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WorksheetsIB ESS 5.3 Soil degradation and conservation
Total questions: 41
Worksheet time: 28mins
Which two processes can give rise to soil degradation?
Erosion
Decomposition
Unsustainable agriculture
Forest Fires
Overgrazing occurs when
Very few cattle are kept in a large area
Large numbers of cattle are kept in a area
Mococulture is used
Farmers harvest all of the crops at one time
Which of these methods can be used to reduce wind erosion (Select Multiple Answers)
Planting trees between fields
Alternating high and low crops
Crop rotation
Planting crops in rows
Terracing is a common farming practice used in
Cities
On level ground
Mountainous regions or on slopes
When soil quality is poor
Trickle flow is a method of
Soil rotation
Crop filtration
Water filtration
Irrigation
Trickle flow systems can be used to reduce...
Crop Quality
Evaporation of water
Pest damage to crops
Damage to crops from the sun
Which of these is not a soil conserving cultivating technique
Removing all crops during a single harvest
Plowing the fields regularly
Terracing fields on sloped areas
Growing cover crops between rows of main crops
What can be ploughed into a field to improve the texture of the soil and act as a supply of nutrients? (Select Multiple Answers)
Straw
Curshed Lime Stone
Chalk
Manure
Legumes add ........................... to the soil via the Rhizobium bacteria in their root nodules.
Oxygen
Carbon
Nitrogen
Calcium Carbonate
The main reason we must improve soil quality is to...
Ensure we can grow more food
Ensure we can grow more food in a sustainable way
Ensure that the soil does not disappear
Ensure that we do not run out of water
Excessive use of pesticides can degrade the quality of the soil. This is also known as...
Poisoning
Pollution
Trickle irrigation
Toxification
Growing crops in rows with uncovered soil in between will
Increase erosion
Decrease erosion
Improve soil quality
Reduce wind speeds
Monoculture is...
When different crops are grown year after year
When multiple crops are grown at once
When the same crop is grown year after year
When the plants are provided with mococytes
What can be ploughed into a field to improve the texture of the soil and act as a supply of nutrients? (Select Multiple Answers)
Straw
Crushed Lime Stone
Chalk
Manure
What can be ploughed into a field to increase the pH (acidity) of the soil? (Select Multiple Answers)
Straw
Crushed Lime Stone
Chalk
Manure
Development of soil ecosystems with change over time is a process called:
zonation
succession
development
agriculture
Which style of food production system generally reduce the soil fertility most?
commercial, industrialised
small-scale subsistence
large-scale subsistence
commercial, organic
Which human activities can reduce soil fertility
strip cultivation
deforestation
urbanisation
crop rotation
contour ploughing
salinisation occurs when these two factors occur:
Low temperatures and low evaporation of water from the surface
Low temperatures and high evaporation of water from the surface
High temperatures and low evaporation of water from the surface
High temperatures and high evaporation of water from the surface
salinisation reduces soil fertility because
it moves minerals down the soil profile
it moves all of the water down the soil profile
it moves minerals up to the top of the soil profile
it moves all of the water up to the top of the soil profile
Desertification reduces soil fertility as the soil holds less
porosity
clay
nitrogen
water
Overcropping occurs when
Very few crops are grown in a large area
Large numbers of crops are grown on marginal land
Monoculture of a crop is used
Farmers harvest all of the crops at one time
Amazon Slash & Burn subsistence farming systems add nutrients to the land before growing crops from
the ashes of the biomass being mixed into the soil
by not removing all of the large trees
chemical fertilizers
natural manure being added
Brazilian Commercial beef farming can avoid trampling by
Monitoring the number of cattle placed on a grazing area
Monitoring and controlling the number of cows placed on a grazing area
Controlling the number of farmers in the grazing area
Deforesting all of the grazing area and replacing them with cattle.
Brazilian commercial beef farming tends to degrade the soil by
Overgrazing
deforestation
urbanisation
Flood irrigation
Monoculture
Amazon Slash & Burn subsistence farming systems can be said to deplete the soil fertility because they carry out
monoculture
urbanisation
deforestation
overgrazing
flood irrigation
Urbanisation increases run-off into surface water systems. This can deplete soils because of
nutrient cycling
flooding
salinisation
soil erosion
eutrophication
Large areas of surface soils washed away during heavy storms would be which soil erosion process?
Wind erosion
Leaching
Gullying
Sheet wash
Water forming erosion channels as it washes down slopes would be which soil erosion process?
Wind erosion
Leaching
Gullying
Sheet wash
