Test 2 Slide Questions Flashcards
The first wave (18th–19th century)
promoted settlement of the western
regions and encouraged the extraction of natural resources.
Second Wave In the late 1800s,
policy began to shift toward conservation and preservation ethics.
o In 1872, Yellowstone was designated as the first national park.
o In 1891, forest reserves were created to prevent overharvesting.
o In 1903, the first wildlife refuge was created.
In 1962, Rachel Carson
published Silent Spring, informing the public of the ecological and health impacts of industrial chemicals like D D T.
Third wave the 20th century,
soil conservation efforts following the Dust Bowl. industrialization
improved economic conditions but increased air and water pollution.
Legal scholar Joseph Sax
developed the public trust doctrine,
holding that natural resources should be held in trust and
protected by the government.
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson
founded Earth Day in 1970,
further galvanizing support for new environmental policy.
Command-and-control
is an approach where the regulating agency (such as the E P
A) prohibits certain actions or sets limits, with punishment for violations.
This approach has produced most of the positive environmental changes in the
United States since the 1960s and 1970s.
An alternative to command and
control is
to use financial incentives to
encourage private companies to
change, or to alter market dynamics.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA
Was the first statute passed in the
the modern area of environmental law
NEPA requires
an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a recommendation
or report on proposals for legislation and other Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment
also created the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
What circumstances require an EIS to be prepared?
o When a federal agency is dealing with legislative recommendations or major
federal actions
o If the action significantly affects the human environment
o Indirect actions – must consider whether an action could exist without federal support
Contents of an EIS (CEQ regulations)
o Need and purpose of the action
o Description and analysis of alternatives
o Alternative of no action must be included
o Description of the affected environment
o Assessment of the environmental consequences of all alternatives
o Mitigation options must be discussed
Sustainable development
is a form of economic progress that
maintains resources for the future.
The United Nations defines sustainable development as development that
“…meets the needs of the present without sacrificing
the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.”
Weak sustainability:
Built/human capital can substitute for natural capital as long as future generation are just as well off
Human population before and after industrial revolution
it was flat rate then boom Industrial Revolution. The human population did not reach 1 billion until after 1800. A billion people are currently
being added about every 12 years.
Strong sustainability:
Future generations must have the same amount of natural capital
Replacement fertility
is the TFR that keeps the size of a population
stable. For humans, this is 2.1.
Thomas Malthus
argued that the number of people would eventually outgrow the available food supply.
Total fertility rate (TFR)
is the average number of children born per woman
during her lifetime.
The industrialization
of agriculture has
boosted worldwide production of food
and fiber immensely but has also brought
increased pollution and resource
depletion.
IPAT model
represents how our total impact (I) on the
environment results from the interaction of population (P), affluence (A), and technology (T).
traditional agriculture
the work of cultivating, harvesting, and distributing crops was performed by human and animal muscle power.
Industrial agriculture
introduced large-scale mechanization and fossil fuel
consumption into agriculture.
o Higher rates of irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and chemical pesticides
o Greater prevalence of monocultures, where farmers grow vast areas of single crops in orderly rows
irrigation.
The artificial provision of water beyond what is received by precipitation is
Irrigation is necessary
with water-intensive crops (like rice) and
in areas with dry climates.
o Irrigation is the largest use of water by humans, making up 70% of all fresh water withdrawn.
Green Revolution
Beginning in 1940, the Green Revolution
introduced new technology, crop varieties,
and farming practices to the developing
world.
o Began with Norman Borlaug, a Nobel
Prize–winning scientist who
introduced new strains of wheat to
Mexico, India, and Pakistan
The Green Revolution helped to
increase yields and reduce
starvation, but has also degraded
soil, water supplies, and pollinators.
Sustainable agriculture
maintains healthy soil, clean water, pollinators, and
other vital resources.
o The overall approach is to mimic the way natural ecosystems function.
Waterlogging
occurs when irrigation oversaturates the soil to the
point where water drowns plant roots, depriving them of gases.
Salinization
is the buildup of salts in surface soil layers as a result of
irrigation.
Plants only use about 40% of the water applied by
irrigation on average.
Drip irrigation can also reduce water use
Pesticides
include synthetic chemicals that kill insects (insecticides),
plants (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides).
o Nearly 535 million kilograms of ingredients from pesticides are applied in the
United States each year.
pests evolve resistance to them
Chemical pesticides tend to become less effective over time as
Pesticides also kill
non-target organisms, including predators and parasites of pests and pollinators.
Fertilizers
are substances that contain essential nutrients for plant
growth.
Inorganic fertilizers
are mined or synthetically manufactured.
Organic fertilizers
are made of the remains or wastes from
organisms, including manure, crop residue, charcoal, fresh vegetation, and compost.
Physical weathering
results from wind, rain, freezing, and thawing.
Chemical weathering
occurs as water or gases chemically alter rock.
Biological weathering
involves living things, such as lichens producing
acid or tree roots rubbing against rock.
Partially decomposed organic matter is called and is very productive for plant life.
humus
Erosion
is the removal of material from one place and its transport to another by wind or water.
People make land more vulnerable to erosion in three ways:
o Overcultivating fields through poor planning or excessive tilling
(plowing).
o Grazing rangeland with more livestock than it can support.
o Clearing forests on steep slopes.
Erosion and deposition are natural processes,
but are occurring at
accelerated rates due to agriculture.
o This removes topsoil at faster rates, quickly depleting soil of nutrients
and organic matter.
Drylands are prone to desertification,
a land degradation where more
than 10% of productivity is lost.
o Wind and water erosion are the biggest causes.
Areas that are windy, are sloped
have intense precipitation, or have sparse
vegetative cover are the most at risk of erosion.
Proponents of GM crops argue they can:
o Enhance food security and reduce poverty.
o Alleviate pressure to clear forests and grasslands.
o Conserve water by reducing the need for irrigation.
o Improve nutrition with crops that contain key nutrients (such as golden rice and vitamin A).
o Reduce pesticide use.
cons:
o Ecologically, scientists are concerned that GMOs will interbreed with
their wild relatives, transferring new genes into the wild population.
o A big part of the public debate is that every person relies on food for survival and genetic modification of rice, corn, soy, and wheat essentially forces people to consume biotech products.
o Another concern is that a few large companies such as Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, DuPont, and BASF control GM technology.
o These companies patent their seeds, meaning that if a farmer’s crops are pollinated by a neighbor’s GM crops, he/she may be sued for harvesting and replanting his own seeds.
Biodiversity
is the variety of life across all levels of biological
organization (genes through ecosystems).
A species
is a set of organisms that share unique characteristics and can breed and produce fertile offspring.
o Species diversity describes the number or variety of species found in a region.
Biodiversity hotspots
re regions that support a large number
of species that are found nowhere else.
o Defined as harboring at least 1500 endemic plant species and having already lost 70% of habitat area.
The 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora
(CITES) bans the international transport of the body parts of rare species.
Conservation biology
is a study that seeks to understand the
loss, protection, and restoration of biological diversity.
Conservation geneticists determine
he minimum viable population size—how small a population can become and how much genetic variation it can lose before encountering inbreeding
depression.
o By determining this size, they can help wildlife managers make plans for increasing the size of a population.
Zoos and botanical gardens have become centers
for captive breeding,
where endangered individuals
such as black rhinos are bred and raised with the
intention of reintroducing their progeny into the
wild.
o 77 plant and animal species now exist only in
captivity.
The background extinction rate
is the pace at which organisms independently go extinct.
o Based on the fossil record, scientists estimate this rate at an average
of 1 out of every 1–10 million mammal and marine animals going extinct each year.
Extinction
occurs when the last
member of a species dies and the
entire species ceases to exist.
Extirpation
is the loss of a species from
one area, but not the entire world.
o The black rhino has been extirpated
from most of its historic range but
is not yet extinct.
Species richness generally increases as one approaches the equator, due to:
o Greater geographic area.
o More solar energy.
o Stability of tropical climates.
o Lack of disruptive glaciation events.
Section 7 – limits on federal agencies
All federal agencies must consult with the FWS before taking an action affecting a listed species and insure that
the action will not
o Jeopardize the continued existence of the species
o Result in the destruction or adverse modification of the critical habitat of the species
o Agencies cannot use cost to avoid section 7 regulation
o Critical habitat
o FWS must designate critical habitat at the same time that it lists a species, so long as the designation is
prudent and determinable
o FWS can exclude an appropriate area from critical habitat designation if the benefits outweigh the costs and
the exclusion will not result in the extinction of the species
Private actions and Section 9
o No one can take an endangered species of fish or wildlife
o Take – harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect an
endangered species or to attempt any such activity
o FWS issued a regulation declaring that significant habitat modification or
degradation that actually kills or injures wildlife by significantly impairing
essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, or sheltering
constitutes harm under section 9
o Plants – ESA prohibits the removal, digging up, destruction of endangered plants on
federal land or in knowing violation of any law or regulation of any state or in the
course of any violation of a state criminal trespass law
o Threatened species – FWS is allowed to issue regulations for threatened species –
most threatened species receive the same protection as endangered species
Habitat conservation plans
allow the landowner to harm some
individuals of a species if the overall habitat is improved.
A safe harbor agreement
is a promise that the government will not
pursue additional action if the landowner pursues actions that assist in the species’ recovery.
Conservation geneticists
determine the minimum viable
population size—how small a population can become and how much genetic variation it can lose before encountering inbreeding depression.
o By determining this size, they can help wildlife managers make plans for increasing the size of a population.
Explain the IPAT model. How can technology either increase or decrease environmental impact?
The IPAT model represents how our total impact (I) on the environment results from the interaction among population (P), affluence (A), and technology (T):
o I=PAT
* Technology enhances our abilities to exploit minerals, fossil fuels, old-growth forests, or fisheries generally increases impact, but technology reduces smokestack emissions, harness renewable energy, or improve manufacturing efficiency can decrease impact.
What is the species area relationship (SAR)? How can it be used to predict extinction rates?
it can be used to predict extinction rates by estimating how many species are likely to be lost when a habitat is reduced in size, as smaller areas can support fewer species, thus increasing the risk of extinction for some populations within that habitat
