Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Key Terms
Affinity
Broadcast spraying
Crop rotation
Generalist
Habitat diversification
Monoculture
No-till agriculture
Persistence
Ubiquitous
Concept Review
10.1
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o E horizon is the area where some of the nutrient material has
been leached or washed away.
o B horizon, also known as the subsoil, is dense and clayey,
blocking root growth and preventing water drainage.
o C horizon is the area where the parent material is being broken
down.
10.2
10.3
12.5 percent of the earths land area is being used for agriculture.
The amount of available cropland is shrinking due to erosion, soil
degradation, and urbanization.
o When soil is eroded or nutrients are depleted, lower crop yields
result.
o Wind and water erosion are the sources of most soil
degradation.
o Rapid erosion forms rills and gullies as water cuts channels
through the soil.
o Eroded soils are deposited in river basins and oceans.
Agricultural productivity has grown due to improved farming practices
and improvements in crop varieties.
When soil becomes degraded and is too dry for cultivation,
desertification can result.
Eighty percent of the worlds grasslands are susceptible to
desertification due to overgrazing and soil degradation.
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10.4
Adding these elements in fertilizer results in higher crop yields but can
also be a cause of water pollution.
Machine power to grow, harvest, process, and distribute food requires
energy.
In the United States, agricultural systems consume 16 percent of the
fossil fuel energy we use.
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10.5
10.6
10.7
Soil Conservation
The decomposition of plant materials to form soil takes a great deal of time.
Obtain three or four small, clear containers and some grass clippings. In one
container place grass clippings and nothing else. In another container place
grass clippings and enough water to cover them. In the third container mix grass
clippings and soil and, in the fourth, grass clippings and sand. Have students
form a hypothesis about the length of time it will take for the grass clippings to
decompose and observe the containers over a period of time. By the end of the
course, students may begin to see a change in the clippings.
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Figure 10.6
Contact your local soil and water conservation district or a well drilling company
to obtain soil core samples for your class to observe. Generally, they will provide
the core samples for free if you supply the trays. Trays are approximately 4 feet
long and 3 inches wide. They can easily be made from plywood or by cutting
PVC pipe lengthwise. Have students measure the depth of each of the soil
horizons and note the difference in color and texture of each. This is a great
visual introduction to soil structure and types. You may also want to invite the soil
scientist who provided the cores to your class as a guest speaker.
If there is a construction site nearby, ask if you can take a sample of the soil they
have removed from the construction area. (You will need enough for each
student to make a 3-inch ball of soil.) At the local garden center, purchase a bag
of topsoil (without additives). As a laboratory activity, have students wet a
handful of soil so that it will form a ball. Then have them try to form a soil ribbon
by extruding a ribbon of soil between their thumb and forefinger. The more clay
the soil has, the easier it will be to form a ribbon and the longer the ribbon they
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will be able to form. The soil from the excavation site will most likely have a high
clay content, while the garden soil will have more sand.
Figure 10.3
Soil texture is determined by the ratio of sand to clay to silt. Have students bring
in a bag of soil from their gardens. Students should place approximately 30 ml of
their sample in a graduate cylinder and add enough water to reach the 50 ml
mark. They should cover it with the palm of their hand or some Parafilm and
shake the sample vigorously. Place the cylinders in a place where they will not
be disturbed and the next day have students examine the layers that have
formed. They will be able to see the layers of particles and make a loose
determination, according to figure 10.3, of what soil type they had.
How much clay and sand the soil contains will determine the length of time it will
take water to drain. Use small paper cups with several holes punched in the
bottom and soil samples of different types. Place the soil in the cup and pour a
measured amount of water in the cup. Time how long it takes for the water to
travel through the cup and how much water is retained in the soil sample. Soil
with a high clay content will take longer for the water to percolate through it.
Sandy soils do not hold water. Soils that are composed of loam and sand are
considered the best for farming.
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The soils you have collected can also be used to investigate erosion and runoff.
Use a stream table or another large container to place your soil samples. You
can plant grass seed to mimic crop placements and then have it rain at one end
of the table. Is the soil held in place, or is it washed away over time? Does it form
rills or gullies?
Applications
Soil Nutrient Lab
Purpose: To find the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, potash, and pH in the
students soil sample.
Materials: Order from a supply catalog or purchase from a garden store several
Rapitest soil test kits.
Procedure:
1. Have the student bring in a baggie of soil from his/her yard for testing.
2. Using a small beaker or plastic cup, have the student make a five parts water
to one part soil mixture.
3. Fill each of the plastic soil test vials (from the rapidest kit) to the dotted line
with the soil/water mixture.
4. The vials have color-coordinated capsules that go with each soil test. Find
the blue capsule and carefully separate it so that you can pour the powder into
the blue vial. Cap and shake until the white powder is completely dissolved. (Be
careful not to have the vial explode!) Repeat with the other three colored
capsules.
5. Wait until a color develops. (This usually takes about 5 minutes.)
6. Record the results in the table below. For fertilizer decide from the following
choices: 10-10-5 or 10-5-10 or 5-10-10 or 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 or 5-5-10 or 10-5-5.
SOIL
pH
FERTILIZER
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Class Time: The topic of pest control by itself makes up only a small portion
of the course emphasis. Allow 3 days to cover this information. As you study air,
water, and land pollution you can further integrate this material.
Approach and Tips
In chapter 9, students examined their diets and how well they compared to the
recommended food intake allowances on the food pyramid. Have students
examine their diets and the amount of pesticide-contaminated foods they
consume.
Table 10.1
Are they at risk for pesticide exposure? Discuss the recommendations for
reducing risk given on p. 212.
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Application
Toxicity of Pesticides Lab
Materials:
One six pack of plants from a local nursery
Bottle of spray herbicide
Procedure:
1. Take the six plants and cut the plastic so that they are apart from one another.
2. On one of the plastic containers, with a permanent marker, write control and
set that one aside.
3. On another of the containers write normal dose, on another 1/2 normal, on a
third write 1/4 normal, on the forth write 2 times normal and on the last write 4
times normal.
4. Have your class decide what normal is. I read the bottle and it will usually
say completely cover the plant with foam. So, this will be the normal dose.
5. Go outside or use a vent hood and spray the normal plant with the amount to
completely cover the plant with foam. Then, spray the rest of the plants with
the 1/2 normal, 1/4 normal, 2 times normal, and 4 times the normal amount.
6. Water all of the plants (including the control) and put them in the window until
the plants have all died.
7. Next, discuss with the students why the manufacturer of the herbicide would
like us to completely cover the plant with foam and the environmental effect
the runoff pesticide will have.
Conclusion:
1. Was the normal dosage effective in killing the plants?
2. Did lower amounts of pesticide still have the desired effect of killing the
plants?
3. What are the environmental effects of this pesticide? Does using more than
needed have an environmental footprint?
4. What is the most effective dose of this pesticide?
5. Are there any human health risks of being exposed to this pesticide?
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6. What are some alternative ways we could have killed these plants without the
use of pesticide?
Suggested Website:
For many teachers, soil is not something they know that much about. A great
resource from the Natural Resource Conservation Service is found at
http://soils.usda.gov/. There are pictures of soil profiles (in case you cannot go
out where you live and dig up one yourself), soil surveys, soil use ideas, soil
education and many fact sheets, by state, to help identify the type of soil in your
particular area.
There are many websites with information for and against pesticide use. If you
want to have your students do a side-by-side comparison of various pesticides
and how they work you can go to http://npic.orst.edu/, or
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/. For anti-pesticide websites or for students to
gain information on alternative methods to spraying pesticides you can go to
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/ or http://www.panna.org/. I bring in a bucket of
different pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.) and have the
students look up information on any 5 that they pick. The student writes how the
pesticide kills the pest, what human health effects the pesticide causes, and what
environmental effects are associated with the pesticide.
Questions
1. IPM is a good alternative to chemical pesticides. However, there are risks
associated with using organisms not native to an ecosystem to combat pests.
Give an example in which IPM went wrong and explain why. Make a
recommendation to combat the pest more effectively, and discuss why your
suggestion is the better choice.