Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Skills Worksheet
Active Reading
Section: How We Use Land
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
We use land for many purposes, including farming, mining,
building cities and highways, and recreation. Land cover is what
you find on a patch of land, and it often depends on how the land
is used. For example, land cover might be a forest, a field of grain,
or a parking lot. There are different types of land cover and
different human uses for each cover type.
Land that is covered mainly with buildings and roads is called
urban land. For the purposes of determining land use and residence
trends, the U.S. Census Bureau defines an urban area as an area
that contains 2,500 or more people and usually has a governing
body, such as a city council. Any population not classified a
surban is considered rural. Land that contains relatively few people
and large areas of open space are rural areas. Most land provides
one or more resources that humans consume. These resources
include wood in forests, crops in farmland, and mineral resources.
IDENTIFYING MAIN IDEAS
One reading skill is the ability to identify the main idea of a passage. The main
idea is the main focus or key idea. Frequently, a main idea is accompanied by
supporting information that offers detailed facts about the main idea.
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
1. What is land cover?
_______________________________________________________________
2. List three examples of land cover.
_______________________________________________________________
3. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, how many people must an urban area
contain?
_______________________________________________________________
4. What else must an urban area have?
_______________________________________________________________
5. Name three consumable resources that land may provide.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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Holt Environmental Science
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Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Active Reading continued
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
6. Rural areas contain large areas of______________________ and
______________________people.
7. Urban areas are covered with ,______________________
and______________________ and contain people.
RECOGNIZING SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
One reading skill is the ability to recognize similarities and differences between
two phrases, ideas, or things. This is sometimes known as comparing and
contrasting.
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
8. How is a population determined to be rural instead of urban?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
9. How does land use differ between urban and rural populations?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
RECOGNIZING CAUSE AND EFFECT
One reading skill is the ability to recognize cause and effect.
In the space provided, write the letter of the description that best matches the term
or phrase.
a. land use
b. land cover
c. land resource
_____ 10. field of grain
_____ 15. recreation
_____ 11. mining
_____ 16. forest
_____ 12. wood
_____ 17. minerals
_____ 13. farming
_____ 18. food crop
_____ 14. parking lot
_____ 19. building cities and
highways
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Holt Environmental Science
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Land
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
13. Accept any reasonable answer. Sample
answer: Disagree; although reforestation
has been known to occur on its own in
some cases, such as when unproductive
farmland has been abandoned, the speed
Concept Review
at which land is being developed and
logged suggests that deliberate human
MATCHING MULTIPLE CHOICE
intervention is needed to slow or reverse
1. g
9. a
the environmental damage caused by the
2. e
10. c
loss of so many trees.
3. f
11. d
14. Accept any thoughtful answer. Sample
4. a
12. a
answer: Agree; many urban areas were
5. d
13. d
developed around the use of automobiles.
6. b
14. a
Many urban areas were built with out
7. c
15. b
regard to future traffic congestion. Better
8. h
16. d
urban land-use plans include more public
17. c
transportation.
18. a
Answer Key
REFINING CONCEPTS
Critical Thinking
15. Sample answer: Selective cutting of trees,
while more expensive to do, is far less
destructive to forest ecosystems.
16. Sample answer: Rural areas suppot urban
areas. Resources such as clean water,
clean air, food, wood products, and scenic
beauty are provided by rural areas.
17. Accept any reasonable answer. Possible
answers include in frastructure problems
such as constructing new highways;
widening existing roads; developing new
shopping centers, houses, schools; or
building anew airport. Overcrowding
could also have an impact on power
supply, waste treatment, fire and police
protection schools, libraries, hospitals, and
the water supply.
ANALOGIES
1.
2.
3.
4.
d
a
c
d
5.
6.
7.
8.
b
b
c
c
INTERPRETING OBSERVATIONS
9. Sample answer: The lower temperature may
indicate a rural area or open space. The
higher temperature may have been recorded
in an area with asphalt or similar surfaces
that absorb and reradiate heat.
10. Plant more vegetation. Plants lower the
temperature of the surrounding area.
11. Yes; plants absorb carbon dioxide, produce
oxygen, and filter pollutants from the
surrounding air and water. Plants also add
scenic beauty.
Active Reading
SECTION: HOW WE USE LAND
AGREE OR DISAGREE
1.
2.
3.
4.
12. Accept any thoughtful answer. Sample
answer: Agree; although pre-serving tracts
of land decreases the amount of land that
can be developed, people like to live and
work in areas that include open space.
Therefore, developers can attract more
people to buy homes by developing land in
environmentally sustain able ways. Open
space also reduces drainage problems by
absorbing and slowly releasing large
quantities of precipitation.
what you find on a patch of land
a forest, a field of grain, and a parking lot
2,500 or more
a governing body
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Holt Environmental Science
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Land
Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
5. wood, crops, and minerals
9. The author compares the amount of wood
6. large areas of open space; few
the average person in the United States
7. buildings; roads; 2,500 or more
uses to each person cutting down a 30 m8. If it is not classified as urban, it is rural.
tall tree every year.
9. Urban areas use land for buildings and
10. In both, trees are removed from an area of
roads. In rural areas, land is open and may
land.
provide resources for human
11. In clear-cutting, all the trees are removed;
consumption.
in selective cutting, only middle-aged or
10. b
mature trees are used.
11. a
12. Clear-cutting—Advantages: It is less
12. c
expensive than selective cutting;
13. a
Disadvantages: It destroys wildlife
14. b
habitats and causes soil erosion. Selective
15. a
cutting—Advantages: It is less destructive
16. b
than clear-cutting; Disadvantages: It is
17. c
more expensive.
18. c
Map Skills
19. a
1. marshes and swamps
SECTION: URBAN LAND USE
2. crops and grazing, pastures and woods
1. “Environmental conditions in the center of
3. urban areas, crops and grazing
a city are different from those of the
4. grassland or pastures and woods
surrounding countryside.”
5. Answers may vary but will likely include
2. The author is using Atlanta as an example
the suggestions that forests provided
of a city that is experiencing the heatlumber for construction, while land
island effect.
suitable for crops and grazing made
3. may; the last (sentence 11)
agriculture near urban dwellers possible.
4. It is a statement of probability; in other
words, trees and reflective rooftops may
Quiz
moderate the heat - island effect, but they
may not.
SECTION: HOW WE USE LAND
5. a heat island
Matching
6. anything that is built within or below a
1. h
city
2. c
7. The temperature is often higher in a city
3. g
than it is in the surrounding countryside.
4. e
8. It might rain more often.
5. d
9. a heat island
6. a
10. Hot air rises over a city, cools, and
7. f
produces rain clouds.
8. b
11. plant trees and install rooftops that do not
retain heat
Multiple Choice
9. a
10. d
SECTION: LAND MANAGEMENT
ANDCONSERVATION
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
SECTION: URBAN LAND USE
c
b
c
d
b
c
e
a
Matching Multiple Choice
1. b
7. d
2. d
8. d
3. f
9. d
4. e
10. a
5. a
6. c
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Land