Download Quiz 1 – Lectures 1-5. Brainstorm. 1. Introduction: a. Natural Capital

Quiz 1 – Lectures 1-5. Brainstorm.
1. Introduction:
a. Natural Capital = Natural Resources + Natural Services
i. Natural Resources: Soil, water, renewable/non-renewable, wood,
minerals, solar energy, etc.
ii. Natural Services: water purification, nutrient cycling, climate
regulation, food production, waste reduction, etc...
b. Natural Capital Degradation.
i. Cause: Unsustainable Resource use
1. Depletion, or Damage
ii. Other causes: Poverty, technological impacts, economic policies
iii. Ecological Footprint: productive land+water needed to sustain one
person/community
c. Sustainability
i. Definition: ...
ii. Four characteristics of sustainable ecosystems
2. Earth / Environment
a. “spheres”: geo-, pedo-, atmos-, hydro-, biob. Components of ecosystems: producers, consumers, etc.
i. Photosynthesis, respiration
ii. Ecosystem dynamics: Food webs / trophic levels
c. GPP / NPP
d. Nutrient cycling:
i. carbon, phosphorous, nitrogen, sulfur/minerals, water
ii. needed for growth, often limiting
3. Biodiversity and Evolution
a. Biodiversity: definition, breadth
i. Importance, relation to adaptibility, cycling of matter/energy, etc.
b. Evolution
i. History of life on Earth, of humankind; phylogeny
ii. Genetic variation, mutations
iii. Natural Selection leads to speciation
iv. Adaptations: structural, physiological, behavioral
v. Large vs. small populations: adaptability and genetic drift
vi. Coevolution
vii. Convergent evolution
4. Ecology: engineer’s perspective, “structure & function”
a. Matter & Energy in ecosystems
i. Matter: nutrient cycling
ii. Energy: photosynthesis/respiration, ecological efficiency
b. Types of ecosystems
i. Biomes: Land / Aquatic
ii. Causes of differences: Latitude, Altitude, Temperature, Precip,
species make-up
iii. “network of patches”
c. Types of species
i. Specialists vs. generalists
ii. Native
iii. non-native, including invasive
iv. Indicator
v. Keystone
vi. Foundation
d. Species Interactions
i. Competition
ii. Predation
iii. Parasitism
iv. Mutualism
v. Commensalism
5. Population
a. Malthus
b. Bathtub model for population change
c. Population growth:
i. “J” curve: intrinsic growth
ii. Logistic growth, carrying capacity, environmental resistance
iii. Steady vs. Irruptive/Malthusian growth
1. Opportunists, r-selected species
2. Competitors, k-selected species
d. Definitions: Crude birth rate, crude death rate, total fertility rate,
replacement rate
e. Population pyramids
f. Demographic transition