Effects of Agricultural Activities on Ecological System

Agricultural activities carried out by farmers have some effects on the ecological system

This agricultural activities and their effects includes;

• Bush burning
• Overgrazing
• Fertilizer Application
• Application of Pesticides or herbicides
• Tillage
• Deforestation
• Bush clearing

Bush Burning: Bush burning involves the setting of fire on the bush to clear out it vegetation.

Effects Of Bush Burning

• It destroys the organic matters in the soil 
• It brings about the growth of different set of plants
• The atmosphere is polluted with smoke
• It kills micro organisms in the soil
• It reduces the wate holding  capacity of the soil 
• It encourages sprouting
• It exposes the soil to erosion and leaching  etc.

• Overgrazing: This is a situation where carrying capacity of a soil is exceeded

Effects Of Overgrazing

• It destroys soil texture
• It exposes soil to erosion
• It brings about the eradication of weeds from soil
• It removes the vegetative covering of soil
• It can expose soil to heat etc

Deforestation

This is the continuous removal of forest trees without replacing them. This may be through bush burning, tree feeling.

Effects of Deforestation

• It may lead to desertification
• It reduces humus content of soil 
• It encourages soil erosion
• It results in loss of soil nutrients
• It hinders micro organisms activities in the soil. etc

Fertilizer Application

This involves the application of specific chemicals into the soil to enhance it fertility

Effects of Fertilizer Application

• It can affect the life of plants and animals
• Application of fertilizer in excess can cause soil acidity
• It reduces the structure of the soil
• It brings about loss of organic matters
• It increases micro organisms population in the soil

Tillage

This is the digging, breaking up of soil structure in preparation for planting crops.

Effects of Tillage

• Tillage leads to poor vegetation
• It encourages leaching
• Tillage exposes soil to erosion
• It enhances the proper aeration of soil
• It exposes soil organisms and which may kill some of them

Bush Clearing

This is when a whole land or vegetation is cleared, leaving the land or vegetation clean

Effects of Bush Clearing

• It leads to reduction of organic matters content of the soil
• It exposes soil to direct sunlight
• It increases soil leaching 

Application Of Pesticides Or Herbicides

Pesticides are chemicals which are used to destroy or kill pests, in other hand, herbicides are chemicals capable of destroying herbaceous plants.

Effects of Pesticides Application

• Pesticides destroys or affects other useful plants and animals
• Excessive use of pesticides may destroys crop plants
• It can cause pollution of the environment
• It may leave undesirable residue in the environment.