Environmental Studies 100
Study Guide for Midterm #2 (Friday, December 8th, 2006 in class, 50 minutes long)
Review the following topics for the exam, as well as the major concepts from the first half of the course:
Aquatic Biomes
· primary productivity and limiting factors
· light penetration
o euphotic vs. aphotic zone
· temperature profiles
o epilimnion vs. hypolimnion
o thermocline
· oxygen concentrations
o aerobic vs. anaerobic/anoxic
o B.O.D.
· nutrient content
o oligotrophic vs. eutrophic
· main features of:
§ oceans
· open ocean vs. coast
· upwelling and coastal inputs
o ocean/atmosphere coupling
· harmful algal blooms
· kelp forests
o otter/urchin dynamics
o kelp influence on: beach, Channel Islands, food webs
· coral reefs
o productivity
o coral bleaching (zooanthellae)
o dynamite fishing
· rocky intertidal- (zones and adaptations to)
§ streams and rivers
· low vs. high stream order
· sediment/nutrient transport
· bank vegetation
· adaptations to
§ lakes
· seasonality of nutrients, light, primary production
· oligotrophic vs. eutrophic
· vulnerability
§ wetlands
· ecotones
· freshwater wetlands: fens, bogs, and swamps
· saltwater wetlands: salt marshes and estuaries
· hydroperiod (importance of, determined by)
· biogeochemistry in anoxic environments
o oxidation and reduction
· plant adaptations to wetland environment
· importance of wetlands: ecosystem services
· what threatens wetlands
Community Change
· Scale (temporal, spatial)
· Succession
o Primary vs. Secondary
o Secondary: microclimate change and soil improvement
o Who wins at the beginning? Who winds at the end?
o Facilitation: biotic/abiotic interactions
§ Early colonizers vs. Pine vs. Oak
§ Grasses on sand dunes
o Climax communities?
o Plant vs. Animal Succession?
o Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis
§ Role of fire in Chaparral Biome
· Invasive Species
o How do they arrive?
o why invasive species are important
o 10-10-10 rule
o what makes a successful invader?
o what makes a community susceptible to invasion?
o ecological and economic effects of invasive plants and animals
o Case studies: Arundo donax, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Australian Rabbits, Castor Bean
o invasive species management and eradication (pro’s and con’s of each approach)
· adaptive management/integrated pest management
Biodiversity Loss
· Measuring biodiversity loss: background rate, current rate of loss
· Where is loss most prominent? Why?
· Biodiversity Hotspots
· Simplification of food webs and subsequent vulnerability
· Policy options to conserve biodiversity
· ESA: protection for species and their habitats?
· Importance of Biodiversity
§ redundancy
§ ecosystem services
§ keystone species
§ cultural/aesthetic value
Valuing Biodiversity
· Cost/benefit analysis
· Market vs. non-market goods
o Valuing non-market goods: revealed preferences, contingent valuation, substitutes
o Intrinsic value
o Unknown (medical) value
· Negative externalities (unaccounted for costs)
· Calculating costs/benefits under uncertainty: expected value
· Discounting
o Discount rate (what determines it?)
o Present value, Net present value
o Future value
o Discounting vs. sustainability (role of poverty and culture)
Species and Habitat Conservation
· Assessing biodiversity
o Indicator species
o Species diversity/richness
o Species evenness
· Species protection
o Minimum viable population
o Inbreeding
o Genetic drift
o Genetic bottleneck
o Which to protect? Umbrella vs. flagship vs. keystone
· Habitat protection
o Minimum viable area
o Size: Single Large or Several Small?
· Species-area curve
o Shape
· Edge effects
o Connectivity
· Is it necessary?
· How do humans decide where to connect?
· Tools used in conservation (discussed in class, and in Bren Grad. Student case studies)
Marine biodiversity conservation
· Importance of marine resources
· Historical management (<1982): open access resource
o Tragedy of the commons
· The problem: Global trends in marine resource extraction
· Law of the Sea: privatization of coastal marine resources
o Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) allow countries to manage stocks
o Maximum sustainable yield models to set harvest limits
§ Based on logistic growth (density dependent, no env’tl fluctuation)
§ Problems with MSY harvest at low population levels
§ Cheap vs. expensive fisheries (or subsidized vs. unsubsidized)
o Why does stock management fail?
§ Discounting and Subsidies
§ Ineffective management (population dynamics, over-reporting, environmental fluctuation)
§ Technological Advances to catch fish
§ Bycatch
o Role of human perceptions and values
§ Shifting baselines
§ Voting with dollars
· ‘Fishing down’ the food web
· Strategies to increase the success of EEZ’s
· Marine Reserves/Marine Protected Areas (Guest Lecture 11/13)
o Case Studies: What are characteristics of successful MPA’s?
§ Barbados vs. Bahamas vs. Belize
o How are they zoned?
o Advantages over traditional stock management
o Spillover effect
o Stakeholders
§ may have conflicting goals
§ Public participation
§ Compensation for ‘losers’?
o Community input (public participation)
§ Value of
§ How to obtain
o Enforcement of zoning regulations
§ Paper-parks
§ Technology
o Monitoring
· Aquaculture
o Importance of fish farms
o Energy flow: carnivorous vs. herbivorous fish
o Will (or “how can”) aquaculture relieve pressure on marine stocks?
o Concerns with aquaculture
o Integrated systems approach
§ Aquaponics
§ Fish-rice aquaculture
§ Duck-fish aquaculture
§ Benefits and costs of each
o Strategies to make aquaculture
· What can you do to preserve marine resources?
+ Material covered in guest lectures on Monday, December 4th (Rob Larkin and John Gallo)
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