lecture 01: environmental sciences discipline

Question 1

maximum sustainable yield

Answer 1

the max level at which a natural resource can keep being exploited without long-term depletion

Question 2

gifford pinchot

Answer 2

utilitarian conservation, using up natural resources for the greater good

Question 3

john muir

Answer 3

preservationist view of conservation, leaving things as they are and protecting the environment

Question 4

aldo leopold

Answer 4

preservationist, created the first wilderness rea

Question 5

land ethic

Answer 5

land and people intertwined, trophic cascades

Question 6

rachel carson

Answer 6

DDT and chemical effects

Question 7

david schindler

Answer 7

limnologist, experiment on lakes and the addition of phosphorus

Question 8

william f lloyd

Answer 8

introduced concept of overgrazing of livestock on a shared common pasture (commons)

Question 9

tragedy of the commons

Answer 9

over-exploited areas and the short-term self interest of individuals against the common good

Question 10

management of the commons

Answer 10

regulations and privitization

Question 11

garret harden

Answer 11

extended the concept of the commons to sharing any other limited public resource

Question 12

paul ehrlich

Answer 12

population bomb, predicted overpopulation and thought war by 1980. advocate for immediate actions to limit population growth.

Question 13

simon-ehrlich wager

Answer 13

ehrlich waged simon that if resources are scarce, they will increase in cost. simon believed that costs will go down due to innovation and that the limiting resource is people (more people is better)

Question 14

who won the simon-ehrlich wager?

Answer 14

simon won

Question 15

thomas malthus

Answer 15

population growth is potentially exponential, while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, eventually triggering a population die off

Question 16

normal borlaug

Answer 16

cross-breeding new strains of crops for high yield

Question 17

fritz haber

Answer 17

developed a method to convert atmospheric nitrogen (n2) to ammonia (nh3)

Question 18

solution/delaying population die off?

Answer 18

mixing new breeds with nh3 fertilizers exploded agricultural yield

Question 19

gaylord nelson

Answer 19

environmental movement in 60s/70s led to a large number of policy changes and legislation in north america and europe

Question 20

acid rain issue

Answer 20

rain + snow = slightly acidic (5.6 pH)
SO2 (sulfur dioxide) + NO (nitrogen oxides) from the burning of fossils fuels led to acidic precipitation (~4.3 pH)
basic pH would buffer high acidity in the west compared to growing acidity when it precipitates in the west

Question 21

jared diamond

Answer 21

helped build discipline of conservation biology in the 80s, added climate change later on

Question 22

evil quartet

Answer 22

overexploitation
introduced/non-native species
habitat loss (destruction)
chains of linked extinctions

Question 23

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Answer 23

carbon, flourine, chlorine
chemicals synthesized in the 1920s for refrigerants, solvents, and aerosol sprays

Question 24

james lovelock

Answer 24

discovered that the ‘haze’ in the air around cities was the ozone and that CFCs led to the destruction of the atmospheric ozone layer

Question 25

how do CFCs destroy the ozone layer

Answer 25

chlorine atoms react to UV (break off) and destroy ozone molecules

Question 26

james hansen

Answer 26

published paper showing recent climate change using global meteorological stations