Chapter 7 Environmental Science – Flashcards
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Relative to agriculture, insects are usually ________.
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essential pollinators and predators for sustainable systems
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What is true about GM crops?
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The United States leads the world in land area dedicated to GM crops.
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The O horizon is ________.
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primarily composed of organic materials
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Shelterbelts are to ________ as terraces are to ________.
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wind erosion; water erosion
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We lose 5 to 7 million ha of productive cropland per year to ________.
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erosion, overirrigation, and other factors
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Which of the following requires the most feed to produce 1kg of protein?
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beef
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Monoculture ________.
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is an agricultural practice of growing large stands of a single species
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Industrial agriculture ________.
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increased our ability to obtain more food from the same area
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Of the following, ________ best describes integrated pest management (IPM).
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biocontrol measures, crop rotation, and habitat diversification
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It is more energetically efficient for us to eat more ________.
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plant-based foods
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Agriculture
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practice of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption
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Crop-land
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land used to raise plants for human use
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Range- land or pasture
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land used for grazing livestock
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Traditional Agriculture
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agriculture using human and animal muscle power, hand tools, and simple machines
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Industrialized Agriculture
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using large scale mechanization and fossil fuels to boost yields
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A Horizon
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Top Soil
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O Horizon
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Organic (litter layer)
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Land Degradation
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general deterioration of land decreasing its productivity and biodiversity
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Erosion
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removal of material from one place to the other by wind or water
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deposistion
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arrival of eroded material at a new location
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Desertification
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loss of more than 10% of productivity
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Conservation Districts
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operate with federal direction authorization and funding
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Irrigation
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artificially providing water to support agriculture
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Water Logging
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over irrigated soils
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Salinization
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the build up of salts in surface soil layers
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Fertilizers
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substances containing essential nutrients
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In-Organic Fertilizers
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mined or synthetically manufactured mineral supplements
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Organic Fertilizers
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the remains or wastes of orginisms
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Overgrazing
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too many animals eat too much of the plant cover
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Crop rotation
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growing different crops from one year to the next
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Contour farming
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plowing perpendicular across a hill
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Terracing
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level platforms cut into steep hillsides
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Intercropping
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planting different crops in alternating bands
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Shelterbelts (windbreaks)
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rows of trees planted along edges of fields (slows the wind)
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Conservation tillage
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reduces the amount of tilling
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No-till farming
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disturbs the soil even less
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Wetlands
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swamps, marshes, bogs, river floodplains
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Wetlands Reserve Program
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landowners are paid to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands
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Conservation Reserve Program
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farmers are paid to put highly erodible land in conservation reserves
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Undernourishment
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people receive too few calories per day
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Malnutrition
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receiving too few nutrients in food
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Overnutrition
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receiving too many calories each day
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Food Security
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the guarantee of adequate and reliable food to all people at all times
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Monoculture
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the uniform planting of a single crop
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pest
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any organism that damages valuable
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weed
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any plant that competes with crops
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pesticides
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poisons that target pest organisms
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insecticides
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target insects
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herbicides
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target plants
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fungicides
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target fungi
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evolutionary arms race
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chemists increase chemical toxicity to compete with resistant pest
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Biological Control(Biocontrol)
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uses a pests natural predators to control the control
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Bacillus Thuringiensis
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soil bacteria that kills many pest
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Pollination
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male plant sex cells (pollen) fertilize female sex cells
