Exam 2 Study Guide

Exam 2 Study Guide NOTE: Portions of the study guide that have a strike through the text are things that are NOT going to be on this exam NOTE: The study guide lays out the topic areas that will be covered on the exam. It does not identify specific questions that will be on the exam nor does it present the material in exactly the same way that it will be presented on the exam. No exam will cover all of the topics listed in the study guide (that exam would take hours to complete), but all of the topics in the study guide could be on the exam. As you use the guide, your goal should be to be able to explain the topics identified within it, understand how similar topics/concepts are different, how related concepts connect to each other, and to recognize them within a hypothetical setting. Because many people got this question wrong on the last exam, you WILL see a question asking you to identify the three components of sustainability and explain why all 3 are necessary to achieve sustainability. You will also see a question asking you to describe each of the 4 principles of sustainability. – THIS IS ON THE TEST Also because it was widely missed on the last test you will again need to Know what we have to do to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius – THIS IS ON THE TEST o You DO need to know the value 1.5 degrees C – THIS IS ON THE TEST o You DO need to know the max CO2 concentration in the atmosphere that we can have to limit warming to this – THIS IS ON THE TEST o You DO need to know how much C emissions have to drop by 2030 and by 2050 – THIS IS ON THE TEST Evolution and Biodiversity patterns Describe the fundamental characteristics of natural selection. - Understand what evolutionary fitness means (as opposed to the commonly used word ‘fitness’. - Do you evolve as an individual? - What effect does natural selection have upon evolutionary fitness? - How does variation appear in a species?

Be sure that you can recognize a definition or application of the following terms. I suggest defining each and giving an example: - Species diversity - Species richness - Species evenness Know what group of organisms make up the majority of species on the planet. What is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function? What effect does biodiversity have upon ecosystem function and why? Describe each of the factors which favor Biodiversity at the local scale: a. Resource partitioning (don’t forget the 3 ways this can happen) b. Environmental heterogeneity c. Predation and disturbance d. Multiple limiting resources Describe each of the facts which favor Biodiversity at the regional scale (and why the factor favors/results in a decrease or increase in biodiversity): Richness increases with: 1. 2. Richness decreases with: 1. 2. How is species richness impacted by disturbance? How is species richness impacted by system stability?

o Environmental justice o Environmental racism - You need to know how Conservation Biology is different from other scientific disciplines and how/why the scientific method and larger process of peer review are thus even more important to avoid problems with bias. - - You need to be able to describe how a conservation biologist would apply ecological principles to at least one of the following management situations: o Grazing on grasslands o Timber harvesting from forested land o Species reintroductions o Ecosystem restoration o Habitat isolation Environmental laws & Economic policy - You need to be able to ID or state the primary components of each of the 4 main environmental laws that we covered: o National Environmental Policy act o Clean Water Act (CWA) o Clean Air Act (CAA) o Endangered species Act (ESA) - You also need to know that the Wilderness Act established a process for naming Wilderness areas and you should be able to summarize what is and is not allowed in Wilderness areas. - With the ESA, you should be able to recognize the exceptions to its requirements. - With the CAA and CWA, you should be able to ID the types of pollutants they have been effective at regulating and what sort of pollutants they have not been as effective at o Hint: what is the difference between a point source pollutant and a non-point source pollutant? Federal management agencies - You need to know what the mandates are of each of the 4 primary land management agencies. You also need to know what ethical systems are most aligned with the mandate of each of these agencies. - You also need to know what time period they were founded in and what motivated their founding. o Bureau of land management o Forest service o National Park service o Fish and Wildlife service

- You need to know whether we manage the majority of federal lands for primarily habitat and specie protection or for a variety of uses. - You need to know what region of the US most federal lands are concentrated in. - Markets and externalities, social traps, and influencing behaviors - You need to know how a market economy differs from a command economy - You need to know how externalities impact production levels in a market o How are positive and negative externalities different (which leads to overproduction and which to underproduction) - Jevons Paradox o Be able to describe it and/or recognize an example of it. - Scarcity, Innovation, & substitution o Be able to describe it and/or recognize an example of the relationship between these. - Social traps o Know what a social trap is and how societies can fall prey to them o Know and be able to describe the Tragedy of the Commons social trap o Recognize and/or be able to name and describe the conditions that can enable a community to manage common resources sustainably - How we respond o Be able to name, describe and/or recognize the following and know how/why they make change difficult: § Belief perseverance § Bias towards the status quo § Social conformity § Emotional defenses • has subcomponents – know what the different defenses are § Belief defenses • has subcomponents – know what the different defenses are o Maslow’s pyramid § What sort of needs does Maslow name as foundational (at the base of the pyramid – needs that we will satisfy first) and what sort needs are secondary (one we satisfy secondarily) § Be able to describe or recognize a situation were someone is putting these “secondary” needs ahead of the “fundamental” needs - Changing behaviors o Be able to recognize or name and describe the 6 ways of influencing behavior that we discussed in class: § Prompts § feedback § commitments § incentives § labels and guides