Global Environment Test 2

Front 1

1. The three types of plant life form

Back 1

1) Tree – single, tall woody stem

2) Shrub – multiple, short, woody stems (in places w/less water/sunlight)

3) Herbaceous – Non-woody stem (even less sunlight/water

Front 2

2. Different vegetation types

Back 2

1) Forest – trees w/ a contiguous (touching) canopy

2) Woodland – trees w/ a non-contiguous (touching) canopy

3) Savanna – herbaceous w/ scattered trees or shrubs

4) Shrubland – shrub-dominated

5) Grassland – all herbaceous plants

Front 3

3. The 5 environmental controls on vegetation. The most important of these on a global scale.

Back 3

1) Climate•

2) Topography•

3) Soil•

4) Biota•

5) Disturbance

All affect the amount of resources (light energy, water, nutrients) available to a plant. On a global scale, CLIMATE is the primary control on the dominant form of vegetation

Front 4

4. The two types of leaf, in terms of their persistence and shape. An example species of each of these trees.

Back 4

• Deciduous and Evergreen

1) Black Spruce – needleleaf evergreen – carbon gain year round•

2) Sugar Maple – broadleaf deciduous – carbon gain in the summer months

Front 5

5. The ways in which topography can affect vegetation. Examples of natural and anthropogenic disturbances.

Back 5

• Topography:

o Affects delivery of groundwater to the plant

o Controls the microclimate experienced by the plant (slope aspect)

o Groundwater drainage creates a riparian (wetlands, on the banks of a river) environment in the chaparral of California

• Natural Disturbances:

o Fire

o Wind

o Floods

o Landslides

o Insect outbreaks

• Anthropogenic Disturbances:

o Clearing of lando Invasive insect outbreak

Front 6

6. Changing vegetation patterns as you travel North down the Nile, and the driving forces behind these.

Back 6

• Down Africa’s Nile River (0-30 degrees latitude)• Variation caused by Hadley Cell and ITCZ• Hadley Cell (a large-scale atmospheric convection cell in which air rises at the equator and sinks at medium latitudes)•

1) Tropical Wet climate (0°- 10° latitude) Tropical Broadleaf Evergreen Forest (Rainforest)Forest: lots of energy and water to support biomass Evergreen: no reason NOT to be, no stressful season Broadleaf: more efficient shape

2) Tropical Wet and Dry climate (10-15° latitude) Tropical Savanna and GrasslandClimate: lack of moisture in the dry season Fire: High fire frequency favors herbaceous veg. Soils: Dry season and clayey soils = “hard-pan”

3) Sub-tropical desert climate (15- 30° latitude) Subtropical desert biomeSparse shrubs with droughtcoping characteristics Succulents (e.g. cacti) Sclerophyllous-leaved shrubs Ephemeral herbaceous plants

Front 7

7. Changing vegetation patterns as you travel from West (California) to East (New Jersey) across the United States.

Back 7

• West to East Coast

• Variation caused by gradients of precipitation•

1) Mediterranean climate Sclerophyll biomeSclerophyll: thick, waxy evergreen leaves reduce water loss during dry summer Forest, woodland, or shrubs depending on rainfall amount and fire frequency Chaparral: dominated by manzanita and scrub oak•

2) Highland climatesBiome depends on elevation Going higher in elevation is similar to traveling to a higher latitude•

3) Mid-latitude desert and steppe climatesRain shadow of Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mtns. Very little rain throughout the year Xerophytic shrubs and short grasses

Front 8

8. Changing vegetation patterns as you move North from New Jersey into Canada.

Back 8

• North from New Jersey (40 - 80 ° latitude) Variation caused by daylength and sun angle•

1) Humid continental climate (35-45° latitude) Broadleaf Deciduous Forest Deciduous: lose leaves in stressful winter season Exceptions Broadleaf evergreens (e.g. Rhododendron) Needleleaf evergreens (e.g. pines on sandy soils)•

2) Severe continental climate (45- 60° latitude) Needleleaf evergreen (boreal) forest Evergreen: durable leaves for long, stressful winter Exceptions Some hardy deciduous trees Lots of mosses, lichen, herbaceous plants•

3) Polar climate (> 60° latitude) Tundra Biome Low-lying woody perennials and herbaceous plants covered by snow in winter slow growth low productivity

Front 9

9. The amount of the Earth’s Net Primary Productivity that human activity consumes, and the amount of the total ice-free land surface devoted to human activities.

Back 9

• Humans directly consume, almost 25% of the planetary primary productivity

• Human land-uses occupy almost 75% of the ice-free land surface.

Front 10

The name of the failed settlement in the Amazon. The tropical rainforest product that this settlement was based around producing.

Back 10

• Fordlandia – failed attempt to create city in Amazon•

The settlement was based around producing rubber

Front 11

11. The approximate amount of the Amazon that has been cleared. The reductions of Brazilian Amazonian deforestation that has occurred in Indigenous Reserves, Parks, “Sustainable Use” and “Not protected” areas.

Back 11

• 15 percent of the Amazon has been cleared

• Indigenous Reserves – 31 percent reduced deforestation

• Parks – 57 percent reduced deforestation

• Sustainable Use – 14 percent reduced deforestation

• Not Protected – 0 percent reduced deforestation

Front 12

The country in SE Asia with the largest area of tropical rainforest. The country who has increased its forest coverage by 39% since 1990.

Back 12

• Indonesia has the largest area of tropical rainforest

• Vietnam reforestation efforts have not only stopped the decline in forest but have advanced forest cover by 39 percent since 1990.

Front 13

.The founder of the Sierra Club, and a major gurehead in the birth of the United States National Park system.

Back 13

• Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892

o Wanted nature preserved for its beauty, its aesthetic value

• Pinchot – led the division of foresty: the environment as a resource to be managed for maximum economic value

• Teddy Roosevelt:

• President Woodrow Wilson creates the Nation Parks Service in 1916

Front 14

14.The amount of Americans that visited national parks in 2015, and the most popular national park.

Back 14

• 307 million visits in 2015

• Most Popular – Great Smoky Mountains NP – 10 million + visitors

Front 15

15.The authors of the books “Silent Spring” and “The Population Bomb”

Back 15

• Rachel Carson wrote “Silent Spring”

o Wrote about a mosquito killer, didn’t break down in the environment (DDT)animals were dying after ingesting pesticides

• Paul Ehrlich wrote “The Population Bomb”

o Population explosion - death and not enough food

Front 16

16.The timeline of Love Canal

Back 16

• In the 1890s; attempt to build a canal between Lake Ontario and Niagara River

• A settlement was built, then in 1940s the area became used as a waste dump

• Until 1953, 21,000 tons of chemical waste dumped here

• 1980s, most of community had been evacuated

Front 17

17.The relationship between the writing of Thomas Malthus and the The denition of a Malthusian catastrophe. The reasons why a Malthusian catastrophe was predicted to occur.

Back 17

• His essay on the “Principle of Population” remains influential Was the theory behind Ehrlich’s ‘BOMB’ It has an intrinsic logic and persuasive qualityPeople are bound my natural laws, specifically populationPopulation could grow unchecked with resource abundanceFamine was the ultimate mechanism by which nature would gain revenge• Malthusian catastrophe: is a prediction of a forced return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth has outpaced agricultural production

Front 18

18.The impacts of invasive species, specifically the zebra mussel, the Nile perch, bass in Gatun Lake and a specific strain of cholera.

Back 18

• Zebra Mussel – native to the Caspian and Black Seas arrived in Lake St. Clair in the ballast (heavy material) water of a transatlantic freighter in 1988 and within 10 years spread to all of the five neighboring Great Lakes. The mussels form massive colonies and clog underwater structures, such as power station outlets, and have out-competed and greatly reduced the population of native mussels.

• Nile Perch – was introduced to Lake Victoria in 1954 to improve fishing and has contributed to the extinction of more than 200 local species, which were relied on by local fishers

o Fish began to eat all the other fish species in Lake Victoria.

o Not many people like to each percho Changed the ecology of Lake Victoria• Bass in Gatun Lake, Panama – has reduced the number of other fish that feed on mosquito larvae, damaging local efforts to control malaria

• Specific strain of cholera (Vibrio cholera) – previously reported only in Bangladesh apparently arrived via ballast water in Peru in 1991, killing more than 10,000 people over the following three years

Front 19

The reasons, both mathematical and biological, why Paul Ehrlich thought population an unsolvable problem.

Back 19

• Math – you cant maximize two things in an equation

• Biology – you can’t maximize population and individual calorie intake – you have to choose

Front 20

The examples of a ‘tragedy of the commons’ type situation given in class

Back 20

• Tragedy of the Commons – a dilemma with no technical solution

• Example: Tic-Tac-Toe: once all participants know the permutations it is an unwinnable, unsolvable problem

Front 21

The solution that Hardin offered to solve the ‘tragedy of the commons’

Back 21

• We shouldn’t create medicines – just let the people die naturally

• We have to do what we can to protect these resources, and to do that we need to get rid of he Commons. To avoid tradgedy.

• Privitize all land – then the people will take care of it

Front 22

The name of the Nobel prize winning economist who argued against the Tragedy of the Commons thesis

Back 22

• Elinor Ostrom won Nobel Economics prize in 2009 for showing this precise process mathematically – people do not always act in their narrow self-interest

Front 23

There will be several questions asked about this reading, so learn the associated table well. It has been placed in the supplementary readings - Exam 2 folder. Know the three different types of sustainability identied in class and discussed in the table well. Know how they relate to debates surrounding sustainable development

Back 23

• Three different types of sustainability:

• 1) Ecological Sustainability (environmental)– protect nature, educate people

• 2) Sustainable Development (Social) – empower people, develop institutionso Focus on “meeting the needs of present generations without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs”o

• 3) Sustainable Growth – (economic) develop markets and internalize externalities• The UN attempts to strengthen all 3 pillars, but due to its consensual decision making processand small budget has mior impact

• UN focuses mostly on economic pillar, since economic growth is what most of its members want most, especially developing nations

• Seeing the overall system this way makes it clear that environmental sustainability must have the highest priority, because the lower the carrying capacity of the environment, the lower the common good delivered by the social system and the less output the economic system can produce.

• Animal Rights:•

1) providing better feed helps reduce greenhouse gases emissions and increase cows’ milk •

2) promotes good public health and improve protection against health threats•

3) achieving higher welfare while maintaining a high level of profitability for the farmers, through the definition of specific action plans for each farm

• Soil erosion:

• 1) An important component of environmentally sustainable farmland is the protection of soil from erosion, which has traditionally been accomplished through conservation farming methods, which have been joined more and more by organic farming methods, both of which are effective in stopping soil erosiono Because of the interdependent nature of sustainable practices, these indicators may also have economic and social/cultural aspects

• 2) Conservation farming methods generally refer to methods that protect soils from erosion, such as no-till farmingo t 60 percent of this eroded soil “ends up in rivers, streams and lakes, making waterways more prone to flooding and to contamination from soil's fertilizers and pesticides,” a major issue in protecting the health of Maryland’s many waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.

• 3) Soil erosion also has a high economic impact, costing the U.S. an estimated $37.6 billion each year in productivity losses.

• Preservation of wilderness areas:

Front 24

24.Know the demographic transition model well. Especially the birthrate and death rate, the balance between them, and how this changes as societies pass through varying levels of economic development.

Back 24

• Most countries in the world have been through some kind of demographic transition

• This has been associated with the spread of industrial production, industrialized agriculture, urbanization, increased education, increased access to healthcare, social security, changing cultural practices

• Examples of change: Japan, Ghana, Kenya

• Phase one: Preindustrial Societies: High death rates/ high birth rates

• Phase two: start to reach a modern society – rapid fall in death rates

• Phase three: historically, birth rates have begun to fall, but at a later date than death rates

• Phase four: Death rates and birth rates broadly equalize, at a much lower level than previously. However, total population number is much high than previously

• Phase five: some countries have entered this phase

• Poorest have highest total fertility rate

• Richest have lowest fertility rate

Front 25

25.The assumptions that are present in Malthusian thinking about how people are affected by natural laws of population growth and fall.

Back 25

• Malthus – British political economist lived from 1766-1834

• People are bound by natural laws, specifically population

• Population could grow unchecked with resource abundance

• Famine was the ultimate mechanism by which nature would gain revenge

• Humanity is hardwired to keep breeding. Famine will keep the balance intact is social measure to control the population fail

• People were forced to innovate and create agriculture to feed the growing population

Front 26

26.The arguments made by Boserup and others against Malthusian thinking.

Back 26

• Arguments made by Boserup – took this approach to agriculture in the developing world, and showed how increased population pressure encouraged agricultural intensification and innovation

• Human innovation, driven by the increasing demand for things, as the motor of social and environmental transformation

• Too many people caused environmental degradation

• Arguing against views like this, they show how agricultural productivity has improved (like Boserup) but also how environmental protection has improved, because these increasingly scarce resources becoming more valuable

Front 27

27.Study the population pyramids for Ghana and Kenya. Understand what the changing shape of the pyramid over time indicates.

Back 27

• Ghana: people were living longer; the highest population was in the teens to early 20s

• Kenya: Same effects as Ghana (birth rates decreased and more people were living to 80+

Front 28

28.The relationship between poverty, education level, and rural/urban location, and the number of children had by women.

Back 28

• Poverty: highest total fertility rate

• Education level: Fertility rate decreases the higher the level of education

• Urban lower fertility rate compared to rural, higher fertility rate

Front 29

29.The fertility rate in Africa in the middle of the 20th century, the present day, and the predictions for the end of the 21st century

Back 29

• In Africa, by the middle of the 20th century, women had an average of 6.6 births

• By the end of the century Africa’s fertility rate is estimated to be 2.16, just above the world average of 1.99

Front 30

30.The difference between ecocentric and technocentric ways of thinking, and their strong and weak versions

Back 30

• Ecocentric – Protect the Earth• Mild ecocentrism – how can we live more sustainably – small scale• Radical ecocentrism – let nature be, protect it, don’t let people there – humans are negatively affecting environment. Non-humans have right• Technocentric – human activity with the planet are the human’s ways of driving human development• Mild technocentrism – can adjust to environmental factors without affecting living standards• Radical technocentrism – technology and human ingenuity solve problems to improve human development.