Midterm 1 Flashcards
Stone Age Hunting
- techniques to kill large amounts of prey (Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump)
- resulted in climate upheaval - moving animals to other climates
Sumer & Mesopotania
Sumer: Nowadays Iraq
- large scale physical ecological manipulation; agriculture, buildings, roads, deforest, stream diversion, cultivation
- plant species around, now diverted, streams die + dry up
- Once very lush, now a desert!
Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
- extreme deforestation, once covered in trees, no trees in 1742
Social-ecological Systems
Human actors (individuals, groups, institutions) act on ecosystems.
Ecosystems act on Humans.
- relationship between us and the earth
- overhunting, deforestation, mining, war, DDT
- Natural disasters, allergies, food + shelter, water cycle, pollinators, soil erosion
Nutrient Cycle
- plants nourish themselves through the soil:
- from nutrients of other plants
- humans/animals knockdown branches to be decomposers
- animal scat/dead animals
Fort MacMurray Wildfire Mitigation Strategy
2017
- clear strategically to protect city and prevent fire spread
- learned from indigenous
- controlled fires, dry areas around them burn to protect from future fires
Nature will do it eventually. Humans can help process through selective logging + strategy burns
Biodiversity
Number and variety of living organisms; refers to diversity within genetics, species, and ecosystems
Living Planet Index
Indicator of the state of the world’s biodiversity
“Tracks the abundance of almost 21,000 populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians around the world” (WWF, 2020)
Biocapacity
The ability of ecosystems to regenerate, measured in global hectares (gha)
Soil Biodiversity
Soil is a living resource, top soil is a limited resource
- soil erosion is the main destructive factor (ground coverage, water relocation, deforestation)
Groundcover
- trees/shrubs in continuous planting bed
- diverse natural irrigation, water runoff enter bed (more room to grow and get water) – requires maintainance
- mowed lawns vs concrete
Ecological Footprint
- measures how fast we consume resources + generate waste (ie. food, energy, building materials, Co2 emissions, etc.)
- compared to how fast nature can absorb our waste + generate new resources
(measured in global hectares (gha)
Ecological deficit/reserve
Countries with more nature (rainforests, etc.) are more able to renew resources + absorb our waste
Earth Overshoot day
How long it would take to consume an earth of resources (ie. 1.75 earths in 2020 = July 19)
Albedo effect
How well a surface reflects solar radiation
- snow is high, reflects a lot of radiation
Bioproductivity
Rate at which organisms absorb energy from sun and convert it into energy to be consumed by others and eventually regenerated into the earth
Japan (Ecological Footprint)
- First adapted ecological footprint (1996)
- national policy (2006): government factors into decisions, businesses encouraged to participate, public awareness
- Kyoto: 2 Earths (Edmonton: 3.2)
Ecuador (Biocapacity)
- most biologically diverse place on Earth
- once known as carbon sink (absorbs alot of CO2), in 2006 - now they are basically even (NET 0)
- government started action to remain in deficit
Threats to Biodiversity
- changes in land use (habitat loss, degradation)
- species overexploitation
- invasive species + disease
- pollution
- climate change
Watersheds
-geographical area that drains into a larger body of water
594 in Canada - 5 Major (Pacific, Arctic, Atlantic, Hudson’s Bay, Gulf of Mexico)
Edmonton - Hudson’s Bay (N. Sask -> H. Bay)
- health of the watershed affects those downstream
Precipitation
Edmonton: Driest 5 years in history in the last 15 years
- most rainfall in June/July
- very dry
- try to get water away and keep it away (bc mould, flooding, etc.)
Fort Saskatchewan & North Battleford
Where we dump out water waste matters. Other places are downstream and rely on the same river for their drinking water
North Battleford - 2001 - 36 dead from parasite - 2016 - oil spill causes boiling notice
System Evolution
- instead Edmonton builds storm drain lakes
(takes up a lot of land though) - keep water away from buildings, slope into drains to be carried away in pipes to be put back into the river
Tre Kronor
- divert 99% waste from landfills (0.4% waste in 2017 in landfills)
- government interventions, population that cares, private corporations participate
- biofuel use (85% vs 10% here)
- accessible waste management and recycling sorting
