APHUG chapter 14

Agricultural landscapes

Landscapes resulting from interactions between farming activites and a location’s natural environment.

Shifting Cultivation

Farming a piece of land until the soil becomes infertile and then leaving it or using it for a different purpose.

Agroecosystem

An ecosystem modified for agricultural use

Slash and burn

A type of shifting agriculture in which vegetation is cut down and burned to clear land for cultivation.

Deforestation

Loss of forest lands due to logging, agriculture, or urban development, leading to habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity.

Terracing

The process of carving parts of a hill or mountainside into small, level growing plots. Subsistence and usually done in mountainous areas with various climates.

Irrigation

Bringing water from its natural sources to farm fields through canals or other means.

Reservoirs

Artifical lakes created by building dams across streams and rivers. Used for irrigation.

Aquifers

Layers of underground sand, gravel, and rocks that contain and can release a usable amount of water

Wetlands

Areas of land that are covered by or saturated with water such as swamps, marshes, and bogs.

Effects of agriculture on landscapes

Pollution, land cover change, soil salinization, and land degradation (ie-desertification)

Salinization

The process by which water-soluble salts build up in the soil.

Debt-for-nature swaps

A financial arrangement where banks forgive part of a country’s debt in exchange for local investments in conservation efforts.

Biotechnology

Science of altering living organisms, often through genetic manipulation, to create new prodcuts for scientific purposes

Precision agriculture

Agricultural revolution involving using a variety of cutting-edge technologies to apply inputs such as water and fertilizer with pinpoint accuracy to specific parts of fields in order to maximize crop yield, reduce waste, and preserve the environment.

Food security and insecurity

Food security is reliable access to safe, nutritious food that can support a healthy and active lifestyle. Food insecurity is the disruption of a household’s food intake or eating patterns because of poor access to food.

Suburbanization

The shifting of population from cities into surrounding suburbs