| A | B |
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| TRUE or FALSE: Crops like corn have a bigger water footprint than farm animals raised for their meat, like cows. | FALSE (Farm animals always have a higher water footprint than crops because you have to count the water that was it took to grow the plant-based food they eat. For example, it takes a lot of water to irrigate and grow corn, but cows eat corn and they have to eat about 10 pounds of corn for every pound that the cow grows.) |
| Giving animals antibiotics even when they are healthy, keeping animals in small confined spaces, and giving them growth hormones are all practices commonly used in ______. | factory farming |
| Using natural fertilizers and pesticides, and growing a wide variety of crops together are all practices common used in ______. | organic farming |
| Plants and animals that have had genes from other species inserted into their chromosomes are known as _____ | GMOs (genetically modified organisms) |
| Algal blooms and fish-kills can be caused by the overuse and runoff of _______ from farms. | fertilizer |
| TRUE or FALSE: Organic farms aren't allowed to use pesticides. | FALSE (They can use pesticides as long as they are natural. For example, the pesticide that has been genetically engineered into corn "BT" is made naturally by a type of bacteria. Since it comes from a natural organism, it can be harvested from this type of bacteria and sprayed onto organic fields, but organic farmers wouldn't use genetically modified corn that makes the exact same pesticide inside corn cells by being genetically modified because genetic modification isn't considered to be "natural.") |
| ______ is the raising of fish in captivity, similar to how farm animals are raised. | Aquaculture |
| The amount of crops that could be grown on an acre of land went up greatly during the _____ revolution when chemical fertizilizers, pesticides, and mechanical plowing techniques first started being widely used. | Green |
| TRUE or FALSE: Factory farms require more land to grow the same amount of food compared to organic farms. | FALSE (Modern factory farms that use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides can grow more food per acre. This is the biggest criticism of organic farming. Even though in many ways, organic farming is better for the environment, organic farms need more land to grow the same amount of food, which is land that could have been left wild as habitat for animals) |
| Spraying fields with pesticides causes the evolution of resistant insects by causing non-resistant insects to ____. | die (When the non-resistant insects die, it leaves the insects that are the most resistant to be the only ones reproducing. Their offspring are more likely to have inherited whichever gene or genes allowed their parents to be resistant to the pesticide. This weeding out of the weak causes each generation to be more resistant than the last. This is how evolution works. You can think of the pesticide as being similar to natural selection. Indidently, this is also how the overuse of antibiotics causes bacteria to evolve resistance to antibiotics.) |
| Which trophic level would you expect organisms to have the highest concentration of toxic substances that biomagnifiy (like mercury or DDT) in their tissues? | top predator |
| Corn has been genetically modified by adding a gene from a bacterial cell that has the instructions that corn can use to make its own _______. | pesticide |
| The pesticide that biomagnifies and almost wiped out some top predator birds like the Bald Eagle before its use was banned is ____. | DDT |
| The process of ____ can lead to high levels of toxic substances in top-predators even though it might have pretty low concentrations in organisms near the bottom of the food chain. | biomagnification |
| Giving farm animals ____ allows them to grow faster but may end up making humans more likely to die of a disease. | antibiotics |
| Farmers have been using _____ for the last 10,000 years in order to make plants and animals bigger and tastier. | artificial selection |
| TRUE or FALSE: Planting a bunch of different crops in the same field is more likely to attract crop-destroying insect pests than planting a mono-culture (just one type of crop in the field). | FALSE (Different insects prefer different crops. If you're a pest that eats corn, you're going to be more attracted to a field that is just corn than a field with a lot of different crops, including some corn. This is why organic farmers, who don't use much pesticide, plant polycultures of many different crops in the same field.) |
| TRUE or FALSE: Irrigating farmland with water from rivers can lead to the soil becoming more salty. | TRUE (There is a small amount of salt even in freshwater. When fields are irrigated, a lot of the water evaporates leaving the salt behind. This can lead to a buildup of salt in the soil as time goes by, making it harder for crops to grow) |
| The practice of watering crops is called _____. | irrigation |
| The practice of stirring up the soil on farms to loosen it giving crops a better chance to start growing is called ____ but can also lead to the soil drying out and blowing away like during the "Dust Bowl" of the Great Depression. | tilling |
| A chemical that is used to kill insects that might be harming crop plants is called a(n) _____. | pesticide |
| Excess fertilizer can wash into nearby streams and lakes causing algae to grow out of control which can lead to fish-kills when the algae die and bacteria use up all the oxygen in the water trying to decompose the algae. This process of water becoming nutrient-rich is called _____. | eutrophication |
Which picture shows water that is nutrient-poor? (Just answer left or right),  | left, |
| Which picture shows water that is nutrient-rich? (Just answer left or right), | right (Nutrient-rich water causes algae to over-grow. Fertilizer from lawns and farms or sewage from septic tanks can cause water to become nutrient-rich. This process of the water becoming like this is called eutrophication and the water would be described as being eutrophic. Nutrient-poor water is usually clear because there wouldn't be much algae and plankton it it. Nutrient-poor water is also called oligotrophic water), |
| Growing only one type of crop on a large field is described as ______ farming. Doing this can attract pests causing farmers to have to use more pesticides. | monoculture (The prefix "mono" means 1) |
| Growing many different crops close together (like organic farms often d0) is called _____ farming (the answer isn't organic). | polyculture (the prefix "poly" means many) |
| Introducing a predator into an area to reduce the population of pests that might be damaging crops is called ____. | biological pest control (a.k.a. biocontrol, which is an answer you can write if you don't want to write the longer name)) |
| What do you call plants that can actually increase the fertility of soil because they have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their roots that changes nitrogen gas in the air into fertilizer? | legumes (examples of legumes include peanuts, peas, beans, clover, and alfalfa) |
| Why do farmers take a break from growing crops like corn and instead rotate in crops like peanuts, peas, beans, or alfalfa? | To increase the fertility of the soil (these plants are called legumes because they have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in their roots that changes nitrogen gas from the air into fertilizer) |
| Farmers sometimes give their fields a rest by planting things without harvesting them so that when they die, they will decompose and add nutrients to the soil. They might do this to some of their fields for a year or two. The plants that are used are called ____ crops. | cover (They often include things like alfalfa or clover because they are legumes and can add nutrients to the soil even while they are alive) |
| TRUE or FALSE: Bt Corn is genetically modified corn that has had a pesticide injected into it's cells. | FALSE (Bt corn has only had a gene injected into it's cells. That gene has the instructions for making the pesticide. This is done when the corn is only one cell big because as that cell divides over and over, it copies its DNA into the new cells so that all the cells have the instructions for making the pesticide, and it only needs to be done once because the seeds from that corn will also contain the new gene) |
| TRUE or FALSE: Bt Corn is genetically modified corn that has had a gene injected into it's cells. | TRUE (Bt corn has only had a gene injected into it's cells. That gene has the instructions for making the pesticide. This is done when the corn is only one cell big because as that cell divides over and over, it copies its DNA into the new cells so that all the cells have the instructions for making the pesticide, and it only needs to be done once because the seeds from that corn will also contain the new gene) |
