The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.

The cycle is usually thought of as four major reservoirs of carbon interconnected by pathways of exchange. These reservoirs are:

The annual movements of carbon, the carbon exchanges between reservoirs, occur because of various chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes. The ocean contains the largest active pool of carbon near the surface of the Earth, but the deep ocean part of this pool does not rapidly exchange with the atmosphere.

The global carbon budget is the balance of the exchanges (incomes and losses) of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one specific loop (e.g., atmosphere ↔ biosphere) of the carbon cycle. An examination of the carbon budget of a pool or reservoir can provide information about whether the pool or reservoir is functioning as a source or sink for carbon dioxide.

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle that describes the transformations of nitrogen and nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. It is a cycle which includes gaseous components.

Earth's atmosphere is about 78% nitrogen, making it the largest pool of nitrogen. Nitrogen is essential for many biological processes; and is crucial for any life here on Earth. It is in all amino acids, is incorporated into proteins, and is present in the bases that make up nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. In plants, much of the nitrogen is used in chlorophyll molecules which are essential for photosynthesis and further growth.[1]

Processing, or fixation, is necessary to convert gaseous nitrogen into forms usable by living organisms. Some fixation occurs in lightning strikes, but most fixation is done by free-living or symbiotic bacteria. These bacteria have the nitrogenase enzyme that combines gaseous nitrogen with hydrogen to produce ammonia, which is then further converted by the bacteria to make its own organic compounds. Some nitrogen fixing bacteria, such as Rhizobium, live in the root nodules of legumes (such as peas or beans). Here they form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia in exchange for carbohydrates. Nutrient-poor soils can be planted with legumes to enrich them with nitrogen. A few other plants can form such symbioses. Nowadays, a very considerable portion of nitrogen is fixated in ammonia chemical plants.

Other plants get nitrogen from the soil, and by absorption of their roots in the form of either nitrate ions or ammonium ions. All nitrogen obtained by animals can be traced back to the eating of plants at some stage of the food chain.

Photosynthesis uses light energy and carbon dioxide to make triose phosphates (G3P). G3P is generally considered the first end-product of photosynthesis.[citation needed] It can be used as a source of metabolic energy, or combined and rearranged to form monosaccharide or disaccharide sugars, such as glucose or sucrose, respectively, which can be transported to other cells, stored as insoluble polysaccharides such as starch, or converted to structural carbohydrates, such as cellulose or glucans.

A commonly used slightly simplified equation for photosynthesis is:

    6 CO2(g) + 12 H2O(l) + photons → C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g) + 6 H2O(l)
    carbon dioxide + water + light energy → glucose + oxygen + water

The equation is often presented in introductory chemistry texts in an even more simplified form as:[2]

    6 CO2(g) + 6 H2O(l) + photons → C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g)

Photosynthesis occurs in two stages. In the first stage, light-dependent reactions or photosynthetic reactions (also called the Light Reactions) capture the energy of light and use it to make high-energy molecules. During the second stage, the light-independent reactions (also called the Calvin-Benson Cycle, and formerly known as the Dark Reactions) use the high-energy molecules to capture and chemically reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) (also called carbon fixation) to make the precursors of carbohydrates.

The water cycle has no starting or ending point. The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate directly into water vapor. Rising air currents take the vapor up into the atmosphere, along with water from evapotranspiration, which is water transpired from plants and evaporated from the soil. The vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds. Air currents move clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and can accumulate as ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Snowpacks in warmer climates often thaw and melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows overland as snowmelt. Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff, and ground-water seepage, accumulate and are stored as freshwater in lakes. Not all runoff flows into rivers. Much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration. Some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers (saturated subsurface rock), which store huge amounts of freshwater for long periods of time. Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as ground-water discharge, and some ground water finds openings in the land surface and emerges as freshwater springs. Over time, the water continues flowing, some to reenter the ocean, where the water cycle renews itself.

* Precipitation is condensed water vapor that falls to the Earth's surface. Most precipitation occurs as rain, but also includes snow, hail, fog drip, graupel, and sleet.[1] Approximately 505,000 km³ of water fall as precipitation each year, 398,000 km³ of it over the oceans.[2]

* Canopy interception is the precipitation that is intercepted by plant foliage and eventually evaporates back to the atmosphere rather than falling to the ground.

* Runoff includes the variety of ways by which water moves across the land. This includes both surface runoff and channel runoff. As it flows, the water may infiltrate into the ground, evaporate into the air, become stored in lakes or reservoirs, or be extracted for agricultural or other human uses.

* Infiltration is the flow of water from the ground surface into the ground. Once infiltrated, the water becomes soil moisture or groundwater.[3]

* Subsurface Flow is the flow of water underground, in the vadose zone and aquifers. Subsurface water may return to the surface (eg. as a spring or by being pumped) or eventually seep into the oceans. Water returns to the land surface at lower elevation than where it infiltrated, under the force of gravity or gravity induced pressures. Groundwater tends to move slowly, and is replenished slowly, so it can remain in aquifers for thousands of years.

* Evaporation is the transformation of water from liquid to gas phases as it moves from the ground or bodies of water into the overlying atmosphere.[4] The source of energy for evaporation is primarily solar radiation. Evaporation often implicitly includes transpiration from plants, though together they are specifically referred to as evapotranspiration. Total annual evapotranspiration amounts to approximately 505,000 km³ of water, 434,000 km³ of which evaporates from the oceans.[5]

* Sublimation is the state change directly from solid water (snow or ice) to water vapor.[6]

* Advection is the movement of water — in solid, liquid, or vapour states — through the atmosphere. Without advection, water that evaporated over the oceans could not precipitate over land.[7]

* Condensation is the transformation of water vapour to liquid water droplets in the air, producing clouds and fog.[8]

Weather Patterns/Climate

These graphs show the average monthly temperature patterns and precipitation for towns within or near the Westside Resource Conservation District area.

Coalinga Temperature Averages

Coalinga Average Precipitation

Mendota Average Temperatures

Mendota Average Precipitation

Top 5 Crops

Westside Resource Conservation District's Top 5 Crops from Westlands Water District 2006 Annual Report
Crop	Acreage
Cotton	145,727
Tomatoes	85,537
Wheat	48,591
Almonds	48,325
Lettuce	27,316

On-Farm Practices

Drainage Management

Integrated On-Farm Drainage Management

Farm Drainage Management

Minimal Salt Discharge

Zero Salt Discharge

Distillation of Drainage Water

Distillation for dilution of poor quality water and for reducing acreage needed to process drainage water.

link to Forever Water documents in pdf format:

Forever Water Briefing

Forever Water Cost Benefit Analysis

IFDM Briefing January 15, 2009

Conservation Tillage

Conservation tillage systems are methods of soil tillage which leave a minimum of 30% of crop residue on the soil surface or at least 1,000 lb/ac (1,100 kg/ha) of small grain residue on the surface during the critical soil erosion period. This slows water movement, which reduces the amount of soil erosion; it also warms the soil, enabling the next year’s crop to be planted earlier in the spring. Conservation tillage systems also benefit farmers by reducing fuel consumption and soil compaction. By reducing the number of times the farmer travels over the field, farmers realize significant savings in fuel and labor. Conservation tillage was used on about 38%, 109,000,000 acres (440,000 km²), of all US cropland, 293,000,000 acres (1,190,000 km²) planted as of 2004 according to the USDA.

from wikipedia.org, read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_tillage

Conservation Tillage Workgroup

http://groups.ucanr.org/ucct/

Pollinators

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Pollinators)

A pollinator is the biotic agent (vector) that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain. Though the terms are sometimes confused, a pollinator is different from a pollenizer, which is a plant that is a source of pollen for the pollination process.

Blue Orchard Mason Bee
Honey bee

Bees, butterflies and other insects

Pollinator.org

Osmia.com

Santa Clara Valley Beekeepers Guild

Xerces Society especially read Managing Habitat for Pollinators

Beediverse

Article on pollinator shortage (external link)

Integrated Pest Management

In agriculture, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a pest control strategy that uses an array of complementary methods: mechanical devices, physical devices, genetic, biological, legal, cultural management, and chemical management. These methods are done in three stages: prevention, observation, and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides.

from wikipedia.org, read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_pest_management

IPM of North America, Inc.