Forestry and Agriculture Concepts

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms related to forestry, agriculture practices, sustainable techniques, and environmental impacts as discussed in the lecture.

Clear Cutting

A method of timber harvesting in which all trees in a forested area are removed in a single cutting.

Deforestation

The complete removal of an area of forestry, and using that area for some other use such as agriculture or settlements.

Silviculture

The practice of manipulating forest vegetation to control forest establishment, composition, and growth to meet the objectives of the forest owner.

Reforestation

refers to the process of planting trees and vegetation in areas where they have been cut down or removed, helping to restore ecosystems and combat climate change.

Sustainable Yield

The amount of a renewable resource that can be taken without reducing the available supply.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

a sustainable approach to managing pests that combines biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools to minimize risks to people and the environment

Selective Logging

The practice of only harvesting certain trees from the forest instead of clear-cutting.

Salinization

The process where salts remain in the soil after water evaporates, which can make soil toxic to plants.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of aquatic organisms in controlled aquatic environments for any commercial, recreational, or public purpose.

Overgrazing

Occurs when too many animals feed on a particular area of land, causing loss of vegetation and leading to soil erosion.

Clear Cutting

A method of timber harvesting in which all trees in a forested area are removed in a single cutting; economical, promotes erosion, and reverses ecological succession.

Deforestation

The complete removal of an area of forestry, and using that area for some other use such as agriculture or settlements.

Silviculture

The practice of manipulating forest vegetation to control forest establishment, composition, and growth to meet the objectives of the forest owner.

Reforestation

The renewal of trees and other types of vegetation on land where trees have been removed, often due to crown fires or clearcutting.

Sustainable Yield

The amount of a renewable resource that can be taken without reducing the available supply.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Focuses on minimizing pesticide use by employing a combination of cultural, physical, biological, and limited chemical techniques to manage pests

Selective Cutting

The practice of harvesting only certain trees from the forest, leaving a mix of tree sizes and species behind; this causes less erosion and promotes sustaining biodiversity.

Salinization

The process where salts remain in the soil after water evaporates, leading to an accumulation of salts that can make the soil toxic to plants and eventually unable to support plant growth.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of aquatic organisms in controlled aquatic environments for any commercial, recreational, or public purpose.

Overgrazing

Destruction of vegetation caused by too many grazing animals consuming plants in a particular area so they cannot recover; leaves land exposed to wind erosion, and soils can no longer absorb or retain water (a tipping point).

Artificial Selection

Breeding organisms with specific traits to produce offspring with those traits in animals and crops.

Bycatch

The unintentional catch of non-target species or all the unwanted fish and other marine creatures (This often includes species that are discarded, dead or dying, impacting ecosystems negatively) that are caught during fishing or juveniles. This can lead to environmental problems and loss of biodiversity.

CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation)

Raising animals bred to gain weight quickly, in crowded buildings, often using antibiotics and nutrient supplements due to confinement and limited movement.

Contour Plowing

farming method where you plow and plant across a slope, following its natural curves (like drawing circles on a hill ) instead of straight up and down, creating ridges that act as tiny dams to slow water, stop soil from washing away

Crop Rotation

A system of growing different crops in a field each year to preserve land fertility, also part of IPM.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, due to human actions like monocultures, animal overgrazing, and clearcutting of trees.

Drip Irrigation

Uses small pipes to slowly drip water just above ground, conserving water for crops; most efficient, reduces weed growth, but expensive to maintain.

Ecological Footprint

The measured impact (per capita) of a population on the environment, expressed as the amount of land and resources required to sustain them.

EIS (Environmental Impact Statement)

A formal analysis required for major federal actions that will affect the quality of the environment, used to determine impact and explore alternatives, mandated by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act.

Eminent Domain

The right of government to take private property for public use.

Environmental Indicators

Data on the state of the environment (good or bad), such as biological diversity, food production, average global surface temperature/CO2 concentration, human population, and resource depletion.

Environmental Mitigation Plan

A plan outlining how a developer will address concerns arising from a project's environmental impact.

Externality

An environmental side effect of producing goods or services that generates a negative or positive economic effect for people not making the good/service. For instance, pollution from a factory is a negative externality that imposes costs on the community, which are not accounted for in the price of the product.

Famine

A severe shortage of food (e.g., from crop failure) resulting in extreme hunger, starvation, and death.

Feedlot

A plot of land where livestock are fattened for market, often associated with CAFOs.

Organic Fertilizer

Fertilizer composed of organic matter from plants and animals, slow-acting, and long-lasting as organic remains decompose.

Synthetic Fertilizer

Fertilizers manufactured using chemical processes with high Nitrogen and Phosphorus concentrations, increasing runoff and potentially causing algae blooms.

Fishery Collapse

A decline of a fish population by 90 percent or more (a tipping point), often due to commercial overfishing and the tragedy of the commons.

Food Security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs for an active and healthy lifestyle.

Food Insecurity

The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food.

Free-Range Grazing

Raising livestock on rangelands; this uses less fossil fuel energy than feedlots but can lead to overgrazing.

Fungicide

A substance that kills fungi or inhibits their growth.

Furrow Irrigation

Digging trenches and filling them with water; low effort and cheap, but can cause waterlogging and salinization.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

New organisms created by altering genetic material (DNA) to remove undesirable or create desirable characteristics in the new organism.

Green Manure

Freshly cut or still-growing vegetation plowed into soil to increase organic matter and humus, similar to composting.

Green Revolution

An agricultural revolution transforming food production through GMO seeds, industrial fertilizers, industrialized agriculture, machinery, irrigation infrastructure, and pesticides.

Herbicide

A substance used for killing plants, especially weeds.

Insecticide

A chemical used to kill insects.

Impervious Surfaces

Surfaces that do not absorb water (e.g., roads, sidewalks, buildings), resulting in excessive runoff.

Industrial Agriculture

Mechanization and standardization applied to food production.

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.

Agroforestry

A sustainable land management approach that intentionally integrates trees and shrubs with crops and livestock to create diverse

Irrigation

The process of supplying water to areas of land to make them suitable for growing crops.

Limestone

A hard sedimentary rock, composed mainly of calcium carbonate or dolomite, that when added to soil raises the pH and makes it less acidic.

Low-Grade Ore

Ore containing a small amount of a desired mineral.

High-Grade Ore

Ore containing a large amount of a desired mineral.

Malnourishment

Diets lacking the correct balance or sufficient levels of critical nutrients (e.g., goiters from iodine, anemia from iron, blindness from vitamin A).

Mechanization

In agriculture, the replacement of human labor with technology or machines; leads to an economy of scale where average costs of production fall as output increases.

Monocropping

Large plantings of a single crop variety/species; efficient and economic, but can cause soil erosion, vulnerability to pests, and loss of genetic diversity and disease resistance.

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)

The maximum amount of a renewable resource that can be harvested without compromising its future availability.

Multiple-Use Lands

A U.S. classification used to designate lands that may be used for recreation, grazing, timber harvesting, and mineral extraction.

Strict Nature Reserves and Wilderness Areas

Areas set aside with the intent of preserving large tracts of intact ecosystems or landscapes with minimal human impact allowed.

National Wildlife Refuge

A federal public land managed for the primary purpose of protecting wildlife.

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

A 1969 U.S. federal act that mandates an environmental assessment of all projects involving federal money or federal permits, often leading to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

No-Till Agriculture

An agricultural method in which farmers do not turn the soil between seasons, used as a means of reducing erosion; usually results in more weeds and thus more use of chemicals/pesticides.

Ore

A rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral making it profitable to mine.

Overburden

The layer of soil and rock overlying a mineral deposit, which is removed during surface mining.

Overfishing

Harvesting fish to the point that species are depleted and the value of the fishery is reduced.

Perennial Crops

Crops that do not die off once harvested, unlike annual crops.

Permeable Pavement

A paved surface that allows water runoff to infiltrate into the ground.

Pest Control

The regulation or management of a species defined as a pest.

Pesticide

A chemical intended to kill insects and other organisms that damage crops (also called broad spectrum).

Pesticide Resistance

Natural variations (mutations) in pests that allow them to develop resistance to a pesticide, survive to reproduce, and increase the proportion of this resistance in the pest population.

Prescribed Burn

A fire deliberately set under controlled conditions to reduce the accumulation of dead biomass on a forest floor, thus helping to avoid major crown fires.

Pesticide Treadmill

A situation where a farmer must continuously use pesticides because pests have developed resistance, making pesticides an indispensable part of the agricultural cycle.

Rangeland

Land used for grazing livestock, often the most common land use type in the U.S.

Reserves

Refers to resources that can be economically extracted with current technology

Rodenticide

A chemical or agent used to destroy rats or other rodent pests, or to prevent them from damaging crops.

Rotational Grazing

Restricting animals to a section of grazing land for a short time (often only a day or two) before shifting them to a new location.

Runoff

Water that flows over the ground surface rather than soaking into the ground.

Saltwater Intrusion

An infiltration of saltwater in an area where groundwater pressure has been reduced by extensive well drilling or aquifer depletion near coastal areas.

Shifting Agriculture (Slash and Burn)

An agricultural method in which vegetation is cut and burned, then is used for a few years until the soil is depleted of nutrients.

Slash and Burn

A farming method involving the cutting of trees, then burning them to provide ash-enriched soil for the short-term planting of crops.

Spray Irrigation

Water is pumped through sprinklers; it offers higher efficiency but costs more and requires more energy.

Strip Cropping

Planting regular crops and close-growing plants (such as hay or nitrogen-fixing legumes) in alternating rows or bands to help reduce depletion of soil nutrients.

Strip Mining

The removal of strips of soil and rock to expose ore deposits.

Subsurface Mining

Extraction of a metal ore or fuel resource, such as coal, from a deep underground deposit.

Sustainability

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Tailings

Refers to the waste materials, including rock and other impurities, that are left over after the extraction of metal from ore

Terracing

A farming technique that builds platforms on hillsides to reduce erosion.

Tilling/Ploughing

The turning over of soil before planting; contributes negatively to soil quality by disrupting soil structure and accelerating erosion.

Tree Plantation

A large area typically planted with a single rapidly growing tree species; more economical but never becoming diverse ecosystems.

Undernutrition

Ingesting insufficient calories to maintain health.

Overnutrition

Ingesting too many calories combined with an improper balance of nutrients, resulting in obesity.

Urban Sprawl

Urban areas expanding outwards, usually forming suburbs, developing over fertile agricultural land and removing boundaries; caused by factors like automobile invention, living costs, urban blight, and economic policies.

Urban Blight

The degradation of the built and social environments of a city that often accompanies and accelerates migration to the suburbs.

Waterlogging

Water completely saturates soil, preventing plant roots from getting oxygen, which destroys roots and soil microorganisms.

Windbreaks

Belts of trees planted along field edges to reduce wind erosion.

National Park

Nature protected by the federal government for scientific education and recreational use, with little to no extraction of resources, promoting conservation and tourism but potentially displacing indigenous peoples.

Commercial Timber Operations

Allowed to harvest timber in exchange for a royalty (a percentage of revenues); effectively subsidizing logging - forest just there for timber