Ecology FINAL study guide Flashcards
Why are the products we use so damaging to our environment?
(1) INPUTS: chemicals used making products (dioxin)
b) Water used
c) extraction of VIRGIN materials
d) damage during extraction
(2) OUTPUTS:
waste -> planned obsolescence: stimulating consumer demand by designing products that wear out or become outmoded (out of date) after limited use.”
waste: packaging
b) PLASTICS not recycled
(3) linear economy vs circular
Extraction of Virgin materials (mining, petroleum, plastics)…damaging effects
why are products so damaging-Plastics
- Plastic debris, laced with chemicals and often ingested by marine animals, can injure or poison wildlife.
- Floating plastic waste, which can survive for thousands of years in water, serves as mini transportation devices for invasive species, disrupting habitats.
- Plastic buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater.
Solutions to product manufacturing
- sustainable manufacting - closed loop (collecting materials after use and converting them back into products). reduce issues assoicated with open loop / linear
- biodegradle products - bamboo
- COSTS: subsidize those companies that offering green soltuions (cost of green = cost of poorly designed crap)
- COSTS: environmental cost should be in marketing price
- BY LOCAL
- education: ->
stages of product lifecycle
extraction of raw materials, production, distribution, consumption, and ends with disposal]
Why does it help conservation biologists to understand the whole food web-how does it help them keep it from being destroyed?
they can predict the effects:
o removal of keystone species (as Paine did with starfish, noting)
o introduced species (toxic cane toad)
o extinction of one speicies.
o toxins (bioaccumulation and magnification)
What causes global warming?
• excessive greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by humans. which come primarily from C02 combustion/burning of fossil fuels:
transportation: in cars,
energy: electricity production
products: factories
deforestation - 17%
and nothing to sequester this excessive of carbon
what are some solutions to G.WARMING
• We need to reduce CO2 emissions and other green house gases (CH4, NO2)
o reduce our dependency on fossil fuels & stop burning them in transportation, energy source electricity heating homes, manufacturing, agriculture.
o sequestor the carbon: forests
• Protect and enhance our forests and habitat so they may store (sequestor) CO2
SEE ACTUAL IDEAS for G.warming
Actual Ideas for G.WARMING
energy production - switch renewables improve efficiency: architecture transportation: improve effciency and conservation strategies agriculture manufacturing practices
What can I do slow g.warming
energy - change bulbs incadencent to led, turn off electronics, heating/cooling layers, short showers,
TRANSPORTATION: bike, public trans, shop locally
WASTE: Reduce (fixit tradeit) Reuse Recycle
PLANT TREES
Educate others
What are the effects of consumption
OverFishing: fishing down the web, depleting swordfish, tuna
Overhunting: Sharks, Pheasents, seat turtle | POACHING: exotic animals for meat,furs, ivory: white rhino, m.gorilla, bengal tigers
RAINFORESTS: 33% disappeared, loosing biodiversity
Running out of nonrenewable fossil fuels and causing global warming
WATER: depliction aquafiers and colorado river
DAMS: damaging effects on ecosystem flooding
Fossil Fuel dependency
5) What would have a harder time responding to global warming: endemic species, or invasive species?
Invasive species have common traits which will allow them to respond better to global warming and the associated unpredictable changes brought about in the climate:
1) Generalist -switch food sources
2) R selected: reproduce and disperse helping them to survive
3) Tolerate wide range of temperatures PH SALT/FRESH water
- the introduce specie would crowd out native species
- no natural predators
- coevolution -don’t know how deal with invasive specie
Why do human-caused disturbances have a greater negative effect on ecosystems than natural disturbances?
1) Speed/Scope of the damage by Humans: humans quickly 1) clear cut an entire forest 2) dump vast amount of wastes or 3) pave over entire grassland VS Natural disturbances (storms,floods,fire) usually occur in smaller patches.
2) Evolution: species have evolved with natural disturbances, such as ‘Jack’ pine cones which open in fire. VS Species have not adapted to plastic in oceans OR mercury/lead/arsenic
—- evolutionary TRAPS
3) Duration: human disturbances last much longer & place constant pressure on ecosystems not allowing these systems to restore as they do naturally.
S.E.D.
Why should we try and eat organisms that are lower down on the food chain?
biomagnification: • chemicals (pesticides like DDT banned but still exist) when biologically magnified in food webs, may then be ingested by humans at levels many times greater then found in the environment. For example: DDT or Mecury in water is then taken up by zooplankton->small fish->large predator fish->into our markets
2) More energy: chemical energy stored as nutrients in the bodies and wastes of organisms flows through ecosystems from one trophic (feeding) level to another).
o as energy flows through ecosystems in food chains, and webs, the amount of chemical energy available to organisms at each successive feeding level decreases
3) Better for PLANET: • It takes about 15 pounds of plant protein to produce each pound of animal protein. Over half of all planted land in the US is used for animal feed.
Where is most of the world’s biodiversity?
- Tropical regions, areas that are warm year-round, have the most biodiversity. Generally, the closer a region is to the Equator, the greater the biodiversity.
- warm waters of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans tend to be the most diverse marine environments.- coral reefs.
SUMMARY: rainforests or coral reefs.
factors lead high species diversity - environmental heterogeneity
Tropical rainforests have a number of layers, or strata, which provide habitats. There are the tall emergent layer, canopy (flowers, moss, soil-earthworm, dry), , an understory, and ground-level herbs and shrubs (shawdow moist)
