Term
| 1. Why are small populations more threatened with extinction? |
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Definition
| Because they are below the critical population density and they are more vulnerable by catastrophic events and bigger populations can survive better with a well-connected metapopulation |
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Term
| 2. What should the two main aims of conservation be? Explain your reasoning. |
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Definition
| They should be to preserve ecosystem processes. While many human activities fight against nature, conservation efforts should focus on maintain energy flow, nutrient cycling, waste breakdown, and physical environmental conditions. Also, it is important to maintain genetic diversity because it can provide future human benefits and can maintain the viability and resilience of species in the future. |
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Term
| 3. If an area of an uncommon type of vegetation is reduced to small separated patches, how will this affect the population of animals living there? Would there be a difference in the reaction of the animals if that patch was a more common type of vegetation? How? |
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Definition
| Population fragmentation can occur, or a population can be completely isolated. Can often cause extinction of population. |
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Term
| 4. What features of animal life control the amount of space they need to survive? Describe two. Why can an animal the size of a raccoon survive so well in a city? Do humans change the amount of space animals need to survive? How? |
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Definition
| They need cover, food and water for nourishment, and space to obtain food, water, and attract a mate. Raccoons are not picky and adapt well to new surroundings. They are omnivores, so they eat everything and can raid garbage cans and dumps and live under storage drains for cover. Yes because when we change the environment, wildlife is affected. For example if a certain type of tree is removed by a homeowner, some populations could be negatively affected, but others could increase. |
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Term
| 6. Can humans alter conditions in such a way as to promote high diversity? How would you achieve this aim? |
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Definition
| Yes, first the way we dispose of waste is very important. Chemicals such as cleaners or fertilizers have negate effects on biodiversity, so limiting the use and practicing safe disposal of these is important. Also, activities such as overfishing have had negative effects on wildlife. Limiting this can also promote high diversity. |
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Term
| 7. Why can some species not survive in habitat patches smaller than a certain size? Describe two examples of species that fit this category. |
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Definition
| They need cover, food and water for nourishment, and space to obtain food, water, and attract a mate. Bears need a lot of space to hunt and find food, and so do manatees. |
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Term
| 8. Is the ability to migrate between habitat patches important? Can corridors promote migration? What features make corridors effective? Is this different for different users of the corridor? |
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Definition
| Yes, if an animal cannot migrate between the habitat patches then they might not survive. A corridor can promote this migration, but they must be high quality corridor and they cannot be too far apart. |
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Term
| 9. Describe the creation from the beginning through the present of the Shenandoah National Park. Be complete. |
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Definition
| Land purchased for forest service in 1911 |
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Term
| 10. Describe how the Endangered Species Act works and what is contained within the document. |
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Definition
| It’s the most powerful wildlife conservation and protection law. The ESA is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It designates a species as in danger of extinctions. When a foreign species is listed as endangered, protection under the ESA occurs by prohibiting imports unless they enhance the propagation or survival of the species or are for scientific purposes. It protects 1300 species. |
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Term
| 5. Some ecologists think that habitat corridors are very important and some think that animals can function just as well without them. As usual, both of these opinions are likely true. Explain how both can be true at the same time. |
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Definition
| Habitat corridor is a strip of land that aids in the movement of species between disconnected areas of their natural habitat. Urbanization can lead to this. Some animal species are much more apt to use a habitat corridors than others, depending on on their migration patterns. But deer for example are not migratory so it is not necessary. It also depends on the distance between the habitat patches and the quality of the corridor. |
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Term
| 1. Write the definition of HWC that you think best summarizes the idea. Defend your idea as the BEST answer based on what you learned in class. |
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Definition
| Human Wildlife conflicts are any interactions between humans and animals, that results in negative impacts on human life, or on the wildlife. Mostly an issue in urban areas or in areas that are near wildlife preserves. |
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Term
| 2. Describe at least five reasons why HWC occurs. |
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Definition
Growing human population
Land Use Transformation
Habitat Loss
Ecotourism
Climatic Factors |
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Term
| 3. Describe the complete problems and solutions associated with one of the animals we discussed in class. |
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Definition
| Elephants: Over 80% of their range is outside of protected areas. Elephants raid crops eating and trampling the food people are growing, causing the conflict. One way to control the elephants without causing them harm is grow chili peppers around the edge of your field as elephants cannot eat chili peppers. |
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Term
| Even though most HWC surrounds terrestrial animals, there is a great deal of conflict between manatees and certain groups of humans in Florida. Make a case to defend the manatees and the case one of the human groups would make to remove the manatees. Be sure to comment on which side you think is more correct. I will not be biased. So choose the side you most associate with. |
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Definition
Manatees were in the waterways first, and not doing anything that harms humans or their way life, so their lands should be protected so they are safe, while at the same time allowing for some development along the water, but finding a way to minimize boat traffic.
The manatees are causing humans to lose precious and valuable real estate that could be sold for a large sum. We should move the manatees away from human developed areas and find a way to keep them out of the streams.
I think that protecting the manatees is important because they have no voice to stand up and protect themselves from our encroachment. There are many other shorelines that people can move too, but not many places that have the perfect salinity content for the Manatee to survive. |
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Term
| 5. What can be done to accommodate both the elephants in Africa and the humans struggling to survive there? State and defend three ideas. |
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Definition
They can plant chili peppers around their fields to deter elephants from entering the field because they cannot tolerate chili.
Using Beehives as a fencing system, since elephants are afraid of bees, which will deter them from entering the field.
Banger sticks, where the people go out and bang sticks together, it only works when elephants are approaching, because once you stop banging the sticks, the elephants will come back, not a long term solution. |
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Term
| 6. We covered only a few of the animals that are in conflict with humans. What other animals are involved in HWC? Describe the biology and the conflict surrounding your animal. |
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Definition
| Deer are in a huge conflict with humans, they often live in small forested areas alongside housing developments, so they can have areas to feed off of, and the woods to hide in. This causes a problem when the deer run across roads and get hit by cars, sometimes injuring people. |
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Term
| 1. Are predators important to the ecosystem? If so, why? If not, why not? |
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Definition
| Yes, they limit the population and this is good because pathogens spread more in big populations. Predators balance out the ecosystems. |
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Term
| 2. Describe a typical predator-prey relationship. Draw a graph showing this type of relationship between a rabbit and a lynx. Is this what actually happens between these organisms? Why or why not? |
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Definition
The primary productivity or "bottom up" hypothesis suggests that plant growth is limited by the energy available to plants which is determined in turn by temperature and precipitation. Additional plant growth means more forage is available--thus herbivores, and ultimately carnivores, should increase in abundance. (Predator related)
Alternatively, the trophic cascade or "top down" model predicts that changes in one trophic level are caused by opposite changes in the trophic level immediately above it. For example, a decrease in moose abundance should produce increased plant growth if moose herbivory limits plant growth. Changes in primary productivity would only have a discernible effect on vegetation if higher level interactions had been removed. Food and weather related |
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Term
| 3. Describe the history of predator management in the US. |
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Definition
| Predators were competitors with humans for game, they were a threat to human safety and threat to the health of the livestock. Predator control was the earliest of wildlife management in the United States |
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Term
| 4. Describe predator management strategies for coyotes, cougars, wolves or bears in the US (choose one). What policy do wildlife managers usually have for management of predators in reserves? |
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Definition
Goal:
◦ To restore and perpetuate the natural distribution, ecology, and behavior of black bears free of human influences.
Objectives:
◦ Eliminate human food sources and dangerous human activities.
◦ Minimize human/bear interactions.
◦ Educate visitors.
Make sure human food is in bear proof containers, Do not approach bears!, Allow bears to roam free…
1931: Animal Damage Control Act authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to: “promulgate the best methods of eradication [and] suppression [of] mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, prairie dogs, [and] gophers…for the protection of stock and other domestic animals…and to conduct campaigns for the destruction or control of such animals |
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Term
| 5. Usually when ecologists talk about predators, they mean large mammals. Are there other kinds of predators that need to be controlled? Think about this one. State and explain your opinion. |
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Definition
| Insects and parasites are usually very small but they need to be controlled because they can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem. |
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Term
| Describe the soil horizons. What composition does each have and how is it formed? Be complete. |
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Definition
O horizon: Litter
A horizon: humification, mostly organic
B horizon: mineralization, mostly inorganic
C horizon: weathered parent material
R horizon: slightly weathered parent material
Topsoil: O and A horizons
Subsoil: B and C horizons |
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Term
| 2. List three important processes that increase soil nutrient concentration and three that deplete nutrients in soil. |
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Definition
Increase- Nutrient concentration by plant “Pumping, deposition from atmosphere, N fixation by certain bacteria
Decrease- erosion due to streams or dust, harvest and export of crop, fire-formed smoke and gases. |
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Term
| 3. Describe in detail at least three ways in which erosion can be slowed down or stopped. Be sure to state whether or not these methods work |
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Definition
| Decrease Slope, by making the slope of the water erosion less steep, the water slows down, eroding much slower. Reducing Wind Velocity: There is no real way to reduce nature causing wind, so that method does not work. Maintaining organic cover on soil: organic matter acts like a sponge and absorbs water better, causing it harder to erode. |
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Term
| 4. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of organic and inorganic fertilizer. |
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Definition
Organic: All Natural, makes the soil rich, transforms unhealthy soil, corrects imbalances, delievers nuterients in a slow but sustained rate, cost effective.
Inorganic: Works immediately, contains all necessary nuterients that are ready to use, affordable, convenient to use. |
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Term
| Describe at least five natural weathering factors associated with soils. |
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Definition
| Weak acid etching, warm temperature and rain, plant roots, exposure of new rock surface, mountain building |
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Term
| 6. Describe five factors that cause soil particles to aggregate |
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Definition
| Cycles of wet and dry, Iron and aluminum oxides CaCO3, humic materials, undecayed organic matter, earthworm feces and burrows, fungal hyphae, plant roots |
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Term
| 7. Describe five sources of inorganic fertilizer. |
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Definition
| Chilean nitrate, bat and seabird guano, marine sediment deposit mining, industrial fixation nitrogen, potash deposit mining |
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Term
| 8. Does converting natural vegetation to farmland increase soil erosion? Why or why not? |
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Definition
| Yes, after clearing away the natural vegetation the exposed top soil can be far easily eroded through wind or water. |
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Term
| 9. Do you think it is possible to produce enough food to feed the human population without resorting to fertilizing the land? Why or why not? |
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Definition
| No. The only reason we are able to sustain our food production currently is with the use of fertilizers. They expedite the process and health of all of the food we farm. Without this added help to go along with our farming, the food production would decrease, causing more and more world hunger. |
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Term
| Would it be possible to use human feces to fertilize the land? Describe the benefits and detriments of such a plan |
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Definition
| You could technically use human feces. The benefit to this is we are literally recycling the food we eat right back into helping grow more food. It would also be cost effective. Having said that, there could be many diseases that could be introduced into our food if we were to use human feces, making all of the food unhealthy. |
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Term
| If you inherited a farm that had worn out soil, what steps could you take to rehabilitate its productivity? Arrange the steps in rank order from most feasible to least feasible |
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Definition
| Nutrients can be retained in the soil by adding lime (CaCO3) to the fields to raise the PH of the soil. Spreading manure as well as applying inorganic fertilizer would also help a lot at increasing the soil nutrient concentration. Planting legumes in rotation. |
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Term
| 12. Why is eroded material that washes into a stream harmful to the aquatic animals living in streams? |
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Definition
| Dead Zones are caused by fertilizer that runs with eroded material into water sources. This then depletes all of the available oxygen in the region, making it unsustainable for animal and plant life. |
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Term
| 1. What is the science of Forest Ecology all about? How are these people trained? What do they have to do and know in order to manage forests? |
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Definition
| Forest Ecology is about understanding all of the aspects of a forest ecosystem and finding ways to increase the productivity of a given forest or region. These people are trained to be managers of a forest, where they are in charge of manipulating vegetation, and are given specific goals. They also aim to reproduce valuable forest types. These people must be aware of the current state of the forest, the goal of their activity in the forest, and the projected finished product in order to stay on track. |
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Term
| Describe a forest community. How are deciduous and coniferous communities different? |
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Definition
A typical forest community is formed by:
EMERGENTS-most trees in the rain forests that are 20-40m tall, giant emergent trees grow even higher
CANOPY-the main leaf area of the forest community, most trees would reach this level high
UNDERSTORY- the area above ground up to the canopy structure
FOREST FLOOR-the area consisting of large animals and large numbers of insects that cohabit here
Deciduous conifers have pyramidal, open crowns and shed their needles annually and coniferous with straight cylindrical trunks. Whorled spreading branches and a crown density that varies from dense to open crowns |
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Term
| 3. What is silviculture and how is it practiced in the U.S.? |
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Definition
| Silviculture is tree framing, one example might me Christmas tree farms. In US we are experiencing a growth in the production of timber materials. |
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Term
| What benefits do forest managers gain from even and uneven structures in a managed forest? |
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Definition
| Even aged structures allow a maximal harvest at one time, since all of the trees are the same age. This causes the deforestation to be in cycles. An uneven forest can provide a more constant stream of available trees to be harvested. In the end they provide the same just in different methods. |
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Term
| 5. Why do wildlife species need habitat corridors? |
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Definition
| Habitat corridors are used to overcome the negative effects of urbanization on animals. These corridors are strips of land used to help animals return to their natural habitats. These allow the animals to return to their proper wild life in their natural ecosystems, after they have been observed in a different region for data purposes. |
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Term
| Can the world’s forests supply our needs on a sustainable basis or is loss of forests inevitable? Explain your reasoning using examples from this lecture |
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Definition
| The forests currently in the world cannot sustain our needs. With our very highly increasing population our day to day needs require us to chop down more trees a day than we can replace. |
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Term
| 7. Describe even-aged and uneven-aged stand management. Do you think one method works better? Why or why not? |
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Definition
| Even aged stands create forests of a single species, so they are relatively easy to maintain, and they can focus all their efforts on maximizing the growth of a single species. Uneven structures are used to manage shade tolerant species. These help to increase the size and health of a certain species being grown, so it in turn maximizes the growth of these species. Both have their benefits, it really depends on the species being grown and how it reacts with the different systems. |
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Term
| 8. How can humans obtain all of our timber needs from forests without damaging them too much? Be sure to talk about not only wood, but also other products that are used which come from forests |
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Definition
| By making sure to replace anything taken from the forest, the damage would be lessened. By giving back and not just taking constantly you provide re growth and regeneration of the ecosystem. Also, by minimizing losses and ensuring fires and insects and disease issues remain low, the forest can regenerate from the timber and other resources taken from forests. |
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Term
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Definition
| spatial change in species composition, community structure and function. |
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Term
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Definition
| change in species composition, community structure and function over time at a given location. |
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Term
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Definition
| Vertical Stratification of vegetation at one point in both space and time |
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Term
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Definition
| The study of the causes and consequences of spatial patterns in the landscape |
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Term
| 10. What are the five basic ideals of the field of landscape ecology. Describe each one. |
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Definition
Landscape is a mosaic
Corridors influence organism movement
Fragmentation creates patches
Disturbance created heterogeneity
Disturbances vary |
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Term
| Compare and contrast forest management with classic forestry |
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Definition
| Forest Management includes manipulating vegetation with set goals in mind. Forest management is a definite long term investment. Classic Forestry is the focus on trying to reproduce valuable forest types and artificially create natural-type disturbances. Both are concerned with trying to improve the value of forests, but forest management is more concerned with the actual process of improving a forest, while classic forestry is more of a testing process to determine better forest management techniques. |
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