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Human Geography > Population And The Enviroment > Flashcards

Population And The Enviroment Flashcards

1
Q

What is population density?

A
  • The population of an area divided by the size of the area
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2
Q

What is population distribution?

A
  • The pattern of where people live at a variety of scales
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3
Q

Why is there world becoming mire populated?

A
  • Birth rates are higher than death rights so a natural population increase
  • From 1945 onwards there was a baby boom, policies to attract higher brith rates
  • improved healthcare
  • Improved life expectancy
  • In LIC’s there are high birth rates due to no contraception, little education however infant and child morality is still high
  • Green evolution from 1950’s, fertilisers increase crop yielded and pesticides get rid of bugs
  • Growth of cities around the world
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4
Q

What are the 3 aspects of the physical environment that affects populations?

A

1) Climate
2) Soils
3) Resource distribution

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5
Q

How does climate affect population?

A
  • Few people live in arid, dry areas but many live in temperate areas (UK)
  • Tropical and temperate climates have highest population densities as it is easier to produce food
  • Affects population distribution, for example in coastal areas where sea levels are rising, people are moving inland
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6
Q

How do soils affect population?

A
  • Soil infertility determines the amount and type of food that can be produced in a region
  • Plays a role in where human settlements have developed and size of populations
  • For example, many cities like Naples are built near volcanoes where soil fertility is high
  • Some countries like Bangladesh have large floodplains which are very fertile, supports large-scale agriculture, feeding large population
  • Soil erosion can cause people to migrate to other places as agriculture becomes more difficult
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7
Q

How does resource distribution affect population?

A
  • Population growth and distribution are linked to availability of fresh water and other natural resources.
  • Most deserts have small populations due to lack of water
  • Lack of safe water can lead to food insecurity, health problems and death = population decrease
  • Energy and mineral resources can cause local concentrations of people
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8
Q

What temperatures do crops need to be to grow?

A
  • At least 5 degrees
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9
Q

What is the Neolithic revolution?

A
  • Happened around 12,000 years ago
  • People in areas of Western Asia and Eastern China developed agriculture
  • Lifestyles changed from hunting to farming in permanent settlements
  • Population increased as food supply became reliable
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10
Q

What is the Industrial Revolution?

A
  • Happened from 1760-1850
  • There was a rapid rise in the use of machinery and factories
  • Major population growth occurred (Britains population doubled)
  • Due to death rates falling, increased food production and more money
  • Farming became less labour intensive, people moved to cities for work
  • 57% population increase
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11
Q

What us environmental capacity?

A
  • Influenced by the physical environment, climate, water availability, soil fertility
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12
Q

What is human capacity?

A
  • Refers to population size and levels of skills, technology and capital investment
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13
Q

What does it mean if global population is increasing?

A
  • More people are consuming more food
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14
Q

How does food production/consumption differ between countries?

A
  • More developed countries like North America and Europe consume lots
  • They can afford to import a variety of food and many people have high disposable incomes so can afford more food
  • Less developed countries like Africa and parts of South America, Asia, consume less food as they cant afford it
  • China and other emerging economies are consuming more as their wealth increases
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15
Q

What kind of systems are farms?

A
  • Open
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16
Q

What is agricultural productivity?

A
  • The measure of the amount of food that is produced in an area
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17
Q

What are some examples of inputs in a farming system?

A
  • Climate
  • Soil
  • Altitude
  • Machinery
    -Fertilisers
  • Livestock
  • Labour
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18
Q

What are some examples of processes in a farming system?

A
  • Planting seeds
  • Harvesting
  • Breeding
  • Ploughing
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19
Q

What are some examples of outputs in a farming system?

A
  • Food crops
  • Animal produce (milk)
  • Waste
  • Soil disease
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20
Q

What are the 2 major climate types?

A
  • Polar climate
  • Monsoon climate
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21
Q

What are the characteristics of a polar climate?

A
  • Low temperatures
  • Permanent covering of the land by glacial ice
  • Precipitation is less than 100mm in Artic per year
  • Precipitation is less than 50mm in Antarctic per year
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22
Q

Explain the Artic region

A
  • Surface layer of ice
  • Areas near such as Greenland and Canada have a polar climate
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23
Q

Explain the Antarctic region

A
  • Colder than the Artic (below -80 degrees)
  • interior is very dry, less than 50mm of rainfall per year
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24
Q

What is the population like in both polar regions?

A
  • Very low
  • Number of people living in Artic has increased due to improved healthcare and discovery of natural resources
  • Arable farming is hard as only few plants survive in cold temps so farmers will create an artificial environment
  • Tourism is popular in summer months, oil and gas is more accessible in summer
  • Melting of Artic sea opens up shipping routes
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25
Q

Explain the monsoon climate

A
  • Occurs in parts of India and Bangladesh
  • Seasonal reversal of winds
  • Very dry, most rainfall is concentrated in the state of Tamil Nadu
26
Q

What does monsoon rain cause?

A
  • Flooding to many towns and cites along West Coast
  • Mumbai has annual rainfall of 2386mm
  • Temps range from 32 - 18
27
Q

What is the population like in Monsoon climates?

A
  • More than 60% of worlds population lives in areas affected by monsoon climates
  • Rice seedlings grown in nurseries until summer monsoon rain begins and then are transplanted into flooded fields so is GOOD
  • Climate change affects monsoon climates = fluctuations
  • Indian economy gains due to monsoon rains, supports large numbers of people in rural and urban areas enabling India to become leading exporter in rice and wheat
  • However, monsoon rains = crop failure which affects economy
28
Q

What are the 2 types of soils?

A
  • Podzols
  • Latosols
29
Q

Explain what zonal soils are

A
  • Major group soil often classified as covering a wide range of geographic region or zone
  • Fully developed mature soils
30
Q

What is a soil?

A
  • Soil is all material between ground surface and bedrock is formed from a combination of minerals from weathered bedrock and organic matter from vegetation
31
Q

What 5 essential functions does soil do?

A
  • Cycling nutrients - carbon, nitrogen.. stored in soil
  • Regulating water - controls where rain, irrigation goes
  • Sustaining animal/plant life - diversity & productivity of living things depend on soil
  • Filtering and buffering pollutants - minerals and microbes in soil filter, buffer, detoxify potential organic/inorganic pollutants
  • Physical stability and support - soil structure provides a medium for plant roots
32
Q

Explain podzols

A
  • Occur in cool temperate climates in northern hemisphere (Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, Russia) where there is more precipitation and evapotranspiration
  • Harsh winters and cool summers restrict vegetation to boreal coniferous forests
  • Also found on heathland and moors
33
Q

What are the characteristics of podzols?

A
  • O horizon is layer of needles from coniferous trees
  • Precipitation greater than evapotranspiration due to cool climate
  • A horizon is where nutrients are leached by water
  • Very acidic
  • Leaching of minerals creates pale E horizon (sand and silt)
  • Minerals accumulate in B horizon (red/brown layer)
  • POOR NUTRIENT CYCLE
34
Q

Describe the relationship between podzols and human activities

A
  • Associated with upland sheep farming
  • Acidity and lack of nutrients = few crops can grow so arable farming is hard
  • Waterlogging makes ploughing hard due to machinery sinking in ground
  • Lime is used to reduce acidity and artificial fertilisers
  • Coniferous trees grow well in podzols so forestry is a common human activity
35
Q

Explain the distribution of Latosols

A
  • Found underneath tropical rainforests
  • 5 degrees North and South of equator
  • Brazil, Indonesia
  • Tropical rainforest biome supports half of all organisms on earth but the tropical red Latosols are very infertile
36
Q

Explain characteristics of Latosols

A
  • High temps and humidity encourages fast chemical weathering of bedrock forming soils up to 30-40m deep
  • Year round growing season means rainforest trees shed leaves any time of year supplying leaf litter and thick O horizon
  • Leaf litter decomposes fast into humus but nutrients quickly absorb by vegetation leaving thin fertile A horizon
  • Rainfall higher than evapotranspiration = soil moisture surplus which = lots of leaching from B horizon
  • Build up of minerals in soil can from laterite horizon = acts like clay
37
Q

Describe the relationship of Latosols and human activities

A
  • Poor for agriculture due to low nutrient content
  • Rainforest tree removal means soil has no protection from heavy rainfall = increase of leaching further removing nutrients
  • Slash and burn, one small area cleared at a time
  • Burning vegetation adds nutrients to soils
  • Large clearance of land = permanent soil degradation
  • Laterite horizon is soft when moist but hard when dries so is useful for building
38
Q

What are the 4 soil problems?

A
  • Soil erosion
  • Salination
  • Water logging
  • Structured deterioration
39
Q

What is soil erosion

A
  • Wearing away of top layer of soil
  • Physical causes = climate and topography
  • Human causes = deforestation and land use
  • Impacts = flooding, nutrient removal, loss of seeds
  • Management = terracing, mulching, contour ploughing, windbreaks
40
Q

What is salinisation?

A
  • Build up of salts in soil overtime (too toxic for plants)
  • Physical causes = climate
  • Human causes = irrigation, fertilisers
  • Impacts = toxicity , 10 and 25% of arable land is affected
  • Management = drip-tip irrigation, drain soil
41
Q

What is waterlogging?

A
  • Pore spaces in soil are filled with water not air, less oxygen
  • Physical causes = precipitation higher than evapotranspiration, floods
  • Human causes = irrigation (too much)
  • Impacts = plant growth decreases, soil temp decreases, hard to plough
  • Management = drain soil, drip-tip irrigation, composition change
42
Q

What is structural deterioration?

A
  • Pore spaces in soil are lost
  • Physical causes = salination
  • Human causes = removal of vegetation, heavy machines, over-grazing
  • Impacts = compacted soil, hard to plough, reduced capacity for water
  • Management = avoid compaction, drain soil, avoid watering crops, replace lost organic material
43
Q

What is food security?

A
  • World Food Programme and The Food and Agricultural Organisation consider people to be food secure when they have ‘availability and adequate access at all times to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life
44
Q

What elements does food security include?

A
  • Food availability
  • Food access
  • Food quality and utilisation
45
Q

What is the food security risk index?

A
  • Shows areas suffering from hunger and food shortages
  • Areas at extreme risk are Sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan and Haiti
  • 2014, Somalia had extreme weather droughts = below average agricultural production where 6mil people suffer from food shortages
  • 1 in 9 people suffer from chronic undernourishment
  • Millennium development goals food security targets by 2015 were almost achieved
46
Q

What are the main strategies to improve food security?

A
  • Increase food production / agricultural productivity
  • Reducing post-production losses (food waste)
  • Reducing growth in demand
47
Q

What is crude birth rate

A
  • The number of live births per year
48
Q

What is crude death rate

A
  • The number of deaths per 1000 of a population per year
49
Q

What is natural increases

A
  • If the birth rate is greater than the death rate
50
Q

What is natural decrease

A
  • If the death rate is greater than the birth rate
51
Q

What is zero growth

A
  • If the birth rates are equal to the death rates
52
Q

What is the dependency ratio?

A
  • An age-population ratio of those typically not in the labour force and those typically in the labour force
53
Q

What is population structure

A
  • Describes the age of distributed and sex composition of a popualtion
  • Shown within a population pyramid
54
Q

What is the demographics dividend

A
  • The potential rapid economic growth in a country as its dependency ratio falls
55
Q

What is emigrant

A
  • A person leaving their home area or country to settle elsewhere
56
Q

What is an immigrant

A
  • A person moving into an area or country to settle there
57
Q

Infant mortality rate

A
  • The number of children who die before their first birthday per 1000 live births per year
58
Q

Life expectancy

A
  • The average number of years a person born is expected to live for
59
Q

Net migration change

A
  • Difference between the total number of immigrants and emigrants in an area or country over a period of time
  • More immigrants than emigrants = positive net migration
  • More emigrants than immigrants = negative net migration
60
Q

Replacement fertility rate

A
  • Number of children each woman needs to have to maintain current population levels
61
Q

Total fertility rate

A
  • The average number of children born per woman in an area or country if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years

Human Geography (5 decks)

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