FNR 125 Cumulative Final Exam

Human Population of the world

8.2 billion

USA Population

345 million

Number of people added annually to world's population

70.2 million

Number of known species

1.8 million

Number of unknown species

5-10 million

Number of known species in one person

150

Annual extinctions worldwide

17,500 in the rain forest alone

Ecologist

Scientist who impartially examines the interactions among living things and the environment

Environmental Scientist

Scientist who's studies the environment and our role in it - the people's role

Environmentalist

A person working in the social or political arena to reduce negative human environmental impacts

95% threshold

Always possible the scientific observations arise by random chance

Why is it difficult to apply the scientific method to environmental issues?

No hypothesis is ever proved

Federal branches of the US Government

Executive, legislative, judicial

State branches of the US government

Executive, legislative, judicial

Local branches of the US government

County, city/town

Legislative branch

House, Senate, Congress, Make Laws and Acts

Executive branch

President, agencies make "rules" that determine details of how laws are enforced

Judicial branch

Rules on whether agencies' actions are legal, laws are constitutional, tries violators, Supreme Court

Goal of economists

The study of system to increase efficiency of resource use

Ideal Free Markets

Prices (value) set by supply and demand. Uses individual transactions

Government Regulation

Prices (value) set by the government, determined by the government setting the price

Externalities

cost or benefit that affects a party

Public perception makes political reality

Public doesn't usually feel urgency about addressing longer term and global problems

Incremental Decision Making

We don't solve a problem all at once we solve it a little bit at a time

Fragmentation of Environmental Policy making

Many issues are under the responsibility of many agencies

Value of healthy ecosystems worldwide

$125-$145 trillion per year

In what areas of the world do you see the largest recent population growth?

Asia

Human population Growth curve

J curve

10% rule

Energy flows are inefficient, only 10% of energy in one trophic level is usable by the next higher level

Primary succession

Begins with bare rock

Secondary Succesion

Begins with soil, some plants/animals from earlier stage

Selective Cut

Just remove individual trees or small patches

Clear Cut

when you remove all the trees

Shelter wood cut

some trees left behind to provide shade

Even aged forest

clearcut, shelterwood, or seed tree harvest

Uneven aged forest

Selective cut harvest

demographic stochasticity

random changes in characterstics of small populations

Enviromntal stochasticity

random changes in local environment affecting small population

4 general causes of extinction and population sizes

Loss of genetic variation, demographic stochasticity, environmental stochasticity, ecological catastrophes

What is first management action to be taken for each cause of extinction?

If your population is very small (under 500) then management should increase population size. If your population is larger, then management should make multiple populations

Heterozygosity

Measure of how many genes are in Aa condition

Inbreeding

mating with close relatives

Founder effects

creation of a new population with only a few individuals

Bottlenecks

reducing a population to only a few members

1966 Endangered Species Act

authorized creation of a list, but without strong protection

1973 Endangered Species Act

requires all federal agencies and departments to do: all method sand procedures which are necessary to bring any endangered or threatened species to the point at which this act is no longer necessary

States with the most endangered species

Hawaii, California, Florida, and Alabama

Stratosphere

Where jets fly

Troposphere

Air we breathe, up to 5-10 miles high

Atmospheric Composition

Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide, Ozone, Water vapor

Chronic exposure to pollutants projected to cause _______ prematures deaths every year by 2050

3.6 million

1963 Clean Air Act

Authorized research into monitoring and controlling air pollutio

1970 amendments to clean air act

EPA established NAAQ, State implementation plans, new source performance standards, national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants

1990 Amendments to Clean Air Act

Further strengthened the law, addressed the acid rain, ozone depletion, and toxic air pollution

Oligotrophic

Clear water, low biological productivity

Eurotrophic

Rich in organic materials and organisms

Eutrophication

Natural sedimentation and nutrient influx from dreams, lakes can fill in, become marshes

1972 Water Pollution Control Act

Clean Water act, goal was to make USA water swimmable and fishable. Controls what goes into lakes, rivers, national pollution discharge elimination system - permits for what is dumped into surface water, and disclosure of what is being dumped

1974 Safe Drinking Water Act

Set maximum allowable levels of pollutants in drinking water

High porosity

Poorly packed clay particles which do not fit tightly, rounded, well sorted grains do not fit tightly

Low porosity

Crystals in grant which fit tightly

High permeability

granite with may connected fractures, loosely cemented gravel

Low permeability

compacted clay (Shale), porous volcanic rock with separate pores

Unconfined aquifer

open to Earth's surface and to infilitration

Confined aquifer

overlain by less permeable materials

Perched aquifer

underlain by low-permeability unit

Artesian aquifer

water rises in pipe (maybe to surface)

River is lower than water table

gains water

River is higher than water table

lose water

Only ____ of global groundwater supply is modern

6%

Effects of pumping groundwater

cone of depression

Saltwater intrusion pumping drops water table

1 foot table = 40 foot rise in saltwater boundary!

Two effects of over pumping

internal encroachment, upward movement

Subsidence from fluid withdrawal

water table drops, aquifer compacts, land subsidence, earth fissures

Pacific Ocean schematic: convergent - ocean island arc

crust destroyed, creates a subduction zone

Pacific Ocean schematic: divergent - mid ocean ridge

crust create

Pacific Ocean schematic - convergent - continent

crust destroyed, subduction zone

Transorm faults

relative motion

Fracture zones

no relative motion

Transform boundaries

plates move horizontally past one another, fracture zone -no relative motion

Rock

Naturally-formed, consolidated material composed of grains of one or more minerals

Mineral

solid, natural, inorganic, ordered internal structure, specific chemical composition

Crystalline structure

orderly arrangement of atoms in repeating pattern, influences external form

Most abundant element in Earth's crust

oxygen, then silicon, then aluminum

Earthquake

Sudden release of energy stored in rocks, applied stress exceeds strength of rock, requires brittle conditions, usually occurs along fualts

Fault

any fracture in the Earth

Where are earthquakes most likely?

Near plate boundaries, messy collision zones, subduction zones, continental rifts

Flood probability

1/(recurrence interval)

100 year flood

1% probability

10 year flood

10% probability

Subsurface mining

dig passageways into the Earth to reach the orebody. Example: gold mines, Saltines, copper mines

Surface Mining

remove overburden and expose ore to surface. Example: mountaintop removal mining, open pit mines, quarries

Environmental impact of ground subsidence

subsurface mining only, collapse of overburden into mine shaft, directs water into mine

I=PAT

Population, Affluence, Technology

Population Stabilization in Brazil

economic growth, female empowerment, urbanization, widespread popularity of television with the desirable images of modern life

Food security: 4 pillars

Availability, Access, Stability (Resilience), Utilization

5 levels of food security

individual, household, regional, national, global

Habitable Land use

50% agriculture, 37% forests, 11% shrub, 1% urban, 1% freshwater

Soil

an unconsolidated, porous geologic material, comprised of inorganic and organic chemicals residing at and below the earth's surface, modified by physical, chemical, and biological agents

Soil functions

water purification and soil contamination reduction, climate regulations, nutrient cycling, habitat for organisms, flood regulation, source of pharmaceuticals and medicines, foundation for human infrastructure, provision of construction materials, cultural heritage, provision of food fiber and fuel, carbon sequestration