Chapter 9 Soil and Agriculture Study Guide
Terms:
agriculture
soil
soil profile
horizon
A horizon
B horizon
C horizon
E horizon
O horizon
R horizon
clay
loam
sand
silt
bedrock
cation exchange
conservation district
contour farming
terracing
crop rotation
cropland
desertification
Dust Bowl
erosion
fertilizer
inorganic fertilizer
organic fertilizer
green revolution
green manure
industrialized agriculture
traditional agriculture
intercropping
irrigation
leaching
monoculture
overgrazing
parent material
rangeland
salinization
shelterbelt
topsoil
waterlogging
weathering
Conservation Reserve Program
NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service)
Soil as a System
1. What are the 4 ecological spheres?
2. Distinguish between cropland, rangeland and forest lands.
3. Why is soil so important?
4. Is soil a renewable or non-renewable resource? Explain.
5. What evidence supports the idea that humans are not using soil sustainably?
6. What are the three human activities that degrade soil?
7. How long have humans practiced agriculture?
8. From oldest to most recent, what are the three stages of human food acquisition?
9. What are two aspects of industrialized agriculture?
10. Explain how soil is formed. (See Video: http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/Environmental%20Science/course%20files/multimedia/lesson17/lessonp.html?showTopic=1 )
11. Describe 2 biological activities that help form soil. Be sure to include names of the organisms and what they specifically do for the soil.
12. List the 6 layers of a soil profile.
13. What is humus? How does it form? What horizon is it found in? List 3 ways it helps soil.
14. What horizon is also called topsoil?
15. Which horizon collects nutrients that are leached out of the topsoil?
16. Which horizon has most of the plants roots?
17. Which horizon has mechanical and chemical weathering of parent rock?
18. Which horizon is made of parent rock?
19. Which soil color indicates the most productive soil? Least productive soil?
20. List from largest to smallest, the names of the three particle sizes in a soil texture diagram.
21. What type of soil texture is the most productive? What is the ratio of the three particle sizes for this productive soil?
22. Why would someone add sand to soil?
23. Why would someone add clay to soil?
24. Distinguish between porosity and permeability of soil.
25. Which texture of soil has the most porosity?
26. Which texture of soil has the most permeability?
27. List 3 physical characteristics of soil that a soil scientist might test and describe how one of them could be used.
28. List 3 chemical characteristics of soil that a soil scientist might test and describe how one of them could be used.
29. Describe why cation exchange capacity is important for soil fertility.
30. Explain why soils low in pH are less productive.
31. Explain why tropical rainforest soils are less productive than temperate grassland soils.
32. Use Figure 9.9 to describe “Swidden” agriculture.
33. Complete the Biome/Soil chart and be able to explain which biomes will be more productive and which biomes will be less productive.
Part 2: Damage to Soil
34. List 7 ways soil is degraded.
35. What is the biggest global cause of soil degradation?
36. List 3 ways humans make land vulnerable to erosion.
37. List 3 types of water erosion.
38. Describe one place in the world where erosion has degraded the soil.
39. The loss of more than 10% productivity in arid areas due to erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, and an array of other factors is called ______.
40. Describe a positive feedback loop involving soil degradation.
41. The 2007 UN report estimated how many people would be displaced by desertification in 10 years? What was the UN suggested remedy?
42. What regulatory act was the result of the Dust Bowl of the 1930”s?
Part 3: Protection of Soils
43. List six methods farmers can use to reduce water and wind erosion.
44. Which method plants crops that protect the bare soil between planting?
45. Which method stops wind erosion?
46. Which method stops farmers from digging up soil and exposing it to wind and water?
47. What are 3 benefits of low till farming?
48. List 3 problems created by low till farming.
Part 4: Irrigation, Fertilization, Rangeland, Forests and Policy
49. List 2 soil quality problems caused by irrigation and for each, explain specifically how it harms plants.
50. What kind of irrigation provides the best methods to reduce irrigation problems?
51. Describe the benefits of fertilizers.
52. When are fertilizers an environmental problem?
53. List 3 benefits of organic fertilizers
54. What is “Green Manure” and how is it different from compost?
55. Describe a feedback loop involving overgrazing.
56. Describe a method to mitigate the negative effects of overgrazing.
57. Describe a method to mitigate the negative effects of deforestation.
58. Describe one US government law that protects soil.
59. Describe one international effort to protect soil.
60. Briefly describe the successes of the Malpai Borderlands restoration project.