Agriculture

In class, Ms J told us that we could compare the different cultivations we learnt and post them on our blogs. There are 4 types of cultivativations and they are:

1. Wet rice cultivation - the growing of rice crops in flooded fields
2. Plantation agriculture - commercial farming involving one ot two types of crops for sale
3. Shifting cultivation - making temporary clearings of sites within forests to grow food
4. High-tech farming - the growing of crops or animal produce using modern technology

We can compare these 4 cultivation by three main components, the purpose, the inputs and the outputs. Let us first compare them by the purpose of growing these cultivations.

Wet rice cultivation - For substinence and also commercial farming.
Plantation agriculture - For commercial farming
Shifting cultivation - For substinence
High-tech farming - Commercial farming

( Commercial farming is mass produce and the purpose of it is to cater to thr public and not grown for survival while substinence farming is for survival. ) As you can see from above, high-tech farming, wet rice cultivation and the plantation agriculture come under commercial farming so the amount of crops yielded must be higher than the rest. Shifting cultivation and once again wet rice cultivation are also classified under substinence farming so the amount of crops yielded should be lesser. If ou have noticed, wet rice cultivation comes under both categories. This is because this type of farming was used to be grown for survival but over the years, the demand for rice has grown and thus some wet rice cultivations have been turned to commercial farming to meet the needs of the people.

Inputs
Inputs are what has been invested to grow the crops in the different types of cultivations, or also what is needed to grow these cultivations. These inputs can be furhur broken down into 4 components,
Land size - the size of land needed
Level of technology - how modern the technology is
Capital inputs - the amount of money required
labour inputs - the amount of labour required

Wet rice cultivation
Land size: Smaller land area needed compared to the rest.
Level of technology: Low amount of technology and simple tools used.
Capital inputs: The capital input for commercial farming is higher than for substinence farming
Labour inputs: High amount of labour input.

Plantation agriculture
Land size: Large land size
Level of technology: High level of technology due to use of pesticides and fertilizers
Capital inputs: High amount of capital input because of the need for supporting infrastructure.
Labour inputs: High amout of labour.

Shifting cultivation
Land size : Large amount needed as the people need to move from one plot to another.
Level of technology: Low level of technology, only simple tools are used.
Capital input: Low level as it is only for substinence
Labour input: High for clearing of land, but low for the harvesting and planting.

High-tech farming
Land size: Small land area needed.
Level of technology: High level of technology used.
Capital input: High capital input for buying machinery and fertilizers.
Labour input: Small amount of labour needed but the workers need to be skilled in the job.

As you can see, the most modern type of farming would be high-tech farming while the lowest would be the shifting cultivation. This can also tell you about the countries which have these types of farming. For example, countries with high-tech farming would most probably be developed countries while those with shifting cultivations might be less developed countries.

Outputs
The outputs are what is the amount of result from all the farming.

Wet rice cultivation - high output as it is a type of commercial farming
Plantation agriculture - high oput, but usually of only one crop
Shifting cultivation - low output as it is only for substinence
High-tech farming - high level of output.

As you can see, all the types of farming vary in all aspects of their outputs, inpunts and the purpose of their agriculture. They are important as they cater for mans needs interms of food or for raw materials so we should place them of high importance.

Linking back to topographical maps

Through learning about populations, we went back to learning how to recognise the different kinds of settlements on the topographical map. So, our last year knowledge does come in handy this year. To summarise up the lesson:
Nucleated settlements: Commanly found in places with industries, offices, community centers, buildings... It is like a town or city.
Linear settlements: Placed along main routes of transports
Dispersed settlements: It can be found on flat ground or steep ground. The people who stays in them are usually farmers.

Okay, so here is the big question: Serangoon Gardens is located in Serangoon. It has housing estates and shops and offices. It even have a community club but it does not have a community center. In my opinion, I think that it is a linear settlement as the houses are located along a main route of transportation- the road. However, my partner has classified it as a nucleated settlement due to its various facilities. So, what do you think it is?

Birth Rate

This week, we were taught on high and low birth rates. High birth rates result from a lack of education which leads to lack of contraception and family planning skills and knowledge. A lack of education also results in people not being skilled and therefore people, especially women, cannot hold proper jobs. Another cause of high birth rates would be traditions in LDC's. In places like China, a preference for sons reults in women giving birth until a son is born and this might sometimes produce a lot of females in the process. In some rural areas, farming is a source of income for many families and having many children can help lessen the work load of a farmer and his family.

Moving on to high birth rates, they are usually present in developed countries (DC'S). The cause of low birth rates would be due to the the fact that women tend to be more educated in these countries and would allow them to have careers and jobs. Women would prefer to focus on work first and as a result, there would be delayed marriages which result in less children as women are less fertile as they grow older.


In an article we came across, ( http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30365&Cr=population&Cr1=mdg ) it said that high birth rates hamper development in less developed countries. However, low birth rates result in less people supporting the older generation, so is a higher or lower birth rate better? Or is there a 'perfect' birth rate?

Population

This week's question was what factors influence the popularity density of population distribution. We were shown the pictures of a rural and urban settlement. We were told that the population size in the urban settlement was bigger and it was more dense compared to the rural settlement. But that makes us think that if the population size in an urban settlement is bigger than that of the population size in a rural settlement, then why does developing countries have a bigger population that developed countries? Does that mean that developing countries actually have more urban settlements compared to developed countries which have lesser urban settlements? Does it also mean that USUALLY bigger countries. such as China, are developing countries and they have a bigger population while a small country, such as Singapore which is an urban settlement, are developed countries and have a smaller population as China have more cities that are urban settlements? 

Natural Vegetation

Ms J brought us to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to do some field work. As this was our first time going outside the school as a class, we were very excited. However, the aim of the trip was to find out more about a tropical rainforest so we had to focus on it. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is a tropical rainforest, unlike Temperate coniferous rainforest or the temperate deciduous rainforests, there were many varieties and layers of plants! What's more, tropical rainforests have a rather surprising thick amount of leaf litter.  Here is a question we have in our head: Is there soil far far below the leaf litter?

In a temperate coniferous rainforest, there is only one type of tree, the christmas tree. Guess what is it shape? Yes, it is a cone-shaped tree. That is why the forest is called a coniferous tree! As there are four seasons, the trees must adapt to the climate. So how do they adapt to the cold weather in winter? Unlike deciduous forests, they do not drop their leaves. Instead, they have flexible branches that can bend when snow falls on them. This will cause the snow to fall off the branches.What's more, the trees have needle-like leaves so that there will be minimum water loss as during winter, water will freesh into either snow or ice. Then, the big question on our minds is: How does their cone-shape help?

Weather and Climate

We are back from the long June Holidays and we learnt about the weather and climate on the first Geography lesson of Term 3.The difference between weather and climate is thatclimate talks about long term changes while weather talks about short term changes.
Elements of Weather- Temperature
There are two factors that affect the temperature and they are the location and the rotation of the Earth. An important thing to note is 'where you are located on Earth will affect how you experience weather and climate'.The part of the Earth that are between the latitude of 10 degrees North and 10 degrees South (including the Equator, which have a latitude of 0 degrees) is known as Tropical Equatorial and it receives the most amount of sunlight. It receives more heat than other parts of the Earth as it is nearer to the Sun and the heat rays travel less therefore the heat is more intense. The part of the Earth that is have a latitude of 23.5 degrees North and South is known as the Tropical Monsoon. The part that is 60 degrees North and South is known as Temperate region, where the countries located there will experience the four seasons.Finally, the North and South poles are known as Polar.
Tropical regions rain more than temperate regions.

Why do the radiation from the ground affect the temperature that is taken from a thermometer?

Volcanoes

It's already term 2 and we learnt about volcanoes. We(Esther and Jessica) were told to present about the factors and conditions affecting a volcano eruption.

 

What is a volcano?

A volcano is an opening in the Earth's crust which magma and gases can escape through it when pressure in the mantle forces magma to the surface.



What is magma?

Magma is also known as molten mantle.Molten mantle is caused when the temperature beneath the Earth's crust is so great that it causes parts of the mantle to melt.



Basic structure of the volcano

A volcano consists of a vent, crater, pipe and cone. The vent is an opening in the Earth's surface while the pipe is a channel which allows the magma to rise to the top of the volcano. The crater is a bowl-shaped opening on top of the volcano and the cone refers to the shape of the volcano.

Where can volcanoes be found?

Volcanoes can be found on the "Ring of Fire".

Active volcanoes:

A volcano which have erupted from time to time and is likely to do so again in the future.

Dormant volcanoes:

A volcano which is presently inactive but may erupt again.

Extinct volcanoes:

A volcano which scientists consider unlikely to erupt again.

Acknowledgements:

http://www.google.com/