Chapter 20

Forest and Cultivation

DEFINITION OF TERMS:

1) Large dense growth of trees: a large area of land covered

in trees and other plants growing close together, or the trees
growing on it
2) Woodland for hunting: especially in former times, an area
of woodland owned by a monarch and set aside for hunting
3) Large number of upright objects: a collection of often tall
upright objects, densely packed and so resembling a forest of
trees

Slash-and-Burn
Deforestation
The deforestation
technique of slash and
burn, utilized extensively
to clear large areas of
forest for agricultural
and other purposes,
causes an enormous
amount of environmental
damage. The large
amounts of carbon
dioxide given off into the
atmosphere during
burning adds to the
greenhouse effect. The removal of all trees and groundcover
destroys animal habitats and greatly accelerates erosion, adding
to the sediment loads of rivers and making seasonal flooding
much more severe.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-
2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 1

The Role of Forests

Forests
provide
habitat for a
wide variety
of plants and
animals and
perform
many other
important
functions
that affect
humans.
Photosynthesis is the chemical process in the leaves that uses
sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce energy-supplying sugars

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 2

 for the tree. In the process the foliage gives off pure oxygen for
breathing. The forest canopy (the treetops) and root systems
provide natural filters for the water we use from lakes and rivers.
When it rains the forest canopy intercepts and re-distributes
precipitation that can cause flooding and erosion, the wearing
away of topsoil. Some of the precipitation flows down the trunks
as stemflow, the rest percolates through the branches and
foliage as throughfall. The canopy is also able to capture fog,
which it distributes into the vegetation and soil. Forests also
increase the ability of the land to store water. The forest floor
can hold as much as five times its weight in water and a tree
contains water in its roots, trunk, stems, and leaves. Because of
all this stored moisture, forests help to maintain an even flow of
water in rivers and streams in times of flood or drought. The
roots of the trees and other vegetation hold the soil in place and
control erosion from wind and rain, preventing flooding and
clouding of streams and rivers.

Clear-cutting
Clear-cutting is a forestry harvesting technique in which all the
trees in a given area are removed. The advantages of this
technique include the eventual production of trees of
approximately the same age and height, which are easy to
harvest using mechanized equipment. The disadvantages include
the elimination of old growth forest and animal habitat,
excessive erosion, and an unappealing landscape. In an effort to
conserve forest resources, the timber industry is modifying clear-
cutting techniques to include the complete use of all harvested
trees and the replanting of clear-cut areas.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-
2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 3

 Deforestation and Erosion After the lush vegetation of a rain
forest is removed, an area rarely recovers. This deforested Costa
Rican stream valley is eroding away because there is no longer a
good root system to anchor the topsoil or decaying plant matter
to replenish its nutrients. If the cycle continues, the area may
eventually resemble a desert.

Soil
I INTRODUCTION

Soil, the loose material that covers the land surfaces of

Earth and supports the growth of plants. In general, soil is an
unconsolidated, or loose, combination of inorganic and organic
materials. The inorganic components of soil are principally the
products of rocks and minerals that have been gradually broken
down by weather, chemical action, and other natural processes.
The organic materials are composed of debris from plants and
from the decomposition of the many tiny life forms that inhabit
the soil.

Soils vary widely from place to place. Many factors

determine the chemical composition and physical structure of
the soil at any given location. The different kinds of rocks,
minerals, and other geologic materials from which the soil
originally formed play a role. The kinds of plants or other
vegetation that grow in the soil are also important. Topography—
that is, whether the terrain is steep, flat, or some combination—
is another factor. In some cases, human activity such as farming
or building has caused disruption. Soils also differ in color,
texture, chemical makeup, and the kinds of plants they can
support.

Soil actually constitutes a living system, combining with air,

water, and sunlight to sustain plant life. The essential process of
photosynthesis, in which plants convert sunlight into energy,
depends on exchanges that take place within the soil. Plants, in
turn, serve as a vital part of the food chain for living things,
including humans. Without soil there would be no vegetation—no
crops for food, no forests, flowers, or grasslands. To a great
extent, life on Earth depends on soil.

The study of different soil types and their properties is

called soil science or pedology. Soil science plays a key role in

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 4

 agriculture, helping farmers to select and support the crops on
their land and to maintain fertile, healthy ground for planting.
Understanding soil is also important in engineering and
construction. Soil engineers carry out detailed analysis of the soil
prior to building roads, houses, industrial and retail complexes,
and other structures.

Soil takes a great deal of time to develop—thousands or

even millions of years. As such, it is effectively a nonrenewable
resource. Yet even now, in many areas of the world, soil is under
siege. Deforestation, over-development, and pollution from
humanmade chemicals are just a few of the consequences of
human activity and carelessness. As the human population
grows, its demand for food from crops increases, making soil
conservation crucial.

COMPOSITION OF
II SOILS

Soils comprise a mixture of inorganic and organic

components: minerals, air, water, and plant and animal material.
Mineral and organic particles generally compose roughly 50
percent of a soil's volume. The other 50 percent consists of pores
—open areas of various shapes and sizes. Networks of pores hold
water within the soil and also provide a means of water
transport. Oxygen and other gases move through pore spaces in
soil. Pores also serve as passageways for small animals and
provide room for the growth of plant roots.

Inorganic
A Material

The mineral component of soil is made up of an

arrangement of particles that are less than 2.0 mm (0.08in) in
diameter. Soil scientists divide soil particles, also known as soil
separates, into three main size groups: sand, silt, and clay.
According to the classification scheme used by the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA), the size designations are:
sand, 0.05 to 2.00 mm (0.002 to 0.08 in); silt 0.002 to 0.05 mm
(0.00008 to 0.002 in); and clay, less than 0.002 mm (0.00008 in).
Depending upon the rock materials from which they were
derived, these assorted mineral particles ultimately release the
chemicals on which plants depend for survival, such as

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 5

 potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, iron, and
manganese.

Organic
B Material

Organic materials constitute another essential component

of soils. Some of this material comes from the residue of plants—
for example, the remains of plant roots deep within the soil, or
materials that fall on the ground, such as leaves on a forest floor.
These materials become part of a cycle of decomposition and
decay, a cycle that provides important nutrients to the soil. In
general, soil fertility depends on a high content of organic
materials.

Even a small area of soil holds a universe of living things,

ranging in size from the fairly large to the microscopic:
earthworms, mites, millipedes, centipedes, grubs, termites, lice,
springtails, and more. And even a gram of soil might contain as
many as a billion microbes—bacteria and fungi too small to be
seen with the naked eye. All these living things form a complex
chain: Larger creatures eat organic debris and excrete waste into
the soil, predators consume living prey, and microbes feed on
the bodies of dead animals. Bacteria and fungi, in particular,
digest the complex organic compounds that make up living
matter and reduce them to simpler compounds that plants can
use for food. A typical example of bacterial action is the
formation of ammonia from animal and vegetable proteins. Other
bacteria oxidize the ammonia to form nitrogen compounds called
nitrites, and still other bacteria act on the nitrites to form
nitrates, another type of nitrogen compound that can be used by
plants. Some types of bacteria are able to fix, or extract, nitrogen
directly from the air and make it available in the soil.

Ultimately, the decay of plant and animal material results in the

formation of a dark-colored organic matter known as humus.
Humus, unlike plant residues, is generally resistant to further
decomposition.

Wate
C r

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 Soil scientists also characterize soils according to how
effectively they retain and transport water. Once water enters
the soil from rain or irrigation, gravity comes into play, causing
water to trickle downward. Water is also taken up in great
quantities by the roots of plants: Plants use anywhere from 200
to 1,000 kg (440 to 2,200 lb) of water in the formation of 1 kg
(2.2 lb) of dry matter. Soils differ in their capacity to retain
moisture against the pull exerted by gravity and by plant roots.
Coarse soils, such as those consisting of mostly of sand, tend to
hold less water than do soils with finer textures, such as those
with a greater proportion of clays.

Water also moves through soil pores independently of

gravity. This movement can occur via capillary action, in which
water molecules move because they are more attracted to the
pore walls than to one another. Such movement tends to occur
from wetter to drier areas of the soil. The movement from soil to
plant roots can also depend on how tightly water molecules are
bound to soil particles. The attraction of water molecules to each
other is an example of cohesion. The attraction of water
molecules to other materials, such as soil or plant roots, is a type
of adhesion. These effects, which determine the so-called matric
potential of the soil, depend largely on the size and arrangement
of the soil particles. Another factor that can affect water
movement is referred to as the osmotic potential. The osmotic
potential hinges on the amount of dissolved salts in the soil. Soils
high in soluble salt tend to reduce uptake of water by plant roots
and seeds. The sum of the matric and osmotic potentials is called
the total water potential.

In soil, water carries out the essential function of bringing

mineral nutrients to plants. But the balance between water and
air in the soil can be delicate. An overabundance of water will
saturate the soil and fill pore spaces needed for the transport of
oxygen. The resulting oxygen deficiency can kill plants. Fertile
soils permit an exchange between plants and the atmosphere, as
oxygen diffuses into the soil and is used by roots for respiration.
In turn, the resulting carbon dioxide diffuses through pore spaces
and returns to the atmosphere. This exchange is most efficient in
soils with a high degree of porosity. For farmers, gardeners,
landscapers, and others with a professional interest in soil
health, the process of aeration—making holes in the soil surface
to permit the exchange of air—is a crucial activity. The burrowing

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 of earthworms and other soil inhabitants provides a natural and
beneficial form of aeration.

SOIL
III FORMATION

Soil formation is an ongoing process that proceeds through

the combined effects of five soil-forming factors: parent material,
climate, living organisms, topography, and time. Each
combination of the five factors produces a unique type of soil
that can be identified by its characteristic layers, called horizons.
Soil formation is also known as pedogenesis (from the Greek
words pedon, for “ground,” and genesis, meaning “birth” or
“origin”).

Parent
A Material

The first step in pedogenesis is the formation of parent

material from which the soil itself forms. Roughly 99 percent of
the world's soils derive from mineral-based parent materials that
are the result of weathering, the physical disintegration and
chemical decomposition of exposed bedrock. The small
percentage of remaining soils derives from organic parent
materials, which are the product of environments where organic
matter accumulates faster than it decomposes. This
accumulation can occur in marshes, bogs, and wetlands.

Bedrock itself does not directly give rise to soil. Rather, the
gradual weathering of bedrock, through physical and chemical
processes, produces a layer of rock debris called regolith. Further
weathering of this debris, leading to increasingly smaller and
finer particles, ultimately results in the creation of soil.

In some instances, the weathering of bedrock creates parent

materials that remain in one place. In other cases, rock materials
are transported far from their source—blown by wind, carried by
moving water, and borne inside glaciers.

Climat
B e

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 Climate directly affects soil formation. Water, ice, wind,
heat, and cold cause physical weathering by loosening and
breaking up rocks. Water in rock crevices expands when it
freezes, causing the rocks to crack. Rocks are worn down by
water and wind and ground to bits by the slow movement of
glaciers. Climate also determines the speed at which parent
materials undergo chemical weathering, a process in which
existing minerals are broken down into new mineral components.
Chemical weathering is fastest in hot, moist climates and slowest
in cold, dry climates.

Climate also influences the developing soil by determining

the types of plant growth that occur. Low rainfall or recurring
drought often discourage the growth of trees but allow the
growth of grass. Soils that develop in cool rainy areas suited to
pines and other needle-leaf trees are low in humus.

Living
C Organisms

As the parent material accumulates, living things gradually

gain a foothold in it. The arrival of living organisms marks the
beginning of the formation of true soil. Mosses, lichens, and
lower plant forms appear first. As they die, their remains add to
the developing soil until a thin layer of humus is built up.
Animals’ waste materials add nutrients that are used by plants.
Higher forms of plants are eventually able to establish
themselves as more and more humus accumulates. The
presence of humus in the upper layers of a soil is important
because humus contains large amounts of the elements needed
by plants.

Living organisms also contribute to the development of soils in

other ways. Plants build soils by catching dust from volcanoes
and deserts, and plants’ growing roots break up rocks and stir
the developing soil. Animals also mix soils by tunneling in them.

Topograph
D y

Topography, or relief, is another important factor in soil

formation. The degree of slope on which a soil forms helps to
determine how much rainfall will run off the surface and how

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 9

 much will be retained by the soil. Relief may also affect the
average temperature of a soil, depending on whether or not the
slope faces the sun most of the day.

E Time

The amount of time a soil requires to develop varies widely

according to the action of the other soil-forming factors. Young
soils may develop in a few days from the alluvium (sediments
left by floods) or from the ash from volcanic eruptions. Other
soils may take hundreds of thousands of years to form. In some
areas, the soils may be more than a million years old.

Horizon
F s

Most soils, as they develop, become arranged in a series of

layers, known as horizons. These horizons, starting at the soil
surface and proceeding deeper into the ground, reflect different
properties and different degrees of weathering.

Soil scientists have designated several main types of

horizons. The surface horizon is usually referred to as the O
layer; it consists of loose organic matter such as fallen leaves
and other biomass. Below that is the A horizon, containing a
mixture of inorganic mineral materials and organic matter. Next
is the E horizon, a layer from which clay, iron, and aluminum
oxides have been lost by a process known as leaching (when
water carries materials in solution down from one soil level to
another). Removal of materials in this manner is known as
eluviation, the process that gives the E horizon its name. Below E
horizon is the B horizon, in which most of the iron, clays, and
other leached materials have accumulated. The influx of such
materials is called illuviation. Under that layer is the C horizon,
consisting of partially weather bedrock, and last, the R horizon of
hard bedrock.

Along with these primary designations, soil scientists use many

subordinate names to describe the transitional areas between
the main horizons, such as Bt horizon or BX2 horizon.

Soil scientists refer to this arrangement of layers atop one

another as a soil profile. Soil profiles change constantly but

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 10

 usually very slowly. Under normal conditions, soil at the surface
is slowly eroded but is constantly replaced by new soil that is
created from the parent material in the C horizon.

IV SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Scientists can learn a lot about a soil’s composition and

origin by examining various features of the soil. Color, texture,
aggregation, porosity, ion content, and pH are all important soil
characteristics.

A Color

Soils come in a wide range of colors—shades of brown, red,

orange, yellow, gray, and even blue or green. Color alone does
not affect a soil, but it is often a reliable indicator of other soil
properties. In the surface soil horizons, a dark color usually
indicates the presence of organic matter. Soils with significant
organic material content appear dark brown or black. The most
common soil hues are in the red-to-yellow range, getting their
color from iron oxide minerals coating soil particles. Red iron
oxides dominate highly weathered soils. Soils frequently
saturated by water appear gray, blue, or green because the
minerals that give them the red and yellow colors have been
leached away.

Textur
B e

A soil’s texture depends on its content of the three main

mineral components of the soil: sand, silt, and clay. Texture is
the relative percentage of each particle size in a soil. Texture
differences can affect many other physical and chemical
properties and are therefore important in measures such as soil
productivity. Soils with predominantly large particles tend to
drain quickly and have lower fertility. Very fine-textured soils
may be poorly drained, tend to become waterlogged, and are
therefore not well-suited for agriculture. Soils with a medium
texture and a relatively even proportion of all particle sizes are
most versatile. A combination of 10 to 20 percent clay, along
with sand and silt in roughly equal amounts, and a good quantity
of organic materials, is considered an ideal mixture for
productive soil.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 11

 Aggregatio
C n

Individual soil particles tend to be bound together into

larger units referred to as aggregates or soil peds. Aggregation
occurs as a result of complex chemical forces acting on small soil
components or when organisms and organic matter in soil act as
glue binding particles together.

Soil aggregates form soil structure, defined by the shape,

size, and strength of the aggregates. There are three main soil
shapes: platelike, in which the aggregates are flat and mostly
horizontal; prismlike, meaning greater in vertical than in
horizontal dimension; and blocklike, roughly equal in horizontal
and vertical dimensions and either angular or rounded. Soil peds
range in size from very fine—less than 1 mm (0.04 in)—to very
coarse—greater than 10 mm (0.4 in). The measure of strength or
grade refers to the stability of the structural unit and is ranked as
weak, moderate, or strong. Very young or sandy soils may have
no discernible structure.

Porosit
D y

The part of the soil that is not solid is made up of pores of

various sizes and shapes—sometimes small and separate,
sometimes consisting of continuous tubes. Soil scientists refer to
the size, number, and arrangement of these pores as the soil's
porosity. Porosity greatly affects water movement and gas
exchange. Well-aggregated soils have numerous pores, which
are important for organisms that live in the soil and require
water and oxygen to survive. The transport of nutrients and
contaminants will also be affected by soil structure and porosity.

Ion
E Content

Soils also have key chemical characteristics. The surfaces

of certain soil particles, particularly the clays, hold groupings of
atoms known as ions. These ions carry a negative charge. Like
magnets, these negative ions (called anions) attract positive ions
(called cations). Cations, including those from calcium,
magnesium, and potassium, then become attached to the soil

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 12

 particles, in a process known as cation exchange. The chemical
reactions in cation exchange make it possible for calcium and
the other elements to be changed into water-soluble forms that
plants can use for food. Therefore, a soil's cation exchange
capacity is an important measure of its fertility.

F pH

Another important chemical measure is soil pH, which

refers to the soil's acidity or alkalinity. This property hinges on
the concentration of hydrogen ions in solution. A greater
concentration of hydrogen results in a lower pH, meaning greater
acidity. Scientists consider pure water, with a pH of 7, neutral.
The pH of a soil will often determine whether certain plants can
be grown successfully. Blueberry plants, for example, require
acidic soils with a pH of roughly 4 to 4.5. Alfalfa and many
grasses, on the other hand, require a neutral or slightly alkaline
soil. In agriculture, farmers add limestone to acid soils to
neutralize them.

SOIL
V CLASSIFICATION

As yet there is no worldwide, unified classification scheme

for soil. Since the birth of the modern discipline of soil science
roughly 100 years ago, scientists in different countries have used
many systems to organize the various types of soils into groups.
For much of the 20th century in the United States, for example,
soil scientists at the USDA used a classification scheme
patterned after an earlier Russian method. This system
recognized some three dozen Great Soil Groups.

In 1975 a new classification scheme known as soil taxonomy was

published in the United States and is now used by the USDA.
Unlike earlier systems, which organized soils according to various
soil formation factors, the new system emphasizes
characteristics that can be precisely measured, including
diagnostic horizons (which give clues to soil formation), soil
moisture, and soil temperature. In a manner similar to the
kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species system
used to classify living things, the USDA soil taxonomy employs

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 13

 six categories. From the general to the more specific, its
categories are order, suborder, great group, subgroup, family,
and series. This system has classified more than 17,000 types of
soil in the United States.

The top level of the system consists of 12 orders: alfisols,

andisols, aridisols, entisols, gelisols, histosols, inceptisols,
mollisols, oxisols, spodosols, ultisols, and vertisols. Each term
employs a Latin or Greek word root to describe a range of soil
characteristics. Mollisols, for example (from the Latin mollis, for
“soft”) are soils with thick, dark surface horizons that have a high
proportion of organic matter. Such soils can be found in the
midwestern United States stretching up into Canada and in
portions of northwestern North America. Regions in New England
and the eastern portion of Canada, meanwhile, contain spodosols
(from the Greek spodos, meaning “wood ash”), which are
characterized by a light-colored, grayish topsoil and subsoil
accumulation of aluminum, organic matter, and iron. Soil
scientists classify soils in many of the southern United States as
ultisols (from the Latin for “last”), heavily weathered soils with
high concentrations of aluminum. In the southwest, meanwhile,
aridisols (from the Latin aridus, for “dry”), featuring little organic
matter, are found, as their name implies, in arid lands with little
plant growth.

The suborder and great group names of the soil taxonomy

provide increasing levels of detail. The suborder aqualf, for
example, combines aqu from the Latin aqua, for “water,” and alf
from alfisol to describe wet soils. Using assorted roots and
combining them in different ways, scientists describe soils in a
highly specialized and specific language. Aeric fragiaqualfs, for
example, are wet, well-developed soils with aerated surface
layers and restrictive subsoils.

VI SOIL USE

For most of human history, soil has not been treated as the
valuable and essentially nonrenewable resource that it is.
Erosion has devastated soils worldwide as a result of overuse
and misuse. In recent years, however, farmers and agricultural
experts have become increasingly concerned with soil
management.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 14

 Erosio
A n

Erosion is the wearing away of material on the surface of

the land by wind, water, or gravity. In nature, erosion occurs very
slowly, as natural weathering and geologic processes remove
rock, parent material, or soil from the land surface. Human
activity, on the other hand, greatly increases the rate of erosion.
In the United States, the farming of crops accounts for the loss of
over 3 billion metric tons of soil each year.

In a cultivated field from which crops have been harvested, the

soil is often left bare, without protection from the elements,
particularly water. Raindrops smash into the soil, dislodging soil
particles. Water then carries these particles away. This
movement may take the form of broad overland flows known as
sheet erosion. More often, the eroding soil is concentrated into
small channels, or rills, producing so-called rill erosion. Gravity
intensifies water erosion. Landslides, in which large masses of
water-loosened soil slide down an incline, are a particularly
extreme example.

Wind erosion occurs where soils are dry, bare, and exposed to
winds. Very small soil particles can be suspended in the air and
carried away with the wind. Larger particles bounce along the
ground in a process called saltation.

B Soil Management

To prevent exposure of bare soil, farmers can use techniques

such as leaving crop residue in the soil after harvesting or
planting temporary growths, such as grasses, to protect the soil
from rain between crop-growing seasons. Farmers can also
control water runoff by planting crops along the slope of a hill (on
the contour) instead of in rows that go up and down.

Soil faces many threats throughout the world. Deforestation,

overgrazing by livestock, and agricultural practices that fail to
conserve soil are three main causes of accelerated soil loss.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 15

 Other acts of human carelessness also damage soil. These
include pollution from agricultural pesticides, chemical spills,
liquid and solid wastes, and acidification from the fall of acid rain.
Loss of green spaces, such as grassland and forested areas, in
favor of impermeable surfaces, such as pavement, buildings, and
developed land, reduces the amount of soil and increases
pressure on what soil remains. Soil is also compacted by heavy
machinery and off-road vehicles. Compaction rearranges soil
particles, increasing the density of the soil and reducing porosity.
Crusts form on compacted soils, preventing water movement
into the soil and increasing runoff and erosion.

With the world's population now numbering upwards of 6 billion

people—a figure that may rise to 10 billion or more within three
decades—humans will depend more than ever on soil for the
growth of food crops. Yet the rapidly increasing population, the
intensity of agriculture, and the replacement of soil with concrete
and buildings all reduce the capacity of the soil to fulfill this
need.

As a result of an increased awareness of soil's importance, many

changes are being made to protect soil. Recent interest in soil
conservation holds the promise that humanity will take better
care of this precious resource.

Cultivation
Greenhouse A greenhouse is
designed to facilitate the
cultivation, propagation, and
protection of young seedlings
and delicate plants. With its
glass-paned roof and walls,
the greenhouse is perfectly
designed for regulating
temperature, humidity, soil
moisture, and light, not to
mention control of insect
pests and weeds.Oxford Scientific Films/Deni Bown

Rather than starting seeds directly in the garden, some

gardeners opt to use transplants—young plants purchased from
nurseries or grown by the gardener indoors. Transplants are a
particularly popular option for gardeners who live in cooler

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 16

 climates with short growing seasons. In a short growing season,
good weather does not last long enough for plants grown from
seeds to mature. Transplants give the garden a head start. They
can be placed in the garden in early spring, but must be
protected from the cold. One protective method is to cover each
transplant with a transparent milk jug or plastic soda bottle with
the bottom cut off, which acts like a small greenhouse to trap
heat around the plant. Using the same principle, some gardeners
place transplants, still in the pot, outdoors in a large bottomless
box with a clear top called a cold frame. The sunlight passes
through the top and heats the air in the cold frame.

CONTROLLING GARDEN PESTS

Three types of pests can plague gardens: weeds, insects, and

diseases. A weed is any plant that grows where the gardener
does not want it. Weeds are undesirable because they compete
with garden plants for light, water, and nutrients. Common
methods for controlling weeds include pulling them up by hand;
digging them out; and cutting them off using a hoe or mower.
One way to slow the growth of weeds is to cover the soil with a
layer of mulch, which blocks out the light and air that weeds
need to grow. Weeds also can be controlled by treating them
with a weed killer, or herbicide. Like fertilizers, weed killers can
be organic or synthetic

Weed Control
I INTRODUCTION

Weed Control, killing or limiting the growth of plants in

places where they are not wanted, usually for economic, health,
or aesthetic reasons. Weeds play an important role in nature by
rebuilding soil that has been disturbed by bulldozers, fire, or
flood, but in many areas weeds compete with more desirable
plants for available light, water, and nutrients. Weeds are
exceptionally tough plants and are able to reproduce
aggressively. They often produce great quantities of seed, for
example, or disperse seed over a large area. Or they may quickly
reproduce by sending out far-reaching stems above or below
ground, from which new weeds can sprout. As a result, they may
quickly outnumber other, desired plants in an area.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 17

 Uncontrolled weed growth poses a variety of problems. On
farms, weeds significantly reduce the harvest, or yield, of a crop
by depriving the plants of light, moisture, and nutrients. Three
foxtail weeds in a 30-cm (1-ft) row of corn, for example, can
reduce the corn crop yield by 10 percent; 12 foxtail weeds can
reduce it by 17 percent. Weed seeds mixed with grain reduce the
quality of grain, and the presence of weeds in hay decreases its
value. Weeds also reduce yields by harboring insects and
diseases that attack crops. Toxic weeds in pastures where
animals graze can, if consumed, poison animals or—in the case
of cows and other milk-producing animals—taint their milk.

Ecosystems, communities of interdependent organisms along

with their soil, water, and light, may require weed control to
prevent aggressive plants from choking out native plants that
wildlife rely on for food and shelter. Purple loosestrife, for
example, is a once-popular garden plant with abundant seeds
that disperse easily. This fast-growing weed clogs rivers, creeks,
and wetlands, where it disrupts aquatic ecosystems, and its sale
has been banned in 29 states.

METHODS OF WEED
II CONTROL

A variety of techniques are used to control weeds. Weeds are

resilient and sometimes require more than one method for
effective control.

Mechanical
A Methods

For centuries, farmers have pulled weeds by hand or used

hoes to cut them from the ground. Many farmers also control
weeds by mulching—that is, covering the soil around crops with
straw or other materials that smother weeds. But hand-control
methods require a great deal of time and labor, so are not well
suited for controlling weeds in large areas. Mowing machines are
more efficient for large-scale weed control. These machines
remove the weeds’ leaves, the photosynthetic organs that
provide the plants with a steady supply of carbohydrates. A
mowed weed (like virtually any mowed plant) generates new
leaves but must do so by drawing on the limited carbohydrate
reserves in the roots. Repeated mowing gradually depletes the

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 carbohydrate supply, so that the weed is unable to produce new
leaves and eventually dies.

Farmers also use a variety of tractor-drawn equipment such as

disks or harrows to uproot weeds that emerge between crop
rows. To be most effective, mechanical weed removal must be
carried out when the plants are at specific growing stages—such
as when the weeds are very small and have few energy reserves,
or when they are using considerable energy to flower.

Cultural
B Methods

One weed control technique involves managing plants so

that weeds have a difficult time growing. A farmer or gardener
may grow a smother crop—a crop of closely spaced plants such
as sunflower, rye or alfalfa, for example—before planting the
desired crop. The smother crop prevents weeds from receiving
the light, water, and nutrients they require, minimizing their
competition with the desired crop. Another cultural control is to
rotate crops by growing a different crop in the same area every
year for three or four years. In this method, a weed that thrives
with one crop will not survive with the next one.

Biological
C Methods

Biological controls take advantage of organisms that are

natural enemies of some weeds because they infect or eat them.
Such controls include insects, bacteria, fungi, fish (for aquatic
weeds), and grazing animals. A fungus found naturally in the rice
fields of Arkansas, for example, is used to control the northern
jointvetch weed that invades the fields. Biological controls are
sometimes imported from one region to another; to be
successful, they must be able to survive in their new ecosystem.
The cactus moth, for instance, native to a hot, dry region of
Argentina, was successfully imported to Australian ecosystems
with a similar climate. There, while in the caterpillar stage, it eats
and helps control the prickly pear cactus weed, which if
uncontrolled replaces nutritious grasses and shrubs on grazing
lands, thereby eliminating food for sheep and cows.

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 Biological control requires considerable research, knowledge,
and skilled management. The biological agent must be tested
extensively to ensure that it will feed exclusively on the targeted
weed, while leaving valuable or harmless plants untouched.
Growers using biological controls must be knowledgeable about
the life cycles of both the control agent and the weed, release
the agent at the proper life-cycle stage, and monitor the
progress of the control. In some cases it can take years or even
decades to determine if a biological control program is effective.
For these reasons, biological control is not used as widely as
other methods of weed control.

Chemical
D Controls

Weeds are also controlled using plant-killing chemicals, or

herbicides, that disrupt plant growth in a variety of ways, such as
preventing root growth or interfering with photosynthesis.
Herbicides became widely available after World War II ended in
1945, partly as a result of chemical research carried out during
the war. The speed and ease of their use made them so popular
that for many farmers and gardeners, herbicides became the
sole method for controlling weeds. Today, herbicides are used far
more than other types of pesticides. In 1995 more than 252
million kg (556 million lb) of herbicides were used—four times
the amount of pesticide used to kill insects in the same year.

Some biologists are concerned about the health and

environmental effects of herbicides. Herbicides sometimes
contain ingredients that are poisonous to humans and other
organisms. Atrazine, for example, the most widely used
agricultural herbicide, promotes the imbalance of estrogen,
which has been linked to breast cancer. Overexposure to the
chemical 2,4,-D, the active ingredient in over 40 herbicides, can
cause lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes, or kidney and liver
damage.

Herbicides in the soil can migrate to the ocean through nearby

streams or rivers, and some, in minute concentrations, kill
shellfish. An excess of glyphosphate, a widely used ingredient in
herbicides, kills susceptible beneficial insects that prey on insect
pests, and it is extremely toxic to fish. Repeated herbicide use

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 over a long period of time also encourages development of
herbicide-resistant weeds.

GENETIC
III ENGINEERING

A new area of weed control research focuses on genetic

engineering, which could make it easier to control weeds
chemically without damaging desired plants or crops. Plant
geneticists have created some crops with a genetic makeup that
makes them resistant to specific herbicides. While this research
shows great promise, some biologists are concerned that these
genetically engineered, or transgenic, crops may cross with
closely related weeds. Cultivated transgenic squash, for
example, grown near wild squash, may transfer its herbicide
resistance gene by pollinating the wild squash. If offspring of the
wild squash inherit this herbicide-resistant trait, they may be
nearly impossible to control with conventional herbicides.
Biologists are still unable to predict the effect of such herbicide-
resistant weeds on ecosystems.

Aphids on a Cabbage Plant

Aphids are small insects found

throughout temperate regions of the
world. They parasitize a variety of
wild and commercially important
plants by sucking out plant fluids.
Because aphids exude a sweet,
sticky fluid that can be used by
certain species of ants, herds of
aphids are often found guarded and tended by ants.

Insects damage plants by chewing leaves or other plant

parts by sucking the liquid from the plant, or in some cases, by
transmitting viruses. The number of damaging insects can be
reduced by growing a variety of plants in the garden. Different
plants attract different insects, including some that attack insect

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 pests. Another method for preventing insect damage is to cover
young plants with a floating row cover, which is a very thin,
white, gauzy blanket that keeps many insects away from the
plants. Another preventive method is to grow plants bred for
resistance to insect pests.

Natural Pest Control

Ladybird beetles, or ladybugs, have
had their name since the Middle
Ages, when people looked upon
them as a gift from the Virgin Mary
because of their miraculous eating
habits. As both larvae and adults,
ladybugs feed on aphids and other
agricultural pests. Many gardeners
buy ladybugs at garden stores and
release them in their gardens to
stave off aphids.

Insects damage plants by chewing leaves or other plant

parts by sucking the liquid from the plant, or in some cases, by
transmitting viruses. The number of damaging insects can be
reduced by growing a variety of plants in the garden. Different
plants attract different insects, including some that attack insect
pests. Another method for preventing insect damage is to cover
young plants with a floating row cover, which is a very thin,
white, gauzy blanket that keeps many insects away from the
plants. Another preventive method is to grow plants bred for
resistance to insect pests.

Pest Control
INTRODUCTIO
I N

Pest Control, any of a wide range of environmental

interventions that have as their objective the reduction to
acceptable levels of insect pests, plant pathogens, and weed
populations. Specific control techniques include chemical,
physical, and biological mechanisms. Despite all the control

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 22

 efforts used, pests annually destroy about 35 percent of all crops
worldwide. Even after food is harvested, insects,
microorganisms, rodents, and birds inflict a further 10 to 20
percent loss, bringing the total destruction to about 40 or 50
percent. With so many areas of the world facing serious food
shortages, researchers seek to reduce this loss by improving
pest control.

CHEMICAL
II CONTROLS

The chemical agents called pesticides include herbicides

(for weed control), insecticides, and fungicides. More than half
the pesticides used in the U.S. are herbicides that control weeds,
and only a relatively small percentage of U.S. agricultural land
areas are treated with pesticides: 24 percent with herbicides, 9
percent with insecticides, and 1 percent with fungicides. The
amount of pesticide used on different crops also varies. For
example, in the U.S., about 67 percent of the insecticides used in
agriculture are applied to two crops, cotton and corn; about 70
percent of the herbicides are applied to corn and soybeans, and
most of the fungicides are applied to fruit and vegetable crops.

Most of the insecticides now applied are long-lasting

synthetic compounds that affect the nervous system of insects
on contact. Among the most effective are the chlorinated
hydrocarbons DDT, chlordane, and toxaphene, although
agricultural use of DDT has been banned in the U.S. since 1973.
Others, the organophosphate insecticides, include malathion,
parathion, and dimethoate. Among the most effective herbicides
are the compounds of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid),
only a few kilograms of which are required per hectare to kill
broad-leaved weeds while leaving grains unaffected.

Agricultural pesticides prevent a monetary loss of about $9

billion each year in the U.S. For every $1 invested in pesticides,
the American farmer gets about $4 in return. These benefits,
however, must be weighed against the costs to society of using
pesticides, as seen in the banning of ethylene dibromide in the
early 1980s. These costs include human poisonings, fish kills,
honey bee poisonings, and the contamination of livestock
products. The environmental and social costs of pesticide use in
the U.S. have been estimated to be at least $1 billion each year.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 23

 Thus, although pesticides are valuable for agriculture, they also
can cause serious harm. Indeed, the question may be asked—
what would crop losses be if insecticides were not used in the
U.S., and readily available nonchemical controls were
substituted? The best estimate is that only another 5 percent of
the nation's food would be lost.

NONCHEMICAL
III CONTROLS

Many pests that are attached to crop residues can be

eliminated by plowing them underground. Simple paper or
plastic barriers placed around fruit trees deter insects, which can
also be attracted to light traps and destroyed. Weeds can be
controlled by spreading grass, leaf, or black plastic mulch. Weeds
also may be pulled or hoed from the soil.

Many biological controls are also effective. Such insect

pests as the European corn borer, Pyrausta nubilalis, and the
Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, have been controlled by
introducing their predators and parasites. Wasps that prey on
fruit-boring insect larvae are now being commercially bred and
released in California orchards. The many hundreds of species of
viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and nematodes that parasitize
pest insects and weeds are now being investigated as selective
control agents.

Another area of biological control is breeding host plants to

be pest resistant, making them less prone to attack by fungi and
insects. The use of sex pheromones (see Pheromone) is an
effective measure for luring and trapping insects. Pheromones
have been synthesized for the Mediterranean fruit fly, the melon
fly, and the Oriental fruit fly. Another promising pest-control
method is the release of sterilized male insects into wild pest
populations, causing females to bear infertile eggs. Of these
techniques, breeding host-plant resistance and using beneficial
parasites and predators are the most effective. Interestingly, the
combined use of biological and physical controls accounts for
more pest control than chemical pesticides.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a recently developed

technology for pest control that is aimed at achieving the desired
control while reducing the use of pesticides. To accomplish this,

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 various combinations of chemical, biological, and physical
controls are employed. In the past, pesticides were all too often
applied routinely whether needed or not. With IPM, pest
populations as well as beneficial parasite and predator
populations are monitored to determine whether the pests
actually present a serious problem that needs to be treated. If
properly and extensively employed, IPM might reduce pesticide
use by as much as 50 percent, while at the same time improving
pest control. If this goal were achieved, the environmental
problems would be minimized, and significant benefits would
result for farmers and society as a whole.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 25

 Fungal Diseases of Plants
Most types of plant-related diseases are
caused by fungi. The leaves of this
plant have been infected by tar-spot
fungus. Fungi can infect all parts of the
plant including leaves, stems, flowers,
roots, and fruit. The physical
manifestations of fungal diseases of
plants include wilting, club root, root
rot, wood rot, cankers, various types of
mildews, blights, lesions, and leaf spots.
The effects of fungal diseases can be devastating as evidenced
by the potato blight that destroyed the Irish potato harvest of
1845 and caused a widespread famine in Ireland.

Diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, or viruses also can

damage plants. In most cases, once a plant has a disease it
cannot be saved, though some fungal diseases can be controlled
with a fungicide. The best approach to disease prevention is to
provide plants with optimum soil, nutrients, light, and water so
they can fight off disease, and to grow plants that have been
bred for disease resistance or have natural resistance.

Diseases of Plants, deviations from the normal

growth and development of plants incited by microorganisms,
parasitic flowering plants, nematodes, viruses, or adverse
environmental conditions. In the United States alone, known
plant diseases attributable to these causes are estimated to
number more than 25,000; the estimated annual losses
therefrom add up to several billion dollars. Injuries to plant life
due primarily to insects, mites, or animals other than nematodes
are not regarded as plant diseases.

Oak Apple Gall

Galls are swellings formed on living
plants in response to insect or
bacterial parasites. The gall, or
cecidium, is formed when chemicals
secreted by the invading parasite
stimulate swelling or rapid growth of
plant tissues into an enlarged,
thickened covering around the site
Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 26
 of infection or parasitic invasion. Galls come in many shapes
depending on the type of invading parasite, and although they
may occur at any location on a plant, their formation is common
in areas of active plant growth.
Bacterial diseases are marked by various symptoms,
including soft rot, leaf spot, wilt of leaves and stems, canker, leaf
and twig blight, and gall formation. Fire blight, a disease of apple
and pear trees, is historically interesting because it was the first
plant disease in which a bacterium was shown to be the inciting
agent. Infected trees exhibit a blackening of the flowers, leaves,
and twigs, and the disease finally may involve the entire tree,
causing serious damage and even death. Citrus canker, an Asian
disease of the orange tree and its relatives, is characterized by
corky growths on the fruit, leaves, and twigs. Common scab of
potato, bacterial canker of tomato, angular leaf spot of cotton,
and black rot of crucifers are a few of the bacterial plant diseases
prevalent in the U.S. Crown gall, or plant cancer, which occurs in
a wide range of woody plants and some herbaceous groups, is a
striking example of bacteria-induced disease. (1 Bacteria in
Agriculture

Through the process of nitrogen fixation, bacteria turn nitrogen

in the air into nutrients that crops and other plants need to grow.
Some of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria attach to the roots of plants.
Through the carbon cycle, bacteria produce the carbon dioxide
that plants require for photosynthesis. Bacteria that live in the
stomachs of cud-chewing animals, such as cows and sheep, help
the animals digest grasses.

Bacteria also can be harmful in agriculture because of the major

diseases of farm animals they cause. Many of the bacteria that
cause infectious diseases in farm animals resemble those that
cause similar human diseases. For example, a variant of the
bacterium that causes human tuberculosis causes tuberculosis in
cattle, and it can infect humans through cow’s milk. To prevent
transmission of the disease, milk for human consumption should
be pasteurized (heated at a temperature between 60° and 70°C
(140° and 158°F) for a short time. Pasteurization kills most
bacteria in milk.

Other disease-causing bacteria primarily affect animals other

than humans. For example, the bacterium Brachyspira
hyodysenteria causes a type of diarrhea in pigs that can be
disastrous for pig farmers. Many infectious diseases of farm
animals also affect wild animals, such as deer. Wild animals, in
turn, can infect domestic animals, including cats and dogs.)

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 27

DESTRUCTIVE FUNGI

The majority of plant diseases are incited by fungi. Fungus

diseases have been observed and commented on since ancient
times. Biblical records mention blights and mildews on the cereal
and vine crops of the ancient Hebrews. Fungus diseases were
responsible for several major catastrophes in various parts of the
world. Prominent among these fungal diseases was the late
blight, a disease of the potato, which invaded Europe after 1845
with particularly devastating results in Ireland. Powdery mildew
of the grape, native to America, became established in France
and nearly wrecked the French wine industry. A parasitic root
fungus, Hemileia vastatrix, destroyed the coffee plantations of
Sri Lanka and other Oriental countries. In the United States the
American chestnut, an important timber, nut, and tannin-
producing tree, was subsequently virtually eliminated by an
introduced Asian fungus. More than 1400 species of rust fungi,
all parasitic, and several hundred species of smut fungi occur in
North America. Equally large numbers of fungi in other groups
produce a large array of diseases characterized by leaf spots,
ulcerous lesions, blights, powdery and downy mildews, cankers,
wood rots and stains, root rots, wilts, club root, and various other
symptoms.

VIRAL INFECTIONS

Calico Virus of the Peach The

calico virus of the peach is one of a
number of infectious plant viruses
transmitted by insects. Since the
virus itself is very difficult to treat,
the best method of treatment is to
control the insects that carry the
disease.

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 28

 The viruses cause as wide a range of host reactions as do
the bacteria and the fungi. The number of recognized virus
diseases of plants has increased rapidly in recent years. Typical
symptoms of viral infections include mosaic patterns, yellowing
of foliage, veinclearing, ring spots, stunting and premature
death, malformations, and overgrowth. Under some conditions
the symptoms may be masked. Such virus diseases as peach
yellows, tobacco mosaic, potato-leaf roll, and curly top of beets
have been studied intensively because of heavy losses to U.S.
crops afflicted with these diseases. All economic plants suffer
from one or more of these obscure but potentially dangerous
diseases. Virus diseases are infectious and are transmitted
largely by insects. Control of these insects is the best means of
reducing the disease incidence. Virus infections also may be
transmitted in the process of budding or grafting, by
contamination of the soil, and less commonly by means of seed
or parasitic flowering plants. Among the flowering plants or so-
called higher plants are a few true parasites that cause injury or
death to their hosts. The mistletoes, dodders, and root parasites
of the genera Striga and Orobanche (broomrape) are the more
common of these parasitic plants

NEMATODES

Nematodes, or roundworms, are an important cause of

disease in plants. For many years attention was focused on the
root-knot nematodes, which cause fleshy root knots or galls on
plants. More recent investigations were concerned with other
species, including the stem or bulb nematodes, which live in the
leaves, stems, bulbs, and roots of narcissus, phlox, and many
other plants, and the leaf nematodes, growing in herbaceous
plants including the begonia and chrysanthemum. The golden
nematode of the potato plant and of related plants and the
soybean cyst nematode are recent introductions into the U.S.
that are causing increased concern.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENEMIES

Nonparasitic diseases attributable to adverse environmental

conditions are numerous and include many of economic
importance. Major causes of these diseases are excessively high

Chapter 20 Forests & Cultivation Page 29

 or low temperatures, soil-moisture disturbances, atmospheric
impurities, lightning, and nutritional disorders. Low
temperatures, for example, are responsible for winter injury to
fruit trees and potatoes, and high temperatures produce such
disturbances as water core of apple and heat canker of flax.
Excessive or irregular water supplies cause a variety of troubles,
such as blossom-end rot of tomatoes. Disease-producing
atmospheric impurities include escaping illuminating gas and
smelter fumes; the latter in particular may be responsible for
widespread killing of crops and forests. Lightning frequently
causes injuries to plantings of cotton, bananas, sugarcane,
potatoes, and many other field crops. Excessive soil acidity
adversely affects many plants; on the other hand, high alkalinity
may be deleterious. An excess of nitrogen or any other
substance required for normal growth may cause abnormalities
in plant development. Mineral deficiencies also cause diseases,
and the characteristic symptoms produced by lack of each of
many minerals are well established.

Forest Management Act of 1976. A key provision of the act

reinforces the principle of multiple use of the national forests and
recognizes the need for a sustained yield of timber. Replacing a
much abused 1897 statute, the new law permits clear cutting of
timber but only in accordance with overall land management
planning and under strict guidelines concerning location,
concentration, and age of trees. The law also provides for
congressional oversight of when and how timber harvests may
occur, calls for reforestation programs in harvested areas, and
requires public participation in formulating regulations.

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