First Exam Study Guide: Global Population & Conservation Issues

1 KEY FOR OUR FIRST TEST 1 About how large is our global human population right now (3 points)?  Around 16 billion  Around 8 billion  Around 4 billion  Around 2 billion 2 And which of the following is most close to the predicted size of our global population by 2100, admittedly with a pretty wide margin of uncertainty (3 points)?  10 billion-ish  20 billion-ish  30 billion-ish  40 billion-ish 3 Why do some modern conservation biologists remember the books written by Thomas Malthus and Paul Erhlich (3 points)?  They warned of problems caused by habitat fragmentation  They proposed the concept of the demographic transition  They warned that human populations might outstrip necessary resources  They stressed the importance of endemic species  They were among the first to suggest the concept of keystone species 4 It would be acceptable to a compassionate conservationist to kill predators that eat an endangered species, but only if the predatory species itself is not endangered (3 points).  True  False 5 Edward O. Wilson calls humans’ appreciation, even love, of the natural world (3 points)…  Paraphilia  Biophilia  Zoophytophilia  Compassionate conservation 1

2 6 What do I examine if I apply a so-called biological concept of ‘species-hood’ (3 points)?  The number of distinct populations distributed across the landscape  Differences in details of anatomy  How abundant one species is relative to other species in its community  Magnitude of genetic differences  Ability to interbreed  The degree to which the diet of one population differs from that of others 7 Fragmentation of a forest habitat is most likely to result in (3 points):  Increased species richness  Decreased number of polydemic species  Increased carrying capacity  Increased edge effects  No change – it takes total clear-cutting to affect forests, for better or, more likely, for worse 8 Which of the following is most true as a human population goes through the demographic transition (3 points)?  Population size goes down  Death rate falls before birth rate falls  Adult mortality exceeds childhood mortality  Its economy changes to a greater emphasis on agriculture  Numbers of adult males and females become close to equal 9 We’ve described around 2.5 million species of ‘big things’ (which pretty much means eukaryotes) so far (3 points).  True  False 10 To what use might a biologist be most likely to put eDNA (3 points)?  To determine the evolutionary history of a group of anatomically-similar beetles  To determine male parents in a population of beetles in which you can’t observe mating  To detect the presence of a species of beetle that you can’t easily capture 2

3 11 To what use might a biologist be most likely to put a DNA barcode (3 points)?  To determine genetic mothers in a population of butterflies  To sort a collection of butterflies from the Palouse into distinct species  To determine genetic fathers in a population of butterflies 12 A species that ‘tricks’ a different species into rearing its young is technically known as a (3 points)…  Partial predator  Cheater species  Brood parasite  Parental pathogen 13 The average ecological footprint of a person living in the U.S. is estimated to be about (3 points)…  1,000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.5 acres-ish)  100 hectares  10 hectares  1 hectare 14 The best position to be in is for a population’s ecological footprint to be larger than the ecological capacity of the area in which it lives (3 points).  True  False 15 Who among the following might be most concerned about colony collapse disorder (3 points)?  A gold miner in Nevada  A sheep rancher in Montana  An apple grower in Washington  A construction worker in Minnesota  An automobile factory worker in Michigan 3

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4 16 Puyallup is home to six species of palm trees that are equal in their abundance. Portland has the same six species of trees, but two of them are more abundant than the other four. Which of the following statements is true (3 points)?  Puyallup has greater species richness and greater species evenness  Puyallup has lower richness and lower evenness  Both places have both the same richness and evenness  Both places have the same richness, but Portland has lower evenness  Palm trees aren’t naturally found in the Pacific Northwest – true, but not the correct answer to this question 17 I search for palm trees in Pittsburgh but I don’t find any. What can I conclude with complete confidence that I’m correct (3 points)?  There aren’t any palm trees in Pittsburgh  There probably are no palm trees east of the Rocky Mountains  I didn’t find any palm trees 18 One species of palm tree is only found in one forest in Pasadena. We would describe this species as (3 points)…  Epidemic to Pasadena  Endothermic to Pasadena  Endemic to Pasadena  Endotactic to Pasadena  Ectodermic to Pasadena  Pandemic to Pasadena 19 For a hard-core ecologist, an old-growth forest is one that has never been cut (3 points)…  True  False 20 For the United States Department of Agriculture, an old-growth forest is around 120 years old or maybe older (3 points):  True  False 4

5 21 My Irish pal Dem O’Grapher asks me to describe the population pyramid of a population that has been well below its replacement fertility rate for many generations. What might I say (3 points)?  It looks just like a Mayan or Egyptian pyramid – broad base and pointy top  It looks like a box of cereal viewed from the side – pretty much a rectangle  It looks like an upside-down witch’s hat – broad top and pointy base  It looks like an oval – wide in the middle, and narrower at the top and base 22 In which of the following regions of the world is our human population expected to grow the most/the fastest in the next 50 or so years (3 points)?  Russia  Western Europe  Japan and southeast Asia  The Amazon region, especially Brazil  Africa south of the Sahara  Mexico and Central America 23 Why are the forest salamanders studied by my pal Jim Petranka in North Carolina likely to be especially sensitive to habitat and climate changes that result in drier weather (3 points)?  Because they are rare to start with  Because stressed females are less likely to breed than are stressed males  Because they don’t have lungs to exchange gases  Because they burrow and have no eyes  Because they are attacked by brood parasites 24 What is Jim’s hypothesis for why, even if these salamanders recover from repeated cutting of their forests in the short-term, they may not be able to recover in the longer term (3 points)?  Because their predators are likely to become more common if it gets dry  Because the southern Appalachians is a region predicted to experience severe floods  Because non-native infectious diseases are attacking them 5

6  Because the southern Appalachians is a region predicted to experience severe forest fires  Because tree harvest cycles in planted/thinned forests are relatively rapid 25 All else equal, which of the following best describes the population pyramid of a human population whose fertility rate has been 2.1 for many generations (3 points)?  Pretty much a triangle with a narrow base and broader top  Pretty much a triangle with a broad base and narrower top  Pretty much a rectangle 26 A non-profit organization here in the U.S. is spending money to create more girls’ schools in a region of central Africa. Which of the following may be most likely to happen to the number of children born in that region over the next, say, 50 years (3 points)?  The number probably won’t change  The number will probably start to increase  The number may begin to decrease 27 Which of the following are edge effects for birds in a forest fragment (3 points)?  Increased brood parasitism  Increased exposure to weather  Increased predation  All of the above 28 ‘The maximum number of individuals that an environment can support at any particular time.’ That’s the definition of (3 points)…  Replacement fertility rate  A keystone species (well, it is a property of such a species)  Carrying capacity  The demographic transition  Ecological footprint 29 What is biomimicry (3 points)?  A harmless species has a phenotype similar to a harmful species 6

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7  A harmful species has a phenotype similar to another harmful species  An engineering solution/product that resembles something found in nature  Planting a clearcut with the same trees to mimic those originally present 30 What name is given to the following type of graph (3 points)?  Carrying capacity gradient  Selection gradient  Line of ecological capacity  Species-area curve  Line of evolutionary equilibrium 31 What kind of future change in size would you predict for a population of woolly wombats with the observed population pyramid shown below (3 points)?  All else equal, it will stay the same  All else equal, it will grow  All else equal, it will shrink 32 What would be the best term to describe a population of wimpy wallabies with the population pyramid shape shown below (3 points)? 7

8  Linear  Algebraic  Exponential  Stationary  Quadratic  Logistic 33 How do leguminous plants such as beans and lentils benefit from symbiotic bacteria in their roots (3 points)?  The bacteria produce chemicals that kill viruses  The bacteria convert nitrogen into plant nutrients  The bacteria produce natural insecticides 34 What four components must be included in any definition of biodiversity (4 x 4 = 16 points)? 1 Genetic diversity 2 Species diversity (often measured as richness) 3 Diversity of communities/ecosystems 4 Diversity of ecological processes and interactions 35 We learned two lessons (both extremely important, even if pretty intuitive) about what can happen to soil in a clear-cut from the large-scale, long-term ecological experiments conducted at Hubbard Brook, NH. What are they (2 x 4 = 8 points)? 1 The soil experiences increased erosion, and so declines in quantity 2 The soil loses certain minerals – including plant nutrients – and so declines in quality 36 Breast-feeding is good. The baby benefits – they get nutrients and protective antibodies. The mother benefits – breast-feeding may offer protection against 8

9 some types of breast cancer. Both benefit through emotional bonding. How might biodiversity benefit from breast-feeding? You’ve got to twist your brain a bit on this one (3 points)! Yes, a bit contorted! Breastfeeding decreases fertility, making a new pregnancy less likely (but not impossible). By increasing what we called the interbirth interval, breastfeeding might result in a woman having fewer children than she might have otherwise. I think you can see how this might impact population growth and so affect ecological footprint. Now, some of you thought I was referring to lactation in non-human animals – re-reading the question I can see why. I think I graded somewhat generously for that reason. 37 I learn that the average resident of Pullman has an ecological footprint of about 11 hectares. Pretty big (maybe?). As precisely as possible, define an ecological footprint (this is so important that a complete answer is worth a whopping 8 points). The total global land area needed to provide for the needs and wants of one person, and to dispose of that person’s wastes. The value given is typically the average for someone living in a particular place. Obviously, some people will be below and some above that average. The footprint needs to be considered in the context of ecological capacity, the ability of a particular place to provide the necessary goods, services and other resources. 38 Give three ways in which the trees (I stress, the trees ) in a plantation in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest, east of Moscow, could differ from those in old-growth forests, the latter as defined by a hard-core ecologist (3 x 4 = 12 points). 1 Less species richness (maybe even a monoculture of one type) 2 Altered species composition/evenness 3 They may not be native to the region 4 They’re all similar in age and size 9

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10 39 My friend asks if I think that thinning – not clear-cutting – a forest in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) near Bellingham might harm the animals living there, even if it doesn’t directly kill them. What would I tell her, based on work on snow-shoe hares conducted by a WSU grad student (8 points)? Michael measured metabolites of stress hormones in hare poop. He did this in an area before the forest there was thinned and then after thinning. Levels of hormone metabolites were highest after thinning. Because long- term stress can impair survival and reproduction, thinning could compromise hare populations. But, Michael’s study only looked at short- term stress, so we need to speculate cautiously. 40 There are 21 species of vertebrates living together in the Desolation Desert of deepest Delaware. One of them is a keystone species. How would you define a keystone species (4 points)? A keystone species has a significance in its community that is greater than its abundance would suggest. The classic case study is the reintroduction of 'keystone wolves to Yellowstone. Go to Google for the story, although we’ll tell it a bit later in the semester. Quite a few of you gave an example, but an example isn’t a definition. Partial points for that. 41 Finish this sentence. It is an important idea, and you only need three or maybe four words (3 points)… “ Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence ”. 42 Can you think of any social/economic problems that a nation may face if it has a fertility rate of less than 1.5 for a prolonged period of time (4 points)? So, this population isn’t replacing, through birth, people who die, and so it is shrinking. Furthermore, there’ll be more older people relative to 10

11 younger people. Younger people work, generate wealth and pay taxes. Older people don’t pay much by way of taxes but they do require social services (think Social Security and Medicare here in the US). Think about the social, economic and political upheaval caused by trying to do more with less. 43 How would you respond to someone who says, rather glibly, “The solution to all of our environmental problems is simple - people just need to have fewer children, even if you have to force them”? Provide a response as if you are an environmental advocate writing a memo to Vice-President Kamala Harris, telling her why that simple statement based on the control of population size isn’t the whole story. Take as much space as you need (5 points). You could say it in lots of different ways, but the big point is that patterns of consumption – ecological footprints – matter as much as (maybe more than) simple population size. The point is to be sustainable, regardless of population size, so that ecological footprints don’t exceed ecological capacities. 11

330 - FIRST EXAM IN 24.KEY

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