Unit 8: Human Systems Flashcards
What is a Population?
A group of individuals of the same species occupying a specific area at a specific time.
What Demographic Indicators are used to Describe Human Populations?
- Crude Birth Rate (CBR)
- Crude Death Rate (CDR)
- Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)
- Total Fertility Rate (TFR)
- Natural increase (annual growth rate)
- Doubling time
- Life expectancy (E0)
What is CBR?
Crude brith rate: number of live births per 1000 people in a population per year.
What is CDR?
Crude death rate: number of death births per 1000 people in a population per year.
What is IMR?
Infant mortality rate: the number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per 1000 live births per year.
What is TFR?
The average number of births per woman of childbearing age.
What is the Formula for Annual Growth Rate?
(CBR – CDR) / 10 expressed as a percentage
What is Doubling Time?
The length of time it takes for a population to double in size, assuming its natural growth rate remains constant.
What is the Formula for Doubling Time?
70 / Growth rate
What is Carrying Capacity?
The largest number of individuals in a population that the resources in the environment can support for an extended period of time.
Outline Human Population Growth over Time
The world’s population has grown exponentially (especially in south and east Asia). Population time has shortened and population is expected to stabilize by 2050.
Where is Population Growth Occurring the Most and Why?
95% of population growth occurs in LEDCs due to lack of access to contraception, education, woman status, poverty, and standards of living.
What are the Consequences of Continued Population Growth?
- Increased pressure on government
- Increased pressure on environment resources
- Famine and malnutrition
- Inequality between poor and rich countries
Explain Malthus’s view on Population Growth and Food Supply
As food supply can be increased arithmetically and population growth increases geometrically, in time population will outstrip food supply until catastrophe (famine, war, disease).
• Limitation: Malthus did not predict tech. advances
What Models can be used to Predict Population Growth?
1) Demographic transition model (DTM)
2) Age-gender pyramids
What is the DTM?
A model showing how a population transitions from a pre-industrial stage with high CBRs and CDRs to an economically advanced stage with low CBRs and CDRs.
What are the Stages of Population Growth?
1) Early Expanding (high CBR + high CDR)
2) Late Expanding (high CBR + declining CDR)
3) Stationary (declining CBR + low CDR)
4) Contracting (low CBR + low CDR)
What Factors can Affect Population Dynamics?
- Birth and fertility rates
- Patterns of mortality
- National and international policies
How can Birth and Fertility Rates be Affected?
- Woman status (low = higher brith rate)
- Level of parental education
- Religion (pro natalist = larger families)
- Economic prosperity (high costs = low birth rate)
- Infant mortality rates (high = higher brith rate)
- Agriculture societies (births for labor)
How can Patterns of Mortality be Affected?
- Access to healthcare
- Hygiene level (low = higher spread of disease)
- Access to clean water
- Nutrition
- Life expectancy (high = high CDR)
How do National and International Policies affect Population Dynamics?
- Pronatalist: maternity care, child care + allowance
- Anti-natalist: contraception, sterilization, abortion
- Increase in living standards (lowers CDR)
- Urbanization: more women have jobs (lower CBR)
- Cultural ideals (boys > girls)
- Economic: old retirement age (higher CDR)
What is Renewable Natural Capital?
Resources that are self-producing and self-maintaining and uses solar energy and photosynthesis (e.g. living species and ecosystems).
What is Non-Renewable Natural Capital?
Resources in which use implies partial depletion of the stock (e.g. fossil fuels and minerals).
Distinguish between Natural Capital and Natural Income
Natural capital refers to the source of supply of resources and services derived from nature. Natural income is the annual yield from sources of natural capital.
Define Sustainability
The use of global resources at a rate that allows natural regeneration and minimises damage to the environment.
How can Renewable Natural Capital be Unsustainable?
The extraction, transport and processing of renewable natural capital can make it unsustainable (e.g. Amazon Rainforest).
What Values can Natural Capital have?
- Intrinsic (value given by culture/religion)
- Economic (determined by market price)
- Ecological (importance to human systems)
- Aesthetic (aesthetically pleasing)
Why is the Concept of Natural Capital Dynamic?
The status of natural capital, and its marketable value varies regionally and over time as it is influenced by cultural, social, economic, environmental, technological and political factors.
Give an Example of how Renewable Natural Capital has been Mismanaged
African forests are shrinking: most of people’s livelihood depends on forests as well as land, leading to the increased deforestation. In Malawi about 10,000 ha. forests were being deforested annually between 1981-85.
Give an Example of how Non-renewable Natural Capital has been Mismanaged
Indian economy is largely based on fossil fuels, minerals and oil. The value increases because of the large demand, but the supply is decreasing. This has resulted in more efforts to drill and search other territories.
What is Sustainable Yield?
The rate at which capital can be exploited without depleting the original stocks or affecting its replenishment.
What is Solid Domestic Waste (SDW)?
Waste produced by households as opposed to that produced by other sectors of an economy.
What are the Different Types of SDW?
- Organic waste (food, leaves)
- Toxic waste (medicine, paint, batteries)
- Recyclable (paper, glass, metal)
- Soiled (hospital waste such as body fluids/blood)
Distinguish between Biodegradable and Non-biodegradable Waste
Biodegradable waste is capable of being broken down by natural processes. Non-biodegradable waste cannot be broken down by natural processes.
Distinguish between Linear and Circular Economy
- Linear economy: take, make, dispose
* Circular economy: make, use, recycle
What are Examples of Waste Disposal Options?
- Recycling
- Reusing
- Composting (biodegradation process)
- Incineration
- Landfill
Give one Advantage and Disadvantage of Recycling
Advantage: reduces amount of resources used
Disadvantage: can produce toxic waste
Give one Advantage and Disadvantage of Reusing
Advantage: little energy is used + cheap
Disadvantage: products will eventually wear out
Give one Advantage and Disadvantage of Composting
Advantage: produces fertilizer
Disadvantage: requires effort and space
Give one Advantage and Disadvantage of Incineration
Advantage: reduces volume of waste
Disadvantage: produces greenhouse emissions
Give one Advantage and Disadvantage of Landfill
Advantage: cheap and easy
Disadvantage: pollution of groundwater + water courses
What Pollution Management Strategies can be Implemented?
1) Altering human behavior
2) Regulation to control release of pollutants
3) Clean-up and restoration
Give Examples of Altering Human Behavior
- Use of eco-friendly appliances/products
- Awareness campaign
- Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
Give Examples of Controlling Release of Pollutants
- Taxes
* Banning of chemicals through legislation
Give Examples of Clean-up and Restoration
- Extracting pollutant from ecosystem
* Replanting
Define Carrying Capacity
The maximum number of species that can be sustainably supported by a given environment.
What Factors make Carrying Capacity difficult to Estimate for Human Populations?
- Range of resources is higher than other species
- Ingenuity – substitutive resources
- Resource requirements differ between cultures
- Technological developments
- Exchange of resources through imports
What Factors is Carrying Capacity determined by?
- Rate of resource consumption
- Level of pollution
- Extent of recycling + reuse + reduce
How can Carrying Capacity be Increased?
- Technological developments
- Renewable energy
- GMOs
- Increased energy conservation
- Land reclamation
- Greater use of irrigation and fertilizer (more crops)
Define Ecological Footprint (EF)
The area of land and water required to support a defined human population at a given standard of living.
What Factors can Increase an EF?
- Greater reliance on fossil fuels
- Increased use of energy
- High levels of imports (transportation)
- Large per capita production of carbon waste
- Large per capita consumption of food
- Meat-based diet
What Factors can Decrease an EF?
- 3Rs
- Improving efficiency of resource use
- Reducing amount of pollution
- Transporting waste to other countries
- Improving country to increase carrying capacity
- Importing resources from another country
- Reducing population to reduce resource use
- Using technology to intensify land/carrying capacity
What are the Components of EF?
1) Built-up land
2) Fishing ground
3) Forest
4) Grazing land
5) Cropland
6) Carbon footprint
What is the Relationship between EF and DTM?
There is an increase in EF with each stage of DTM.
Compare and Contrast the difference of EF in Two Countries
- Canada (5.4 ha/person): low productivity from trees as high latitudes, large distances by car, wealthy pop, heating needed in winter + electricity for dark.
- Peru (0.9ha/person): fast growing trees (high NPP), largely vegetarian, low car ownership, warm all year round, poor population.
