APES Unit 5

Tragedy of the Commons

Individuals exploit shared resources for self-interest, depleting them due to lack of regulation for the common good.

Sustainable Use of Commons

Regulating hunting/fishing, land use, country quotas, and replenishing resources to prevent degradation.

Clearcutting

Practice of cutting down all trees in a forest, impacting habitats, soil, biogeochemical cycles, and climate.

Forest Ecosystem Services

Forests provide habitat, aid in soil formation, moderate climate, remove pollutants, and play roles in biogeochemical cycles.

Economic Benefits of Forests

Forests offer grazing, agricultural land, ecotourism, aesthetics, and impact real estate values.

The Green Revolution

Transition to large-scale, mechanized farming with monocultures, artificial fertilizers, and pesticides, impacting biodiversity and ecosystems.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Organisms with genetic material from other species, offering benefits like drought resistance but raising concerns about biodiversity and environmental impacts.

Impacts of Agricultural Practices

Tilling, slash-and-burn agriculture, intensive farming, and fertilizer use affect soil, biodiversity, and water resources.

Irrigation Methods

Flood, furrow, spray, and drip irrigation techniques with varying efficiency and impacts on water loss, soil erosion, and crop growth.

Pest Control Methods

Use of pesticides, GMOs, and artificial selection to control pests, impacting biodiversity, genetic diversity, and resistance development.

Meat Production

The raising of livestock for human consumption, which includes cattle, chickens, turkey, pigs, sheep, goats, or any other livestock.

Land Use Efficiency

It takes approximately 20 times more land to produce the same amount of calories from meat as from plants.

Environmental Benefits of Reducing Meat Consumption

Reduction in CO2, methane, and N2O emissions, conservation of water, decreased use of antibiotics and growth hormone, and improvement of topsoil.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)

Large and efficient operations that raise livestock in crowded conditions, leading to concentrated animal waste and potential water contamination.

Free-Range Grazing

Livestock have access to land for feeding, but overgrazing can lead to soil degradation, water pollution, and desertification.

Overfishing

The extreme scarcity of some fish species due to excessive fishing, impacting biodiversity and communities dependent on fishing.

Urbanization

The shift from agricultural to non-agricultural jobs, leading to densely populated areas with impacts on vegetation, water cycle, and carbon emissions.

Ecological Footprint

A measure of resource usage expressed in land area, including carbon footprint, built-up land, forests, cropland, and fisheries.

Sustainability

The ability to use and maintain resources for future generations, guided by environmental indicators like biological diversity and resource depletion.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A strategy combining biological, physical, and chemical controls to reduce pest species while minimizing chemical pesticide use and harm to non-target species.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A method that aims to decrease the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture to minimize harm to non-targeted wildlife, water supplies, and human health.

Benefits of IPM

Decreases chemical pesticide use, leads to economic savings, is sustainable, targeted, minimizes pollinator loss, health risks, and pesticide resistance.

Drawbacks of IPM

Complex, slow, and expensive process in agricultural pest management.

Sustainable Agriculture

Focuses on preserving soil through methods like contour plowing, windbreaks, strip cropping, terracing, no-till agriculture, perennial crops, crop rotation, green manure, limestone addition, and rotational grazing.

Aquaculture

The farming of aquatic organisms for profit, providing efficient protein sources, but with disadvantages like water pollution, escaped organisms, and disease spread.

Sustainable Forestry

Involves methods like selective tree cutting, reforestation, using sustainably sourced timber, reusing wood, IPM, prescribed burns, and mitigating deforestation to maintain forest health and biodiversity.