Land Categories & Forests
What are old growth forests?
Forests that have developed over centuries without major disturbances
What are Food Deserts?
Areas with limited access to nutritious food
What is DDT?
A pesticide which is harmful to humans and the environment.
What is difference in valley shape between rivers and glaciers?
What is a watershed?
An area of land where all precipitation drains to a common outlet (like a river or bay)
Why are forests important?
Ecosystem Services:
1. Biodiversity hotspot
2. Carbon storage
3. Water regulation
4. Soil health maintenance
5. Climate stabilization
What are some negative impacts of Agriculture?
Negative Aspects
- Soil degradation
- Water pollution
- Biodiversity loss
- Greenhouse gas emissions
Who was Norman Borlaug?
An American agronomist who won a nobel peace prize for his work on the Green Revolution. He was known as the "Father of the Green Revolution".
What was the Laurentide Ice Sheet?
A massive ice sheet that, during the last Ice Age, covered Canada and the northern U.S.
Its movement carved out valleys, shaped coastlines, and deposited glacial till.
Its melting contributed to the formation of lakes and river systems.
How do tides work?
The regular rise and fall of sea levels caused mainly by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun on Earth’s oceans.
What are the characteristics of old growth forests
Large, old trees
- Complex vegetation layers
- Rich soil structures
- Minimal human intervention
- Missing carbon & the role of new growth vs old growth forests
What are some positive impacts of Agriculture?
Positive Aspects
- Food security
- Landscape maintenance
- Biodiversity preservation
What was the Green Revolution?
It developed high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.
The work helped dramatically increase food production in countries like Mexico, India, and Pakistan.
What are 5 of the evidence left behind by glaciers?
Features that show glaciers once covered a region:
U-shaped valleys (formed by glacier movement)
Moraines (piles of rocks and debris left by glaciers)
Erratics (large boulders carried far by ice)
Striations (scratches on bedrock from moving ice)
Drumlins (smooth hills shaped beneath glaciers that show the direction of the glacier)
Eskers
Kettle Lakes
Where the lines are closest together
What are all 4 of the Land Use Categories?
Settled Land: Urban/Suburban areas including:
- Residential zones
- Commercial spaces
- Agricultural Land:
- Pasture/Rangeland
- Cropland
- Wilderness Land:
- Forestland
- Grassland
- Wetlands
Recreational areas:
- Parks
What diets are more carbon and water-intensive and why?
Diets heavy in meat are more water and carbon-intensive
Meat requires more energy and water to produce
Release of greenhouse gasses (methane) from ruminants (cows, sheep, deer) and landfills
Who was Norman Borlaug trying to help and who did end up hurting?
The poorer, small farmers
What was Glacial Lake Hitchcock?
A large, temporary glacial lake that formed in the Connecticut River Valley after the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
Created by meltwater dammed by ice and debris.
Left behind flat valleys and fertile soils that impact land use today.
What can affect the quality of a watershed?
Human activities (farming, construction) in a watershed directly affect the quality of the water downstream.
What is Geomorphology?
The study of the Earth's landforms and the processes that shape them, such as erosion, deposition, and tectonic movement. It examines both slow processes (like mountain building) and rapid changes (like landslides).
What is Global Food Insecurity caused by?
Caused by:
- Poverty
- Climate change
- Economic instability
- Unequal food distribution
What did Rachel Carson do, and what book did she write?
What are the 2 different types of sea level measurement and how are they different?
Geocentric Sea Level:
The height of the ocean surface relative to Earth's center. Satellite systems (like altimeters) measure this globally.
Relative Sea Level:
Sea level measured relative to the land at a specific location. Affected by both ocean volume and land movement (like land sinking or rising).
What are spring and Neap Tides?
Spring tides occur when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned, leading to larger tidal ranges (greater difference between high and low tide). Neap tides occur when the Sun and Moon are at right angles to each other, resulting in smaller tidal ranges.