APES CH3 - Princeton Review

Conservation

The management/regulation of a resource so that its use does not exceed the capacity of the resource to regenerate itself

Preservation

The maintenance of a species or ecosystem in order to ensure their perpetuation, without concert to their monetary value

Agricultural urbanization

New pesticides/fertilizers, expanded irrigation, and new high-yield seed types

Subsistence agriculture

Producing food for a family's survival

• Surplus is sold for income

• Uses animal/human labor

• In developing countries

Slash and burn

An area of vegetation is cut down and burned before being planted with crops

• Resulting ash makes the soil fertile for a short period of time

• Farmer must soon leave and repeat the process elsewhere

Fertilizer cons

• Reduction of organic matter/oxygen in soil

• It requires lots of energy

• Dangerous pollutants —> eutrophication

Pesticide treatmill

A positive feedback loop: pesticides are developed, then pests become resistant to that pesticide, so a new pesticide is developed

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

All pesticides must be approved by the EPA

Salinization

Buildups of salt on the soil’s surface, making it unusable to grow crops

Drawback of irrigation

• Desertification

• Salinization

• Waterlogging

• Depletion of aquifers

Types of irrigation

• Drip = a slowly dripping hose laid on the ground or buried beneath the soil

  • Reduces weed growth due to dry surface soil; useful for perennial crops where the hoses do no have to be moved for plowing

  • 95% efficient

Furrow, flood, spray, and drip

Furrow irrigation

Trenches along crop rows that are filled w/ water

• Minecraft village crops

• Easy & expensive - 65% efficient

Flood irrigation

Flooding a field with water

• Leads to waterlogging

• Can be disruptive to plant growth - 80% efficient

Spray irrigation

Pumping ground water into spray nozzles across an agricultural field

• Less evaporation and runoff than flood/furrow

• Expensive & energy consuming - 75% efficient

Drip irrigation

Using perforated hoses to release small amounts of water to plant roots

• Reduces weed growth due to dry surface soil

• Expensive - but 5% efficient

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A combination of methods used to effectively control pest species while minimizing the disruption to the environment & using pesticides as a last resort

Examples of IPM

• Introducing pest predators

• Intercropping / crop rotation

• Releasing pheromones/hormones

• Using traps/barriers

• Mulch to prevent weed growth

Drawbacks of IPM

Expensive & time-consuming

Positive example of GMOS

Golden rice, providing vitamin A and iron

Drawbacks of GMOS

• Discourage biodiversity

• Allergy risks

• Antibiotic resistance

• New pesticide-resistant pests

• Contamination

• Mutations: GMOs breeding with natural organisms

Photosynthate

Photosynthetic products

Contour-farming

Plowing & harvesting are parallel to the topographic contours of the land

• Prevents erosion

Terracing

Flat platforms cut into the hillside to make a level planting surface

• Prevents erosion

No-till methods

Farmers do not turn the soil

Drawbacks of tilling

• Release CO2 (lost carbon content)

• Removes all plant root —> erosion

• Exposes organic matter to oxygen —> oxidation

Crop rotation

Switching the type of crop being grown in a certain area

• Can replenish soil

• Biodiversity

• Reduced erosion

Intercropping/strip cropping

Growing two or more crops in close proximity

• Less soil erosion

• Shady topsoil (prevents weeds)

• Biodiversity

• Nutrients

• Prevent pests

Deforestation is highest in…

Developing countries

Clear-cutting drawbacks

• Erosion

• Soil runoff

• Loss of shade

Deforestation drawbacks

• Loss in biodiversity

• Erosion

• Depletion of nutrients in soil

• Climate change

• Flooding

Old growth forest

A forest that has never been cut or seriously disturbed in a LONG time

• Lots of biodiversity & niches

Second growth forests

Forests where cutting has occured and a new, younger forest has arisen naturally

• 95% of the world’s forests

Plantations/tree farms

Planted and managed tracts of trees that are harvested for commercial use

Silviculture

The management of forest plantations for the purpose of harvesting timber

Selective cutting

Removing single trees or a relatively small number of trees from the larger forest

• Allows space for new trees

• Allows space to prevent diseases spreading

• Keeps most of the trees there so they can grow

Uneven-aged management

A forest in which trees originate at different times and result in a forest with trees of all ages and sizes

Shelter-wood cutting

Mature trees are cut over a period of time, leaving some mature trees in place to reseed the place

National Park System (1916)

Created to manage and preserve forests and grasslands

Wilderness Act (1964)

Land open only for recreational activities with no logging permitted

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968)

Provided for the protection of rivers with important scenic, recreational, fish and wildlife, and other values

• Classified rivers as wild, scenic, or recreational

Greenbelts

Open areas built at the outer edge of a city used for recreation, sustainable forestry, or other nondestructive uses

• Border cities —> growth limits

Ways to prevent diseases/pests in trees

• Removing infected trees

• Plant trees with space b/t each other

• Using chemicals/natural pest controls

• Carefully inspecting trees

• GMOs: creating pest/disease-resistant trees

Types of forest fires

Surface, crown, ground

Surface fires

• Burn the forests’ underbush

• Do little damage to mature trees

• Protect the forest by preventing a buildup of underbrush and dead materials

Crown fires

• May start on the ground or canopies of forests that haven’t experienced recent surface fires

• Spread quickly w/ high temperatures

• Consume underbrush and dead materials on the forest floor

• Huge threat

Found fires

• Bogs or swamps

• Last for days or weeks

• Originate from surface fires

• Difficult to detect and extinguish

“Smokey the Bear” drawbacks

• Created conditions for more destructive fires

• Fewer fires = more fuels built up = larger fires

Controlled burns

Small fires started when the conditions are just right

• Lower the amounts of fuel

12-mile limit

An old limit on fishing, limiting each nation’s territorial waters to 12 miles form shore

• Changed to 200

Capture fisheries

Captures fish in the wild that are not grown in captivity

Long-line

A very long line with hooks of bait attached

Drift net/gill net

A super long net that swoops up everything in its path

Purse seine

Huge purse-like net with 2 draw-string at the net that can capture entire schools of fishing

Trawling

A net that drags along the bottom of the ocean sea

• Destroys all ecosystems in the seafloor (benthic zone)

Ways to improve fishing methods

• Ribbons on long-lines to scare away birds & other by-catch

• Catch limits based on maximum sustainable yield

• US Endangered Species Act

• Laws & fines & treaties

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES)

• Turtle Excluder Device (TED)

• Consumer pressure

Aquaculture/fish farming

Raising/hatching fish in captivity

Downsides of aquaculture

• Threat of escape: invasive species, breeding with native species

• Waste contamination —> eutrophication

• Disease

• Uneaten food pellets

• CAFO

Hypoxic

Low levels of oxygen

International Whaling Commission (1974)

Regulates whaling

• For Norway —> human consumption

• For Japan —> scientific use

Coral bleaching

When ocean temperatures rise and the photosynthetic algae (zooxanthellae) inside the coral reef dies

Acidic

More H+ ions; lower pH

Basic

More OH- ions; higher pH

Ocean acidification

• H2O + CO2 —> H2CO3

• H2CO3 —> HCO3 + H-

• HCO3 —> H + CO3-

What coral need to survive

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

• Ca+2+ CO3-2 —> CaCO3

How ocean acidification impacts coral

Excess hydrogen takes the carbonate so the carbonate can’t bond with calcium

Mangrove swamp threat

• Shrimp aquaculture and the degradition of the Western coastline

Mangroves

• Found in tropical/subtropical regions

• Brackish tidal waters

• Often located in estuaries (where freshwater meets salt water)

• Very biodiverse

• Prevent shoreline erosion

Anadromous Fish Conservation Act (1965)

Protected fish that live in the sea but grow up and breed in fresh water

Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (1967)

Governed the conservation and management of ocean fishing

Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)

Established a federal responsibility to conserve marine mammals

Endangered Species Act (1973)

Provided broad protection for species of fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed or endangered in the US or elsewhere

The United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) AKA Law Of the Sea Convention (LOSC)

Set out the principle for the conservation and management of certain types of fish

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

An international agreement b/t governments that ensured that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants to not threaten their survival