13174481
Description
Flashcards by abby Radske, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by abby Radske
over 6 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Food Security | the guarantee of an adequate, reliable, and available food supply to all people at all times |
| what are the 5 A's of food security? | Availability - food vs biofuel Affordability - poverty, food banks Accessibility - transportation, regional unrest Acceptability - what constitutes food? Adequacy - nutritional quality |
| undernourishment | people receive lass than 90% of their daily caloric needs |
| overnutrition | receiving too many calories each day in canada, 48% of adults exceed their healthy weight and 14% are obese |
| Malnutrition | a shortage of nutrients the body needs the diet lacks adequate vitamins and minerals |
| Extensification | bringing more land into production |
| Intensification | better productivity per unit of land |
| What is the green revolution? | Great increase in production of food grains (especially wheat and rice) that resulted in large part from the introduction into developing countries of new, high-yielding varieties, beginning in the mid-20th century |
| Explain how the green revolution has caused the environment both benefit and harm | Negative effects: the green revolution depended on large amounts of : synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, irrigation, and heavy equipment this caused pollution, erosion, salinization, and desertification. Positive effects: prevented some deforestation, and biodiversity |
| What is the difference between Monoculture and Permaculture | Permaculture gardening promotes biodiversity. It seeks to maximize the number of productive species of plant within a plot Monoculture is the exact opposite. Think of vast fields of wheat or barley, plantations of a single species of fruit tree, or furrowed fields of a single vegetable crop |
| What are the effects of monoculture farming? | more efficient, increases output devastates biodiversity susceptible to disease and pests narrows the human diet |
| Pests vs weed | pest = any organism that damages valuable crops weed = any plant that competes with crops |
| what is a pesticide? what subtypes of pesticides are there? | pesticides are poisons that target pest organisms insecticides = targets insects herbicides = targets plants fungicides = targets fungi |
| What happens to pest organisms after a long time of enduring a pesticide? | pests can evolve resistance to pesticides resistance is passed through genes to insect offspring, causing pesticides to stop being affective. |
| Evolutionary arms race | chemists increase chemical toxicity to compete with resistant pests |
| Biological Control (Biocontrol) | uses a pest's natural predators to control the pest |
| What are the problems with biocontrol? | no one can predict the effects of an introduced species biocontrol agents themselves could become pests, and have "non target" effects on the environment and surrounding economies due to these problems, proposed biocontrol use must be carefully planned and regulated |
| What multiple techniques does the IPM (integrated pest management) use to suppress pests? | biocontrol chemicals, when necessary population monitoring habitat alteration crop rotation and transgenic crops (GMO) alternative tillage methods mechanical pest removal |
| Pollination | male plant sex cells fertilize female sex cells we depend on insects to pollinate crops |
| How can we conceive bees to increase/maintain pollination? | beekeepers are hired regularly to bring honeybee colonies to crops for pollination reducing or eliminating pesticide use planting more flowering plants |
| Genetic Engineering | laboratory manipulation of genetic material |
| Recombinant DNA | DNA patched together from the DNA of multiple organisms |
| Biotechnology | the material application of biological science to create products derived from organisms (the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones) |
| What is the difference between transgenic organisms and transgenes? | Transgenic organism = an organism that contains DNA from another species Transgenes = the genes that have moved between organisms |
| What are the similarities/differences between genetic engineering and traditional agricultural breeding? | similarities : - both alter gene pools for preferred characteristics - both apply to plants and animals differences : - traditional breeding uses genes from the same species - selective breeding deals with whole organisms, not just genes - in traditional, genes come together on their own |
| What are the impacts of GM crops? | - Dangerous to human health - Escaping transgenes could pollute ecosystems and damage non target organisms - Pests could evolve resistance - Could ruin the integrity of native ancestral races - Interbreed with closely related wild plants |
| What are the counters that the supporters of GM crops are using? Why can the precautionary principle possibly be used to argue their counters? | supporters make the following points: - GM crops pose no ill health effects - They benefit the environment by using less herbicides - herbicide-resistant crops encourage no-till farming - GM crops reduce the carbon emissions by needing fewer fuel-burning tractors and sequestering carbon in the soil by no-till farming critics argue the precautionary principle should be adopted due to the lack of knowledge |
| What are seed banks, and how do they affect the genetic diversity of plants? | Out of the 7,000 species of plants currently used for agriculture around the planet, only 30 crops make up the world's diet. Wheat, corn and rice alone account for more than half of the world's food consumption Think of a seed bank as a savings account. Seeds are "deposited" into secure storage with the intention of "withdrawing" them in the future when they are needed. they preserve seed types as a living museum of genetic diversity. |
| What are Feedlots? what are the benefits and drawbacks of them? | feedlots = huge warehouses delivering energy-rich food to animals living at extremely high densities benefits = greater production of food, keeps up with high meat consumption, reduces the impact of livestock on land (uses less space) drawbacks = contributes to water/air pollution, poor waste containment may cause human disease, steroids are used to stimulate growth, heavy use of antibiotics to control disease |
| What is aquaculture? | raising aquatic organisms for food in a controlled environment (open-water pens or land-based ponds) it is the fastest-growing type of food production (1/3 of the worlds fish for human consumption) |
| What are the benefits/drawbacks of aquaculture? | benefits = a reliable protein source, sustainable, reduces fishing pressure on over harvested wild fish stocks, energy efficient drawbacks = diseases can occur requiring expensive antibiotics, large amounts of waste, farmed fish may escape and introduce disease in the wild |
| Sustainable Agriculture | does not deplete the soil, pollute water, or decrease genetic diversity |
| Low-input agriculture | uses smaller amounts of pesticide. fertilizers, growth hormones, water, and fossil fuel energy than industrial agriculture |
| organic agriculture | uses no synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides. relies on biological approaches (compositing & biocontrol) |
| What are the benefits/obstacles of organic farming for both the farmers and the consumers? | For farmers : Benefits = lower input costs, enhanced income from higher value products, reduced chemical costs & pollution Obstacles = risks and costs of switching to new farming methods and less market infrastructure For consumers: Benefits = no longer have to concern about pesticide's health risks, and improves environmental quality Obstacles = added expense, and less aesthetically appealing looking product |
| Community-supported agriculture | consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield consumers get fresh food, farmers get a guaranteed income |
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