. The changing Illinois environment : critical trends : technical report of the Critical Trends Assessment Project. Man; Pollution; Environmental protection; Ecology; Environmental impact analysis. 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 Year Figure 29. Trends in the number of European com borers in Illinois, 1943-1992. Source: Illinois Natural History' Survey. CONCLUSION Agriculture is the most important single industry in Illinois. With over 80% of the land area in farms, agriculture has a pervasive influence on the terrestrial and aquatic environments of the state. Agric
. The changing Illinois environment : critical trends : technical report of the Critical Trends Assessment Project. Man; Pollution; Environmental protection; Ecology; Environmental impact analysis. 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 Year Figure 29. Trends in the number of European com borers in Illinois, 1943-1992. Source: Illinois Natural History' Survey. CONCLUSION Agriculture is the most important single industry in Illinois. With over 80% of the land area in farms, agriculture has a pervasive influence on the terrestrial and aquatic environments of the state. Agriculture and environmental quality have changed dramatically since World War II in conjunction with emerging farming practices and associated technologies. Agricultural practices have led to serious environmental problems, and these problems have generally become worse in recent decades. For example, the use of inorganic fertilizers and herbicides has increased dramatically. The extensive use of inorganic fertilizers has allowed for intensive row crop monocultures that are not efficient in terms of nutrient and energy cycling. Intolerably high soil erosion rates and water quality problems have become widespread where intensive row cropping has encroached on marginally suitable soils, and soils have been highly disturbed during tillage and planting. The expansion of row crop farming has accelerated the loss of wildlife habitat, contributing to a decline in the abundance of most wildlife species and a loss in biodiversity—trends that have become progressively worse since the early 1800s. Also, as agricultural environments have become seriously degraded, movements of soil and chemicals from farmland to. Figure 30. Distribution of gypsy mollis in Illinois. 1992. Values indicate number oj gypsy moths trapped per county. Source: National Agricultural Pest Information System database. USDA-APHIS/PPQ. 83. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may hav
Size: 1247px × 2005px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjecte, booksubjectecology, booksubjectman
