1. Land Degradation – Key Components
Learning Intentions:
Explore the key processes and causes of erosion and land degradation.
Know some key examples causing land degradation in Australia.
Critically think about images and scenarios presented and link key causes of land degradation together.

2. Three Key Components to Land Degradation
Water, wind and weather
Animals and plants
People and man-made issues

3. Land Degradation: Loss of Soil
Weathering – the process of breaking down of rocks and minerals
Erosion – the process defining the transport (movement) of the smaller parts of the rocks and minerals at some point after the weathering has occurred
Transport – the way that small pieces of rocks and minerals by natural causes (suspension by in air or water, in a solution, tumbling along a surface, etc.)

4. Weathering: Why?

5. Erosion: Causes?

6. Transport: How?

7. Introduced/Invasive Species
Can be a plant (flora) or an animal (fauna).

8. Introduced/Invasive Species
In partners talk about:
How/why can these be negative?
How/why can these be positive?

9. Introduced/Invasive Species
Negative
Animals
No natural predators so population increases dramatically
May be dominant species and kill native plants/animals
May eat a lot of vegetation and leave ground bare
Soil/rock may not be able to deal with different type of foot pad (hoof vs. paw)
Plants
Takes too much of certain minerals out of soil causing a shift in what can survive
Decomposition of plants waste may add things to soil that affect overall balance and thus cause a shift in what can survive there
Both
May carry disease which affects native plants/animals
Overall: can put the ecosystem around them out of balance and thus create an unsustainable environment.
Positive
May be used to balance existing issue and not become an issue on its own.

10. Lack of Vegetation
What likely caused the lack of vegetation seen in these pictures?

11. Other Man-Made Reasons
Lack of Management Strategy – not keeping animals out of fragile areas, not rotating crops, etc.
Over Fertilizing – putting too many chemicals onto fields which may then leach into waterways/change natural balance

12. Solutions
With a partner use a mind-map to brainstorm any ways you can think of to stop/slow down any of the soil/land degradation issues we have talked about today. Then add to your mind-map any issues that might by caused by your solution.