Flashcards
Population and The Environment
Cards in this deck (89)
- 1What are the four key physical elements?Climate
Soils
Water supply
Geology and other resource distribution - 2What does climate include?Rainfall, temperature, wind velocity and levels of solar insulation
- 3What does climate affect?Food productivity
The type of farming systems adopted
Which species are selected for cultivation
The level of diseases in the area
Death rates
Climate change - 4What is the most important quality of soil?Its fertility
- 5What does the fertility of soil depend on?Soil structure
Texture
Acidity (pH)
Organic matter
Nutrients - 6What do farmers sometimes do to soil in a highly populated area?They artificially maintain the fertility of the soil
- 7What are the bad effects of artificially maintaining soil fertility?Water pollution
Eutrophication
Greenhouse gases - 8What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a volcanic area?The soil is rich in nutrients
However the area is prone to hazards - 9What are the main uses of water?Human hydration
Irrigation
Hygiene
Sanitation
Industrial processes - 10What is the main effect of water?Population distribution
e.g. 95% of Egypt's population (80 million)
live within 12 miles of the River Nile - 11What does 'Geology and other resources' include?Fossil fuel and valuable minerals distribution
- 12What do Fossil fuel and valuable minerals distribution affect?Industrialisation and consequently densely populated conurbations in Europe
- 13What can happen to resources in areas with higher populations?They become depleted
- 14What is industrial inertia?A stage at which an industry prefers to run in its former location although the main alluring factors are gone.
- 15In the 1960s, what did global food supplies for humans stand at?2300 calories per person daily
- 16In high income countries how much - on average - does each person consume?3030 calories per person per day
- 17In low income countries how much - on average - does each person consume?2000 per person per day
- 18What did food supply per person raise to by 2010?2800 calories per person per day
- 19How many people suffered from under nutrition in 2010?800 million
- 20Why do so many people suffer form under-nutrition?Uneven food production and availability
- 21What was the Green revolution?A large increase in crop production in developing countries
- 22How was the green revolution achieved?By the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and high-yield crop varieties.
- 23What is food consumption measured in?Kilocalories per capita per day
- 24Why is food consumption measured?To measure the changes in the global and regional food situation
- 25How much did food consumption increase by between 1960 and 1990?450 kcal
- 26Where is food consumption stagnant?Sub-Saharan Africa
- 27In what countries is food consumption decreasing?Countries going though economic transition
- 28What is under-nourishment?Food consumption under 1700-2000 kcal depending on your age, size and gender
- 29How is undernourishment calculated?By using the average amount of food consumption, the size of the population, the relative disparities in access to the food, and the minimum calories requires for each individual
- 30Is a farm an open or closed system?Open
- 31What type of inputs are there in farms?Physical, cultural, economic, and behavioural
- 32What happens to farming when that area develops?There are less physical inputs and more human inputs
- 33What is commercial farming?When the majority of the produce is sold
The income provides livelihood for farm workers
Money is invested back into the farm - 34What is subsistence farming?When the food is consumed by the land owner
- 35What is subsistence farming?When the food is consumed by the land owner
- 36What is intensive farming?Small scale
Few employees
Output is high per hectare and per worker
e.g. Tomato production in the netherlands - 37What is capital intensive?Money is invested in soil improvement, buildings, pest control, high quality seeds/animals
- 38What is labour intensive farming?High number of farm workers, High output per hectare, low output per worker
e.g. Rice cultivation in the ganges valley - 39What is extensive farming?Carried out on a large scale over a large area, low level of labour force, sometimes a high capital input
e.g Canadian priaries - 40What is agricultural productivity?A measure of the economic performance of agriculture and an important driver of farm incomes
How efficiently the industry uses resources to turn inputs into outputs - 41What factors effect agricultural productivity?Weather, animal disease, policy interventions
- 42What is agricultural productivity measured in?In terms of yield
Total factor productivity (TFP) - 43What is TFP?Total factor productivity is the ratio of agricultural outputs (gross crop and livestock outputs) to inputs (land labour, fertilizer, machinery and livestock)
- 44What is a polar climate?Areas with long and cold winters, falling below -40°C, permanent covering the land by glacial ice with a surface layer of snow, frozen land from the surface downwards
- 45What is land that is frozen from the surface downwards called?The permafrost
- 46What happens to the permafrost in the summer?The top layer thaws
- 47What happens to the permafrost in the winter?Snow covers it
- 48What are polar climates known as?The tundra
- 49What is the population of the polar areas?13.1 million
- 50How many countries are there in polar areas?8
Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Denmark (Greenland), and Iceland - 51What is the average population density of polar areas?Less that 4 people per 4 km²
- 52What are glacial areas devoid of?Permanent human settlement
- 53What are the main reasons people visit glacial areas?Tourism
Nomadic hunters
Oil and mineral prospectors - 54Why did the population of polar areas increase in the 20th century?Improved healthcare and a new discovery of natural resources
- 55Is there arable farming in polar areas?Only in artificial environments
- 56What are the main countries with a tropical monsoon climate?India and Bangladesh
- 57What happens in a tropical monsoon climate in the winter?The north and north east wind blow outwards from central asia
- 58What happens to tropical monsoon climates in the summer?Winds reverse direction and blow from the southwest
- 59How does the wind change in the summer effect the climate of a tropical monsoon climate?It brings hot and wet air from the equatorial area of the Indian ocean
- 60What does the hot and wet air cause?High and intense amounts of rain increased by the uplift of the air over the western ghats of southwest India and the foothills of the Himalayas
- 61What doe the hot land surface cause?Intense convection currents
- 62What weather events that are caused by climate change, affect agriculture?Floods, droughts -- affect food security
- 63What areas agriculture will be the most damaged by climate change?Asia pacific
- 64Why is this area vulnerable to damage from climate change?Mainly because it is an agricultural area with an expected 850 million increase in population by 2050
- 65Why is this area likely to experience damage from climate change?The rising temperature and rising sea levels effects crop growing and yields
- 66What does FAO stand for?Food and Agriculture Organisations
- 67What sustains 95% of food production?Soil
- 68What fraction of soil has been degraded?1/3
- 69How much of the planets biodiversity does soil account for?1/4
- 70What else is soil used for?A source of pharmaceuticals
In the carbon cycle - 71What is soil made up of?A mixture of solids (minerals and organic matter), liquids and gases that occur on the land surface
- 72What is the definition of a soil horizon?A soil horizon is a layer generally parallel to the soil crust, whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath.
- 73What ability does soil have?The ability to support rooted plants
- 74What is the upper limit of soil?The boundary between soil and air, shallow water, live plants or decomposing plants
- 75What is the lower boundary of soil?The layer that separates the soil from weathered rock layer underneath
- 76What is soil classed as?An ecosystem
- 77What does soil provide?Nutrients for plant growth
- 78What does soil do to water?Soil absorbs and holds rain water (filters and buffers pollutants)
- 79What does soil provide for living organisms?Foundations and stability
- 80What is soils 5 essential functions?Cycling nutrients
Regulating water
Sustaining plant and animal life
Filtering and buffering pollutants
Physical stability - 81How does soil cycle nutrients?By storing carbon , nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients
- 82How does soil regulate water?It controls where rain, snow melt and irrigation goes
- 83Why does soil sustain plant and animal life?Because all living things depend on soil
- 84How does soil filter and buffer pollutants?It filters, buffers, degrades, immobilises and detoxifies organic and inorganic materials
- 85What is a zonal soil?A soil which has experienced the maximum effect of climate and natural vegetation up on the parent rock, assuming there are no extremes
- 86What is chernozem soil?Deep, rich, black soil
- 87How many hectares of chernozem soil are there?230 million
- 88What are some features of chernozem soil?Fertile
High in organic matter and nutrients (phosphorus and ammonia) - 89—
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- A level Geography A Flashcards on Population and The Environment, created by Grace Isaac on 31/10/2016.
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- Grace Isaac
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