chapter 5 geo notes (gr.9)

key terms:

GDD: growth degree days

> is a measure of the warmth of a locations growing season

> the higher the GDD the warmer the area is and the more variety and amount of crops you will be able to grow

FSC: forest stewardship council

> develops standards for responsible forestry

> certifies products and organizations worldwide to better forestry practices

CLI: Canada land inventory

> determines the land capability for agriculture

> there are 7 classes (classes 1-4 are considered good for growing commercial crops)

MSC: marine stewardship council

> sets standards for sustainable fishing/ use of fisheries

> works with fisheries and governments to promote better fishing practices

types of farming:

> intensive farming - is a relatively small amount of land requiring large amounts of labour and workers, also located near urban areas since these crops and products are perishable items (meaning that they can decay or go bad)

*ex. dairy products or a grape/wine vineyard ( because it uses a lot of physical labour)

> extensive farming - a larger amount of land with little amounts of manual labour

* mono culture (growing only one crop on a farm) is an example and things like wheat are often grown this way. (this is not a sustainable way of farming because it causes the soil to dry out and will need to be replenished)

types of trees:

> deciduous trees - are hardwood trees that have no eaves during the winter and have a slower growing rate and are higher density trees.

> coniferous trees - are softwood trees that continue to survive during the winter seasons and poor soil quality, having a faster growing rate and are lower density trees.

types of fish:

> ground fish - fish that feed and are caught near the ocean floor

*ex. cod, halibut, haddock

> shellfish - animals without a backbone that instead have a hard, protective shell

*ex. shrimp, lobster, scallops

> pelagic fish - fish that feed and are caught near the surface

* ex. salmon, tuna, herring

types of fishing:

> offshore fishing - 15% of fishing labour forces, further away from shore,90% of total catch, uses larger ships and and has larger crew sizes, running year round. trips can be longer than two weeks and provides stable income

> inshore fishing - 85% of fishing labour forces, closer to the shore, 10% of total catch, uses smaller ships requiring less crew members, running ony in the warmer months and does not have a very stable income rate.

types of forest harvesting:

> Clear cutting - when industries cut down an entire forest/area (fast and cheap)

> Shelterwood logging - only cutting down a part of a forest and leaving seed sprouting trees

> Selective cutting - only harvesting mature trees that meet a specific standard (most sustainable type of cutting)

trends in farming:

> the overall number of farms has decreased

> the total amount of farmland has not changed much ( all good farmland is used up)

> average farm size is dramatically larger (fewer farms with more land)

> the number of tractors per farm has increased

> average amount of workers is relatively the same ( workers have to farm on larger land, and have more stuff to manage with the same amount of people)

>farmers need to be able to afford costly equipment

Mining the resource - exploiting a renewable resource in an unsustainable way

*ex. farming using pesticides to grow crops - soil becomes polluted

*ex. blue fin tuna - was overfished and the population is very low

Sustained yield management - the process of managing a renewable resource to ensure that the amount harvested does not cause long-term depletion of the resource

*ex. replanting forests