil System?

A
  • Nutrients absorbed plants growing in the soil
  • Nutrient loss through leaching
  • Loss of soil through erosion
  • Evaporation
  • Nutrients released by weathering
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12
Q

Give 2 Examples of Transformation in the Soil System

A

1) Decomposition

2) Weathering

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13
Q

Give 2 Examples of Transfers in the Soil System

A

1) Absorption

2) Percolation

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14
Q

What is Weathering?

A

Breakdown and fragmentation of rock into smaller particles.

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15
Q

What is Soil Texture?

A

The size of the solid particles in a soil.

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16
Q

List the Types of Soil Texture

A

1) Clay
2) Loam
3) Sand

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17
Q

What Factors does Productivity of Soil depend Upon?

A
  • Mineral content
  • Drainage
  • Water-holding capacity
  • Air spaces
  • Biota
  • Potential to hold organic matter
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18
Q

What are the Characteristics of Clay?

A 
Mineral content: intermediate
Drainage: poor
Water-holding capacity: high
Air spaces: small
Hold organic matter: intermediate
Productivity: intermediate
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19
Q

What are the Characteristics of Sand?

A 
Mineral content: high
Drainage: very good
Water-holding capacity: low
Air spaces: large
Hold organic matter: low
Productivity: low
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20
Q

What are the Characteristics of Loam?

A 
Mineral content: high
Drainage: good
Water-holding capacity: intermediate
Air spaces: intermediate
Hold organic matter: high
Productivity: high
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21
Q

What Soil Texture is Best for Agriculture?

A

Loam

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22
Q

Define Food Security

A

When all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

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23
Q

State the Different Types of Farming

A

1) Subsistence
2) Intensive
3) Nomadic
4) Shifting cultivation
5) Commercial

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24
Q

What is Subsistence Farming?

A

When farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families/locality.

25
Q

What is Intensive Farming?

A

Method of farming that uses large amounts of labor and investment (inputs) to increase the yield of the land (outputs).

26
Q

What is Nomadic Farming?

A

Form of pastoralism in which livestock are herded in order to seek for fresh pastures on which to graze

27
Q

What is Shifting Cultivation?

A

A system of cultivation in which a plot of land is cleared and cultivated for a short period of time, then abandoned and allowed to revert to producing its normal vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot.

28
Q

What is Commercial Farming?

A

Farming method in which plant and livestock production is practiced with the intention of selling the products on the market.

29
Q

What Factors Affect the Choice of Farming Method?

A
  • Environmental conditions
  • Access to technology
  • Available financial funds
  • Environmental value systems
  • Government and political initiatives
30
Q

Distinguish between Arable, Pastoral and Mixed Farms

A

Arable farms will focus on crops such as corn. Pastoral farms focus on rearing animals. Mixed farms produce both.

31
Q

What are the Ecological Causes for Imbalance in Food Distribution?

A
  • Poor weather and severe weather events
  • Soil degradation
  • Declining biodiversity
32
Q

What are the Economic Causes for Imbalance in Food Distribution?

A
  • Demand for cereal grains has outstripped supply
  • Rising energy prices and transport costs
  • Underinvestment in technology in LEDCs
  • Food is exported rather than sold domestically
33
Q

What are the Socio-Political Causes for Imbalance in Food Distribution?

A
  • Trade protection favors MEDCs
  • Inadequate system of food aid
  • Disagreements over transboundary resources
34
Q

Define Malnutrition

A

Insufficiency in one or more of the nutritional elements necessary for health and well-being.

35
Q

Distinguish between Food Waste and Food Loss

A

Food waste occurs when edible foodstuffs are thrown away at the retail and consumer level. Food loss refers to food that spills, spoils (becomes inedible).

36
Q

Why is Waste Production Lower in LEDCs?

A
  • Less is bought (lower income)
  • Less packaging
  • Disposable items are used less
  • Lower literacy levels = less written material
37
Q

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

A

Agricultural systems emphasising biological relationships and natural processes that maintain soil fertility.

38
Q

Define Food Miles

A

The distance food travels from the farm where it is produced to the plate of the final consumer.

39
Q

Give a Real-life Example of Commercial Farming

A

Canadian prairies:
• Output: wheat grain, waste, straw bales animal feed
• Issues: soil degradation, CO2, use GMOs

40
Q

Give a Real-life Example of Subsistence Farming

A 
Gange River (India):
• Rice in padi field + labor-intensive 
• Issues: methane, water-intensive
41
Q

What is the Main Difference between Aquatic and Terrestrial Food Production Systems?

A

In terrestrial systems food is mainly harvested at low trophic levels (producers/herbivores). In aquatic systems food is mainly harvested at high trophic levels.

42
Q

How can Food Production be Sustainable?

A
  • Economic support for farmers
  • Technology research for sustainable farming
  • Using farmers markets
  • Growing indigenous crops
  • Monitoring multinationals
  • Using buffer zones (nutrient run-off)
  • Polyculture and crop rotation
  • Reduction of meat production
43
Q

What Characteristics Must Soil Contain in order to be Suitable for Plant Growth?

A
  • Organic matter
  • Adequate pH
  • Healthy soil community
  • Nutrients and minerals
44
Q

Why is Soil Considered a Non-Renewable Resource?

A

Because it is not replaceable within a human lifespan or at a pace faster than that at which it is used; for soils to be more sustainable we need to dramatically reduce loss and degradation rates and improve rates of soil formation.

45
Q

What is Soil Degradation?

A

The decline in quantity and quality of soil.

46
Q

What Human Activities Cause Soil Degradation?

A
  • Overgrazing
  • Deforestation
  • Urbanization
  • Unsustainable agriculture (mono or irrigation)
47
Q

What are the Processes of Soil Degradation?

A
  • Erosion (by wind + water)
  • Biological deg. (loss of hummus/plants)
  • Physical deg. (loss of structure/permeability)
  • Chemical deg. (acidification/salinization/etc)
48
Q

What is Land Degradation?

A

The decline in land quality and productivity.

49
Q

What is Desertification?

A

The spread of desert-like conditions into previously green areas causing long-term decline in biological productivity.

50
Q

What are the Impacts of Desertification?

A

Social: hunger, illness, reduced performance
Economic: reduced yield, falling income
Environmental: reduce nutrients, moisture, organic c.

51
Q

What are the Causes of Desertification?

A
  • Overcultivation
  • Overgrazing
  • Deforestation
  • Lack of education
52
Q

List Examples of Soil Conservation Methods

A
  • Afforestation
  • Soil conditioners (lime + organic material)
  • Wind reduction (shelterbelts, strip cultivation)
  • Contour ploughing
  • Crop rotation
  • Drip irrigation
53
Q

What Methods can be Used to Prevent Soil Erosion?

A
  • Reduce water flow (terracing, contour ploughing)
  • Use roots of crops to help bind the soil
  • Reduce the use of heavy machinery
54
Q

What Methods can be Used to Manage a Salt-Affected Soil?

A
  • Flushing with water to leach the salt away
  • Using calcium sulfates to replace sodium ions
  • Reduction in evaporation losses
55
Q

How does Soil Change Throughout Succession?

A

1) Rock disintegrates with lichen + weathering
2) Parent material forms + small organisms
3) Horizons form + minerals + organic matter

56
Q

What is Overgrazing and How does it Cause Soil Degradation?

A

When farmers stock too many animals on their land: they damage the soil surface by eating the vegetation and digging or compacting soil with their hooves.

57
Q

What is Overcropping and How does it Cause Soil Degradation?

A

When the land is being continuously under cultivation and is not allowed to replenish; this reduces the soils ability to produce humus becoming drier and less fertile.

58
Q

How does Monoculture Cause Soil Degradation?

A

Leads to soil exhaustion and lost nutrients are replaced by the use of fertilizers.

ESS (8 decks)

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