Practise IB ESS HL Topic 5 Land by analysing soil systems, linking erosion and food-production choices to sustainability, and evaluating land-management decisions with named evidence.
Outline how soil can be viewed as an ecosystem.
Explain how the production of cash crops (such as pineapples) may have an environmental impact on:
soil
Figure:Land used in Costa Rica for pineapple production between 1961 and 2013
Figure:Conversion to cropland from other land uses in north-eastern Costa Rica (1986-2011)
cash crops
- Agriculture includes pineapples, bananas, coffee and beef.
- Pineapple production expanded between 1961 and 2013 and cropland expansion converted other land uses.
With reference to Figure: Conversion to cropland from other land uses in north-eastern Costa Rica (1986-2011), identify where most of the additional land for growing crops came from between 1986 and 2011.
Figure 3: Food loss and waste (in million tonnes per year) in a North American food production system
127 million tonnes
With reference to Figure 3, identify the stage that represents the greatest food loss and waste in North America.
Outline two strategies to reduce food waste at the use stage (stage 5) in North America.
With reference to a stage in Figure 3, describe one reason for a difference between food loss and waste in a less economically developed country (LEDC).
Soil quality is important for global food production systems.
Figure:Soil texture triangle
Describe how the addition of sand to a silty clay loam could alter its characteristics for healthy plant growth.
Figure:Horizons in a typical soil profile
Draw a flow diagram to show the flows of leaching and decomposition associated with the mineral storage in the "A" horizon in the soil-profile diagram shown above.
Identify one other input to the mineral storage in the "A" horizon.
Identify one other output from the mineral storage in the "A" horizon.
Outline why leaving arable farmland fallow (unused) between growing seasons could lead to soil degradation.