Final Exam - exam 1

Question 1

The “green fire” Leopold refers to in “Thinking Like a Mountain” of Sand County Almanac, is

Answer 1

the light of a dying wolf’s eyes

Question 2

This “original penguin,” was a species of Atlantic bird that was slaughtered to extinction by 1844.

Answer 2

The Great Auk

Question 3

Conservation biology focuses on the study and preservation of ____________ and _____ _________ is considered by most as its historical founder in the 1940s.

Answer 3

biodiversity

Aldo Leopold

Question 4

Conservation biology as an academic discipline was formally created in the year ______ when ___________________________.

Answer 4

1978

when scientists became alarmed about worldwide species decline

Question 5

The writings of St. Basil, the story of Noah’s ark, and the actions of John Muir in Yosemite valley, all indicate this kind of conservation attitude:

Answer 5

stewardship/caretaker

Question 6

Through his work in the young field of paleontology, including examination of mastodon molars and other fossils, this scientist essentially claimed that many animals were not lost, but simply no longer roamed the earth, and hence established the idea of extinction in the scientific community.

Answer 6

Georges Cuvier

Question 7

This US president had a keen interest in paleontology and the incognito, later sending out an expedition he hoped might find this “lost” species.

Answer 7

Thomas Jefferson

Question 8

The location of Buddhist monasteries and the range of a large, threatened carnivore that inhabits Tibet overlap considerably. Given that Buddhism advocates love, respect, and compassion for all living things, leaders and followers of this tradition could play important role in keeping which of the following species from going extinct?

Answer 8

snow leopard

Question 9

This conservation biology equivalent of the medical Hippocratic oath which espouses “First do no harm” is the:

Answer 9

precautionary principle

Question 10

This intellectual movement popularized by Thoreau and Emerson believed that one needed to become immersed in and experience the purifying effects of nature to understand God.

Answer 10

transcendentalism

Question 11

Scientific arguments that established clear links between sprayed industrial toxins, birds, and human health first occurred and became well published during the early 1960s (and that would a decade later provide one argument for creating the Environmental Protection Agency) where championed by this person:

Answer 11

Rachel Carson

Question 12

John Muir

Answer 12

s

Question 13

William Perkins Marsh

Answer 13

k

Question 14

Gifford Pinchot

Answer 14

f

Question 15

Alice Hamilton

Answer 15

h

Question 16

The Norse-Teutonic word wilderness means:

Answer 16

place of wild/unruly beasts

Question 17

In general, what is true of EAster (Asian) philosophies and religions (ie Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism)

Answer 17

humans are part of nature

wilderness and nature are places of worship

Question 18

Leopold spent much of his early forestry career, met his wife, and learned a great deal about not only ecology, but the relations between people and land, in this US state, that now has the Gila Wilderness, the first wilderness area.

Answer 18

New Mexico

Question 19

Aldo Leopold was killed by

Answer 19

fighting a neighbor’s bush fire

Question 20

Laudato Si or “On care for our common home” contains language that references the biodiversity crisis and calls on humans to change their ways to address this problem. The document and its author are:

Answer 20

Encyclical, Pope Francis

Question 21

Perhaps the best example of conservation philosophy codified into law is Leopold’s biocentrism, now represented by the:

Answer 21

Endangered Species Act

Question 22

Name the ideology paired with each person:
Muir
Darwin
Thoreau
Hamilton

Answer 22

Muir - preservationism
Darwin - natural selection
Thoreau - transcendentalism
Hamilton - industrial toxicology

Question 23

Biodiversity benefits provided are usually divided into _______ values, or the right to exist independent of human influence or values, and _______ values, or economic benefits such as goods, services, and information.

Answer 23

intrinsic

instrumental

Question 24

Because of the urgency of its mission, conservation biology is referred to as a _____ discipline.

Answer 24

crisis

Question 25

This field or movement seeks to empower underrepresented, relatively powerless, and impoverished peoples to improve and protect their lives by caring for their environment.

Answer 25

environmental justice

Question 26

Cuvier relied on this technique to develop his ideas on extinction:

Answer 26

stratigraphy

Question 27

When the actual costs of otherwise prohibitively expensive natural resource extraction are partially paid for by the government, this is referred to as _______ subsidies.

Answer 27

perverse

Question 28

The value of biodiversity expressed in dollar amounts is referred to as __________.

Answer 28

monetization

Question 29

In the essay “Thinking Like a Mountain,” Leopold eloquently illustrates the interconnectedness of species within an ecosystem, stating that without wolves, the mountain lives in fear of ______.

Answer 29

deer

Question 30

America’s identity crisis, and the response to it, was characterized by ___________ and ___________.

Answer 30

envy of castles and nobility of Europe

embrace of woodlands and “unspoiled nature” as uniquely American and virtuous

Question 31

When the future value of resources are undervalued, as typically happens in development projects, this process is known as:

Answer 31

discounting

Question 32

To term “Summum bonum” means:

Answer 32

greatest good

Question 33

Humans are superior to and dominant over other life forms and therefore can do whatever they want with nature. This statement would be described as:

Answer 33

anthropocentric

Question 34

Summary positions about the relationship between humans and nature were produced by “The Big 5 Religions” in 1986 in what is known as:

Answer 34

the Assisi Declarations

Question 35

Costs that are not borne by participants in an economic transaction can be transferred to gneeral public. These costs are referred to as:

Answer 35

externality

Question 36

An example of a typical cost-benefit analysis conducted by US federal agencies is:

Answer 36

environmental impact assessment

Question 37

The myth of perpetual economic growth is often called:

Answer 37

cornucopianism

Question 38

Willingness to pay is a form of:

Answer 38

contigent valuation

Question 39

A great example of nonconsumptive use values are:

Answer 39

ecological services

Question 40

A use-value that considers the future use or value of a resource is:

Answer 40

option value

Question 41

In considering ecological economics, why can GDP be a poor economic indicator of a nation’s wealth and stability? Are there other available measures (metrics) we might use to better assess the “wealth” of countries?

Question 42

Explain the evolution of our concept of extinction using the words:

Mastodon, Cuvier, catastophism, especes purdues (lost species), stratigraphy

Answer 42

Our concept of extinction was majorly formed by French paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Cuvier studied fossils of the Mastodon when they were brought to France. He determined that the bones were unlike those of the modern ice elephants and with no other evidence of a live Mastodon, he determined it was an espies Purdues (lost species). This concept was new and slightly outrageous at the time so Cuvier began to search through quarries in France for other unknown fossils. As he found fossils and others were brought to him, he realized that fossils closer to the surface were more similar to modern animals than those farther down. Thus bringing in the concept of stratigraphy. Cuvier also pondered how these animals disappeared. Knowing that forest fires or floods didn’t wipe out entire species, he determined that a very large catastrophe had to have occurred. Thus, he concluded that catastrophism was the cause of extinction.

Question 43

What good is it (biodiversity)? Aldo Leopold called that phrase the “last word of ignorance”. Other than material goods and services, list and explain other major ethical arguments for preserving biodiversity.