NATS 1560 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Vertical Integration, Feudalism, Rodenticide

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1560
• Professor: Daniela Monaldi

Document Summary

They all work towards breaking down litter and turning it into humus (fine, crumbly, and rich in nutrients: human activity in form of agriculture has the biggest impact on terrestrial soils and a(cid:374)i(cid:373)al"s ha(cid:271)itat. Gro(cid:449)i(cid:374)g (cid:272)rops (cid:272)a(cid:374) deplete (cid:374)utrie(cid:374)ts like (cid:374)itroge(cid:374), potassiu(cid:373), phosphorus etc: the level of nutrients indicate fertility. You can replenish these by ploughing crops under, applying animal manure or fertilizers, (cid:271)ut it takes ti(cid:373)e a(cid:374)d (cid:272)a(cid:374)"t (cid:271)e (cid:1005)(cid:1004)(cid:1004)% (cid:271)a(cid:272)k: soils on slope are prone to erosions because of water and gravity. Roots help soil from movement, but when farmers plough sloping land, erosion followed, good soil is washed away: (cid:1006). (cid:1009)% of (cid:449)orld"s (cid:449)ater is fresh, a(cid:374)d out of that is trapped as i(cid:272)e i(cid:374) a(cid:374)tar(cid:272)ti(cid:272) a(cid:374)d. Back in the days, grains were harvested manually with a sickle, curved blade: threshing when grain is harvested, it is still attached to its stalk and, in most grains, the kernels are encased in husks.