ESCI Exam 1

help me not fail pleasseeee

Why is it important to consider hierarchy?

One cannot exist without the other

Issues with Hurricane Katrina

Proper scales weren’t considered

Delta

Landmass covered by sediments building up at river overflow

Storm Pulse Attention

Reduced wind speeds by 25%

Who made the tragedy of the commons?

Garrett Hardin

Tragedy of the Commons

Freedom in the community brings tragedy to all

Solutions to the tragedy

Economic, moral, population control, legislation, privitization

What did Hardin say about solutions

There is no technical solutions ( energy v. dissipation) and spreading the problem only creates further problem

Ecological Economics

Purification of air and water, Migration of floods and droughts, renewal of soil, pollination of crops

Embodied Energy

Value is a function of total energy used to bind and maintain a process

Rate of Growth

r= b - d

Environmental Impact

Population x resource use

Despite potential for exponetial increase, why do most populations remain stable?

Density dependent and independent factors

K=

Carrying capacity

Carrying Capacity

Number of individuals in a space that can be indefinitely contained

Why is maximum K not alwyas optimum K?

• Water scarcity

• 1.2 billion lack clean water

• poor nutrition from lack of food

Demographic Transition

Model of population growth based on historical, social, and economic development

4 phases of Demographic Transition

• high birth rate, high death rate, stable population

• High birth rate, low death rate, population increases

• tech developments, birth rate falls, population increases

• High tech, low birthrate, low death rate, stable population

Problems with Demographic transition

• Resources no longer abundant

• Human population grows faster

• resource use gows even faster