Due to animals consuming more grass than can be produce, the ground becomes scattered leaving the soil exposed to erosion. The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services) has a program to help prevent overgrazing. The program “provides information and support to enable ranchers who own their lands to burn unwanted woody plants, reseed the land with perennial grass varieties that hold water, and manage cattle so that herds are moved to a new location before overgrazing occurs” (Wright & Boorse, 2011, p. 288). If this problem is left untreated, could be a threat to the food chain. Deforestation is when trees and other vegetation is being removed converting the forest to another land use, this exposed the soil and often leads to erosion and loss of soil fertility.
Bobby Kmetz Oct 21, 2010 Research Report #1Topic In the world today there are many things that are affecting are environment and a lot of those things have to do with effecting the land and soil around us that we use every day to grow plants on and use to raise livestock on. With all the damaging things that are happening to the worlds soil that we all know of such as erosion and irrigation of lands one type of soil degradation that is just as serious as all the others is overgrazing. Overgrazing can degrade soil because of the way it is treated by the animals and not maintained by the land owners. In the book Essential environments it briefly talks about what different activities have effect on the soils. It talks about how even though
When there is rain the forests holds a lot of rainfall to the soil through roots of plants. The water then sinks deeper in the ground and replenishes the supply of the water table. If there was the removal of these forests then water from rain would flow simply through the soil surface and not be retained. Another effect may be the water from rain will not stay in the soil at all and the process of evaporation would immediately set in therefore not replenishing water table. This would lead to wells drying up.
The Cudgen soil conservation project is one of the most recent projects. The project is run by the Tweed Shire Council and Land Care, the aim of the project is to work with land holders to keep the soil on the paddocks. The project includes minor modifications to the interface between paddocks and drainage lines. Berms along drainage lines direct runoff into small settling ponds which slow the flow, giving the muddy water time to settle out. Farmers can then retrieve the soil that would have otherwise ended up in downstream waterways (Cudgen
Provide one action we as humans engage in that leads to the extinction of each of these components. Action affecting Lichens = Lichens depend on air and water for nutrients which is affected by things such as air travel and exhaust fumes. Action affecting Trees = People cutting down trees for useable items is one main way that leads to extinction. Action affecting Flowers = People are clearing off land in order to plant crops and trees Action affecting Bees = There is intensive farming being done all around the world to keep up with the supply and demand of food. As a result this eliminate food that bees pollinate from.
For instance, slash-and-burn agriculture, which results in forest degradation, is still practiced in both subsistence farming and the illegal production of rum (Irwin and Ravelomanantsoa 2004; Lehman et al. 2006b, Scales 2012). These agricultural practices alter the structure of the forest resulting in habitat loss for many different species (Mutschler and Feistner 1995). Furthermore, deforestation transforms old-growth primary forests into early succession (second-growth) forests, and increases the number of forest fragments and edge habitats (Mutschler and Feistner 1995,
(John Deere Company) After moving westward, farmers struggled with the poor performing plow to break the tough prairie sod. The sticky ground had to be continuously scrapped off to prevent the bottom of the plow from clogging. This early plow, basically a pointed iron stick, broke often and showed considerable wear after even a few acres were tilled. Furthermore the early plow was difficult to use because it required vast horsepower to push the soil aside. Ideally, a plow that could rotate and turn the soil would pull much
They were masters of restoring nutrients to the ground and producing a great deal of food from their soils. Mayan peasants would slash and burn the rainforest and then wait for the ashy nutrients to go deep into the soil before they would farm. When farmers let the land rest, they are trying to make it fallow (fallow means the land was well rested and nutrient rich). These farmers knew that over-farming could ruin the soil and make it impossible to grow on again. When scientists look at dirt today, they can tell a lot about what happened in the past.
Based on your data, which type of soil do you think is best for agriculture? Explain your answer. Loam would be the best kind of soil to plant crops in because it is permeable but it takes low amounts of water to irrigate the soil. Farmers often have problems with soil erosion when they clear their fields after the growing season. Soil type is one factor that influences erosion.
The farmers have to make sure the area that will be used for the earthworms has been prepared properly. Ideal conditions for the earthworms are rich damp soil in a secluded and shaded area. Typically, farmers will keep the worms in anything from old washtubs to man-made pits, depending on the size of the farm they wish to have. Once the worms take to the soil all that is left to do is maintain their habitat. Some farmers raise earthworms for their own personal gardens, but the majority farms them in mass quantities for profit.