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78 Cards in this Set
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ecological footprint |
measure of human's demand on earth's ecosystems |
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fossil fuels and growth of human population |
finite resource/ source of power - needed due to industrial methods of survivial. population increase causes trouble |
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anthropogenic world |
socio-economic decisions human impact on planet and ecosystems |
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microbial world |
evolutionary laws, chemical organisms |
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metazoan world |
evolutionary laws continued, all animals except sponges |
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malthusian theory |
premature death must visit humans so that we dont run out of resources |
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demographic transition |
change from high birth and death rates to low ones as a country developes from preindustrial to industrial |
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interpretation of phylogenetic tree |
time and genetic composition as x and y. speciation with a common ancestor. stats seletions in species, variable selection in species, extinctoin |
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phylogenetic tree and tree of european languages |
cultural view of the develop and downfall of different species of languages just like the development and downfall of different species, links genetics to culture implies phenotypic qualities |
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characteristic of mammals |
endothermic vertebrates, carying body hair, sweat glands, mamary glans, sebaceous glands, different teeth, birth to live young |
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primates |
no definte mating season, five fingers with opposable thumbs and great toes, front orbital skull, some with plantigrade locomotion |
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humans |
plantigrade locomotion, receded canines, smaller skulls and muscles, non opposabele great toes |
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family hominoidea |
superfamily for great apes, chimps, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans, humans and chimps share 97% dna |
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time scale for human evolution |
mammals around 256 ma primate - 85-65 ma hominoidea - 15 ma homosapiens - 2.5 ma modern humans - 200,000 years ago |
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exponential growth equation |
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logistic growth curve |
S-shaped (sigmoidal) curve that can be used to model functions that increase gradually at first, more rapidly in the middle growth period, and slowly at the end, leveling off at a maximum value after some period of time. |
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carrying capacity |
Set number based on the resources available for the max population of a species in a certain area |
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Molecular Clock read in Wikipedia |
technique in molecular evolution that uses fossil constraints and rates of molecular change to deduce the time in geologic history when two species or other taxa diverged. It is used to estimate the time of occurrence of events called speciation or radiation. The molecular data used for such calculations are usually nucleotide sequences for DNA or amino acid sequences for proteins. It is sometimes called a gene clock or evolutionary clock. |
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survival curves |
survival curve is defined as the probability of surviving in a given length of time while considering time in many small intervals |
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fertility |
actual rate of production of young |
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mortality rate |
actual rate of loss by death |
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birth rate |
# of births/years x 1000 |
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steady state population growth |
fertility + mortality |
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renewable resources |
tied to sunlight |
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Lucretius “The Nature of Things” science as philosophy |
Lucretius presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, "chance," and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities |
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Marcus Byrne “Dance of the Dung Beetle” |
“We organic beings who call ourselves humans are made of the same stuff as the stars” Last January a team of Swedish and South African researchers reported that African dung beetles, Scarabaeus satyrus, can use the Milky Way as their guide. Scarabs were sacred to the ancient Egyptians for their ability to create life from waste. They were a symbol of the eternal renewal of life from death, not unlike the waxing and the waning of the stars themselves. |
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Externality |
indirect costeffect not counted the costs |
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Adam Smith |
• Exemptionalist • Free market ideas: "Wealth of Nations" • Father of the free market • Resource management |
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Robert Malthus |
Economist• Theorized the population should not outgrow what it can produce• If we do not change our ways to counteract growth, problems will occur |
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Throw away economy vs services economy |
one-way economy depends on cheap energyeconomy that throws materials away instead of reusing or recycling them, or otherwise uses materials inefficiently. |
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“The Pope and the Planet” article |
insist that climate change is the fault of man; call for rapid conversion of our economies from coal, oil, and gas to renewable energy; and remind us that the first victims of the environmental crisis are the poor |
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“The Man for Mars” article |
elon musk spacex tesla hyperloop solarcity |
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The Periodic Table and the elements of life |
The most common elements in a cell are: Hydrogen (H) 59% Oxygen (O) 24% Carbon (C) 11% Nitrogen (N) 4% Others such as phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) 2% combined |
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What is sustainability? Provide at least one specific definition. |
The ability of the earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely. |
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What is an ecological footprint? |
the environmental impact of a person or population. It is the measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. |
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Why is it larger for an American than a Bangladeshi? |
they dont have acces to cars etc |
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What is a significant way for a USC student to decrease their footprint? |
vegan |
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What is a typical “number of earths” that these various footprint models spit out for the current human situation? (This varies from web site to web site, but typically it is greater than 1 but less than 10). |
the typical number of earths for a current human situation is 5.3 planets, indicating we are using 30% more of the planet's resources than are available son a sustainable level |
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What is “Natural Capital”? What is the difference between natural resources and natural services? Provide examples of each. |
The natural resources and services that keep us (and other species) alive and support out economies. the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future. Natural resources are things such as air, water, soil, land etc., Natural Services are things such as air purification, water purification, water storage, etc. |
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What is a nutrient? |
elements and compounds required for survival that are consumed by organisms. |
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why do nutrients have cycles? |
- because it connects the effects of agriculture and other human activities with other systems on the planet.- the movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter. |
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What is high net productivity? |
ecosystems whose plants rapidly covert solar energy to biomass (algal beds, rainforests, swamps). |
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example of ecosystem with high and low net productivity |
- Rainforests have high primary productivity, but the nutrients are in plants, not the soil. - Rain leaches minerals and nutrients deeper into the soil, reducing their accessibility to roots - Temperate grasslands have lower rainfall and less nutrient leaching |
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The atmosphere is the most important reservoir of nitrogen, but plants can't use it directly. What kind of creatures convert nitrogen into forms plants can use? |
Nitrogen fixation: nitrogen gas is combined (fixed) with hydrogen by nitrogen-fixing bacteria to become ammonium (which can be used by plants) |
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Humans recently discovered how to do this in factories. What are the consequences of that discovery? |
Humans have dramatically changed the nitrogen cycle, they are fixing as much nitrogen as nature does through the Haber-Bosch process: synthetic production of fertilizers by combing nitrogen and hydrogen to synthesize ammonia- effect on greenhouse effect (increased emissions of nitrogen-containing greenhouse gases-calcium and potassium in soil washed out by fertilizers-acidfied water and soils-moved more nitrogen into plants and terrestrial systems-reduced biodiversity of plants adapted to low-nitrogen soils- changed estuaries and coastal ecosystems and fisheries |
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Where is a big dead zone in the coastal US? |
Phytoplankton blooms off the Louisiana coast located in the Gulf of Mexico: it is a region of water so depleted of oxygen that kills or drives away marine organisms. |
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Where do the dead zone nutrients come from? |
Farms with dense populations of livestock concentrated in one place |
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Why would planting a buffer of vegetation (such as a “riparian zone”) between a farm and a river help mitigate runoff from farms into rivers? |
their role in soil conservation, their habitat biodiversity, and the influence they have on fauna and aquatic ecosystems, including grassland, woodland, wetland or even non-vegetative.riparian zones are instrumental in water quality improvement for both surface runoff and water flowing into streams through subsurface or groundwater flow. |
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Why is the ratio of phosphorus to nitrogen so important? Under what conditions will adding phosphorus to a lake result in a big algae bloom? |
The main reason that the ration is probably important is that one of those two elements are often the limiting factor in how much algae can grow. When phosphorous is the limiting factor or its ration is less than the ideal ratio to nitrogen adding it to a lake will increase the amount of algae. Basically when there is a deficiency of phosphorous the algae will respond to increases by multiplying sometimes to the point that it will suffocate the lake in what is called eutrophication. That means that there is so much organic matter that the bacteria and other life will use up all the oxygen. |
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Easter Island. Where is it? |
a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. close to caldera, chile. |
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What does it look like today? (forested or barren? Densely or sparsely populated?). |
-has abundant resources and the population has grown exponentially (overfishing, forest, etc.) -no forest-population has peaked around 1550 |
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Who are the Polynesians and where else do they live? |
sea people, they were very good at finding islands and communication, the Polynesians that got to the farthest corners of the island were really pushing isolation |
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What are the principal reasons for the decline of people on the island listed by Diamond? |
Over-utilization of natural capital esp. deforestation, loss of soil, probably overfishing, warfare, resources devoted to religious ritual instead of sustaining basic needs, feudal society with competing clans, root cause overpopulation of a very isolated islando The island had to make choices, how were they going to keep their society to survive, the expressed their rivalry by investing the resources they had left to build the statues, they needed to attract followers were there was a lot of conflict at this time, the status of these rivalry plans were depicted by these statues |
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Greenland. Who were the inhabitants? |
a western civilization inhabited by vikings |
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Why do I call them a European Society? |
Being a European society they depended on other Europeans for other types of natural resources, such as iron, they were reliant on trade like nails, buckets, utensils, and knives, but they had some commodities that Europeans wanted such as fur and ivory from tusks - they traded with Europeans-They relied on their European cultural traditions until the very end-After black plague was over, people from Europe went back to Greenland to these settlements and small cities that were written down in history to try and find them but no one was there except indigenous peoples |
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When was the society founded and when did it die out? |
The society was founded, flourished (for about 500 years), and died out in 1600 AD |
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What are the causes for their decline |
casue for decline directly linked to the climate (a cooling period, rather than overpopulation)- bad use of natural capital (had good fishing but chose to focus on cows which was not right for the climate)-environmental degradation problems with deforestation, soil erosion (agricultural mismanagement) |
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what are the similarities and differences between easter and greenland in their declines? |
what are the similarities and differences between easter and greenland in their declines? |
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Did all humans die on Greenland? Who survived and how did their choices help ensure their survival? |
-The Inuit were the indigenous people who survived.-traded fur and ivory from tusks with other european civilizations |
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What advantages does the Nile provide in terms of natural capital? Why did I say it is a more “forgiving” environment than Easter Island? |
-Like the islanders they put a great amount of energy into building monuments and pyramids, but had resources coming in from the river-Soil renewal, storage, waste treatment were provided by the river |
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why is the Nile a more forgiving environment than easter island? |
the Egyptian civilization did not end due to external factors - invasion- but rather eternal collapse because the Nile was a desirable place. |
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where is Tikopia? |
located in the Soloman Islands, it is another polynesian island |
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what problems face the civilization of tikopia? |
-population is about 1,200 distributed among more than 20 villages mostly along the coast -The tiny island has supported a high- density population of a thousand or so for over 3000 years -The island is isolated from other islands and must be self sustaining in spite of high population. -Dry seasons and frequent cyclones (hurricanes) are part of its climate. |
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what dud Tikopians do in order to survive? |
- strict population control (celibacy, warfare, sea -voyaging, children born out of wedlock killed) -with 4 clans 2 clans decided to kill others, war broke out with 1 clan slaughtered and other defeated and left for sea, 2 clans were able to prosper |
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Why is the lagoon important, and how has tikopians dependence on the lagoon led to calamities in the past? |
- it is centrally located on the island and was great for fishing. -Lagoon is separated from the ocean from a spit of land and coral reef which created an environment where shell fish would grow and had an agreement among the other clans with how to deal with this - The lagoon got closed off completely, fresh water made the saltiness of the water a lot lower which killed the shell fish |
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why was getting rid of pigs a good idea in tikopia? |
-the inhabitants could eat the food they the pigs hogging, as well as the fish. - Pigs compete with humans for food crops & enhance all problems associated with erosion (esp. uncontrolled grazing) |
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Water |
along with soil, the big factor in successful agriculture. |
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Freshwater |
relatively pure, with few dissolved salts –Only 25% of Earth’s water is fresh –Most freshwater is tied up in glaciers and ice caps |
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Groundwater |
The big advantages of groundwater – large amount (20% of all freshwater) clean, easy to get, naturally occurs hundreds of miles from the recharge zone (what is this?). Stable year-round source of water. fueled agriculturevery clean - because of natural service by organism in soilnon-seasonal -location - if aquifer is right underneath Downside - replaced slowly; overdrafts in many places. Is this so in the US? non renewablebig 20% - but supply to aquifer is very small - take water out faster than it’s coming in |
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Where is the Ogalla Aquifer? |
Underlies the Great Plains of the U.S. |
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Why is it so important? |
Its water has allowed farmers to create the most bountiful grain-producing region in the world recharge zone is the rocky mountains |
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Is it threatened? |
depletions associated with population growth and agriculture |
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What is an artesian well? |
An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a wellto rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. |
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Irrigation |
artificially providing water to support agriculture (unproductive regions become farmland). |
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Maya – When did they die out? What are the five reasons why the Maya died out according to Diamond? |
droughts were historically associated with periods of upheaval, war and societal collapse. The worst drought in 7000 y over a 150 y period centered around 900 A.D. is associated with this collapse. •Maya were unable to adapt to their changing physical environment –Lack of technology to get more water, and to use it more efficiently –Warfare a strong part of their culture – wasting scarce resources –During times of stress, resources directed towards religious ritual and construction, as in Easter Island 3. •Porous limestone bedrock means little or no standing surface water – all percolates into bedrock. In Yucatan, water table close to surface – cenotes are a source of water. •Conflicts, war, disease, led to a complete unraveling of the society. |
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Why did the civilizations in the south succumb before those in the north? |
water table a lot deeper•In Guatemala, land higher; water table too deep to access with Mayan technology. Cities there went first |
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Why is groundwater central to this story? |
cenotes - sinkholes- aquaifer dissolves limestone rock creating a cavern, land collapses into sinkhole |
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Chaco – why is climate, rather than conquest by an invading society, the most likely factor in their demise? |
Unsustainable agriculture |
