Agriculture
Define monocropping & name a way it can be harmful to soil health.
Monocropping
This logging method removes all trees in an area and harms biodiversity.
Clear-cutting
A mining technique used to remove coal and minerals near the earth’s surface in strips.
Strip mining
The uncontrolled spreading of urban areas into rural land.
Urban sprawl
Harvesting fish faster than they can reproduce, leading to population declines.
Overfishing
The process where components of soil are lost due to running water, wind, or both
Soil Erosion
The leftover waste material after valuable minerals are removed.
Tailings
What gas is in cow farts?
Methane
This irrigation method delivers water directly to plant roots through tubes and emitters, reducing evaporation. This is the most efficient type of irrigation.
Drip irrigation.
The ecological process starts on bare rock with no soil versus the succession that happens after soil is present.
Primary succession and secondary succession
Two major environmental problems caused by mining activities.
Habitat destruction and water pollution
Give an example of green urban planning
Green roofs, rain barrels, rain gardens
Non-target species are accidentally caught during commercial fishing operations.
Bycatch
A common pollutant used to eliminate pests.
Pesticide
A respiratory disease caused by inhaling coal dust.
Black lung disease
Raising livestock in densely packed facilities with limited movement is called this.
CAFO
One advantage and one disadvantage of genetically modified organisms in farming.
Higher yield and possible loss of genetic diversity
When large forests are broken into smaller patches, this process occurs.
Habitat Fragmentation
This mining technique involves digging deep vertical shafts to extract minerals from underground deposits.
Subsurface mining
The phenomenon where cities experience higher temperatures than nearby rural areas due to human structures.
The heat island effect
The idea that shared resources are overused and depleted because individuals act in their own self-interest.
tragedy of the commons
The process where a pollutant increases in concentration as it goes up trophic levels
Biomagnification
One advantage of subsurface mining compared to surface mining.
Less surface habitat destruction.
Forest fragmentation reduces this, the number of different species in a given area
biodiversity
The agricultural revolution increased crop yields using high-yield varieties and fertilizers.
Green Revolution
Cutting only specific trees while leaving the rest of the forest standing.
Selective cutting
A U.S. law that requires coal mines to restore mined land to its original condition or better.
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA)
Surfaces like roads and parking lots that prevent water infiltration and increase flood risks.
Impervious surfaces
The farming of aquatic organisms can sometimes lead to pollution and disease.
Aquaculture
Rock that contains metal or economically useful mineral
Ore
A strategy that restores land after mining operations end.
Reclamation
Contaminated urban runoff can cause this in bodies of water
Eutrophication
A pest control strategy combining biological, physical, and chemical methods to minimize environmental harm.
IPM
A grazing practice where livestock are moved between pastures to prevent vegetation loss.
Rotational grazing
Mining method that blasts the top off mountains and buries streams with debris.
Mountaintop removal mining
This urban design technique increases green space and tree cover to improve air quality and reduce heat in cities.
Green Infrastructure
Designated zones where fishing is restricted or banned to help fish populations recover.
marine protected areas (MPAs)
Acidic leachate, normally rich in heavy metals that drains from either tailings or underground mines
Acid Mine Drainage
measures the resources a person or city consumes.
Ecological footprint
These type of countries have lower ecological footprints
Developing
Why is drip irrigation more water-efficient than flood irrigation?
It reduces evaporation and runoff by delivering water directly to roots.
Harvesting trees at a rate that does not exceed the forest’s natural regrowth.
Sustainable yield
The gradual sinking of land that is potentially caused by subsurface mining
Subsidance
Planting more trees reduces city temperatures through this process.
Evapotranspiration
Name one ecological consequence of overfishing.
Disrupted food webs / reduced biodiversity / trophic cascades.
A large hole dug in the ground to extract minerals like copper or gold.
Open pit mining
What is the name of the author of Silent Spring?
Rachel Carson
The day that ecological footprint outpaces biocapacity.
Earth Overshoot Day