Textbook: Chapter 28 - Population Growth, Resource Use and Conservation

Question 1

Benefit-cost analysis

Answer 1

An economic analysis in which the benefits of an activity are compared to the associated costs

Question 2

Clear-cutting

Answer 2

Forest harvesting procedure in which all trees on the site are cut and removed

Question 3

Cultural eutrophication

Answer 3

Accelerated nutrient enrichment of aquatic ecosystems by a heavy influx of pollutants that causes major shifts in plant and animal life.

Question 4

Discounting

Answer 4

Adding and comparing costs and benefits that occur at different times; a major drivign force i9n the economics of resource management; often runs counter to theobjectives of sustainable resource management

Question 5

Ecosystem services

Answer 5

Processes by which the environment produces resources such as air, water, timber or fish

Question 6

Environmental economics

Answer 6

Study of environmental problems and the incorporation of economic principles into the envrionemtnal decision-making process

Question 7

Externalities

Answer 7

When the actions of one individual or a group afect anothers individual well-being, but relevant costs are not reflected in market prices

Question 8

Harvest interval

Answer 8

Time period between harvests. Compare to rotation period

Question 9

Maximum sustainable yield

Answer 9

The maximum at which individuals can be harvested from a population without reducing its size; recruitment balances harvesting

Question 10

Monoculture

Answer 10

Planting of a single plant species

Question 11

Natural capital

Answer 11

Raange of natural resources provided by ecosystems

Question 12

Pyromineralization

Answer 12

Mineralization of nutrients bound in organic compounds by fire

Question 13

Polyculture

Answer 13

Planting of several plant species

Question 14

Rotation period

Answer 14

Interval between the recurrence of a disturbance event; or interval between harvests of a crop, such as trees

Question 15

Seed tree

Answer 15

Method of forest harvest in which asmall number of trees are left on the site (uncut) to provide a source of seeds for natural regeneration of the population

Question 16

Selection cutting

Answer 16

Method of forest harvesting in which only selected individual trees of high commercial value are removed from the forest stand

Question 17

Sustained yield

Answer 17

Yield per unit time equal to production per unit time in an exploited population

Question 18

Swidden agriculture

Answer 18

Farming systems that alternate periods of annual cropping with extended fallow periods. Also referredto as shifting cultivation; fire is used to clear fallow areas for cropping

Question 19

Yield

Answer 19

Individuals or biomass removed or harvested from a population per unit time.