Soil and Agriculture APES Flashcards

9496750440	Agriculture	The practice of raising of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption.	0
9496750441	Soil	A complex mixture of weathered mineral materials from rocks, partially decomposed organic molecules, and a host of living organisms	1
9496750442	Soil degradation	Damage to soil - for example, as a result of deforestation or the removal of topsoil from bare land by water and wind erosion.	2
9496750443	Monoculture	Farming strategy in which large fields are planted with a single crop, year after year. Seen mainly in industrialized agriculture.	3
9496750444	Terracing	The shaping the land to create level shelves of earth to hold water and soil; requires extensive hand labor or expensive machinery, but it enables farmers to farm very steep hillsides.	4
9496750445	Traditional agriculture	Producing enough food for a farm family's survival and perhaps a surplus that can be sold.	5
9496750446	Intensive agriculture	A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.	6
9496750447	Industrialized Agriculture	Using large inputs of energy from fossil fuels (especially oil and natural gas), water, fertilizer, and pesticides to produce large quantities of crops and livestock for domestic and foreign sale.	7
9496750448	Polyculture	Complex form of intercropping in which a large number of different plants maturing at different times are planted together. Seen mainly in traditional agriculture.	8
9496750449	Green Revolution	Term used to describe the transformation of agriculture in many developing nations that led to significant increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s.	9
9496750450	Parent material	Basic geological material in a particular location from which soil is made through the weathering process.	10
9496750451	Bedrock	Solid unweathered rock lying beneath surface deposits of soil.	11
9496750452	Weathering	The decomposition and disintegration of rocks and minerals at the earth's surface by a mechanical and chemical process into smaller particles.	12
9496750453	Erosion	The process by which wind, water, ice, or gravity transports soil and sediment from one location to another	13
9496750454	Humus	Rich, dark organic material formed by decay of vegetable matter, essential to soil's fertility.	14
9496750455	Horizon	Each layer of soil is termed a __________.	15
9496750456	Soil profile	A vertical section through a soil showing its succession of horizons and the underlying parent material.	16
9496750457	O Horizon	(Organic) top layer, Surface plant and animal litter forms hummus. Able to retain water and nutrients. Has an organic composition from 20%-30%	17
9496750458	A Horizon	Topsoil layer(below O horizon), is a porous mixture of the partially decomposed bodies of dead plants/animals called "humus" and inorganic materials such as clay, silt, and sand. Very fertile soil that produces high crop yields.	18
9496750459	E Horizon	Zone of Leaching, Light in color, composed of coarse silt. Fine particles are removed by eluviation, which is materials being removed by sinking downward.	19
9496750460	Eluviation	The washing out of fine soil components from the A horizon by downward-percolating water.	20
9496750461	B Horizon	Also called, "subsoil" (right below the E Horizon) and usually consists of clay and other particles washed down from the topsoil layer(A Horizon).	21
9496750462	C Horizon	This horizon lies on a base of unweathered parent material, which is often bedrock. (Below B and above R)	22
9496750463	R Horizon	The lowermost layer of pure parent material.	23
9496750464	Topsoil	The first true layer of soil; layer in which organic material is mixed with mineral particles.	24
9496750465	Leaching	Process in which various chemicals in upper layers of soil are dissolved and carried to lower layers and, in some cases, to groundwater.	25
9496750466	Clay	The finest soil, made up of particles that are less than 0.002 mm in diameter.	26
9496750467	Silt	Soil with particles between 0.002 and 0.05 mm in diameter.	27
9496750468	Sand	A loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral 0.05 to 2.0 mm in diameter	28
9496750469	Loam	Perfect agricultural soil with equal portions of sand, silt, and clay.	29
9496750470	Soil Structure	How the particles that make up a soil are organized and clumped together.	30
9496750471	Plowpan	A hard layer resulting from repeated plowing that resists water infiltration and root penetration	31
9496750472	Cation exchange	A process in which positively charged minerals are made available to a plant when hydrogen ions in the soil displace mineral ions from the clay particles.	32
9496750473	Cation exchange capacity	The capacity of a soil for ion exchange of cations between the soil and the soil solution. CEC is used as a measure of fertility, nutrient retention capacity, and the capacity to protect groundwater from cation contamination	33
9496750474	Swidden Agriculture	Also called slash and burn agriculture, it is a form of cultivation in which forrested or brushy plots are cleared of vegetation burned then planted to crops only to be abandoned a few years later when soil fertility declines. Prevalent in rain forests.	34
9496750475	Deposition	The arrival of eroded material at its new location.	35
9496750476	Splash erosion	Erosion caused by the direct force of falling drops of rain on bare soil. Causes splashing in which soil particles are lifted and then dropped into a new position.	36
9496750477	Sheet Erosion	A type of surface water erosion caused by runoff that occurs when water flowing as sheets picks up sediments and carries them away	37
9496750478	Rill Erosion	Erosion where numerous small channels are formed serveral inches deep, occcurs mainly in recently cultivated soils. May later form gullies.	38
9496750479	Gully Erosion	Soil erosion produced by running water and resulting in the formation of gullies, Occurs when rivulets of fast-flowing water join together to cut wider and deeper ditches or gullies.	39
9496750480	Desertification	Degradation of land which results in a loss of 10% or more in productivity, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.	40
9496750481	Dust Bowl	Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas that were hit hard by dry topsoil and high winds that created blinding dust storms; this area of the Great Plains became called that because winds blew away crops and farms, and blew dust from Oklahoma to Albany, New York. --> lead to formation of the NRCS	41
9496750482	Soil Conservation Act	1935 Act that established the soil conservation service, which deals with soil erosion problems, carries out soil surveys, and does research on soil salinity., Also appropriated funds for soil conservation paymnets to farmers who would remove land from production.	42
9496750483	Soil Conservation Service	Conducted research into controlling wind and water erosion, set up demonstration project and technical assistance to farmers. Now called the Natural Resources Conservation Service.	43
9496750484	Hugh Bennett	A soil scientist in the 1920s and 1930s for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He spoke about the danger of soil erosion. Became director of SCS.	44
9496750485	Crop Rotation	The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.	45
9496750486	Contour Farming	Plowing and planting across the changing slope of land, rather than in straight lines, to help retain water and reduce soil erosion.	46
9496750487	Cover crops	Plants such a rye, alfalfa, or clover, that can be planted immediately after harvest to hold an protect the soil.	47
9496750488	Intercropping	An agricultural method in which two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time to promote a synergistic interaction and reduce erosion.	48
9496750489	Shelterbelts	A wider area than a windbreak that contains trees as well as shrubs to help reduce wind erosion, retain soil moisture, provide habitats for wildlife and fuel.	49
9496750503	Alley cropping		50
9496750490	No till agriculture	An agriculture process where weeds are killed, usually with chemicals, without tilling the land to reduce erosion.	51
9496750491	Green manure	Freshly cut or still-growing green vegetation that is plowed into the soil to increase the organic matter and humus available to support crop growth.	52
9496750492	Irrigation	The process of supplying water to areas of land to make them suitable for growing crops.	53
9496750493	Waterlogging	Saturation of soil with irrigation water or excessive precipitation so that the water table rises close to the surface which then makes plant roots unable to make adequate gas exchanges and ultimately leads to plant death.	54
9496750494	Salinization	Process that occurs when soils in arid areas are brought under cultivation through irrigation. In arid climates, water evaporates quickly off the ground surface, leaving salty residues that render the soil infertile.	55
9496750495	Drip irrigation	A process by which precisely controlled amounts of water drip directly onto plants from pipes, thus preserving precious water resources in dry areas	56
9496750496	Center pivot irrigation	An irrigation system comsisting of a spray arm several hundred meters long supported by wheels pivoting around a central well from which water is pumped.	57
9496750497	Fertilizer	Any substance such as manure or a mixture of nitrates used to make soil more fertile.	58
9496750498	Organic fertilizer	A fertilizer made up of natural materials (largely the remains or wastes of organisms), including animal manure, crop residues, fresh vegetation, and compost.	59
9496750499	Inorganic fertilizer	A fertilizer that consists of mined or synthetically manufactured mineral supplements. Generally more susceptible than organic fertilizers to leaching and runoff and may be more likely to cause unintended off-site impacts.	60
9496750500	Compost	A mixture of various decaying organic substances, as dead leaves or manure, used for fertilizing soil	61
9496750501	Overgrazing	Destruction of vegetation when too many grazing animals feed too long and exceed the carrying capacity of a rangeland or pasture area.	62
9496750502	Taylor Grazing Act	1934 United States federal law that regulates grazing on federal public land(140 million acres). The Secretary of the Interior has the authority to handle all of the regulations, and he became responsible for establishing grazing districts. Before these districts are created there must be a hearing held by the state.	63