General Biology - Human Ecology Study Guide

This quiz/test/whatever you want to call it will be based on Ch 5 and 6, which were the basis for your papers. I am pushing this back to tues/wed, but here is what you should know…

Ch 5

Be able to discuss the models used to represent population growth (exponential, logistic) and compare these to actual population growth. Under what conditions would populations grow according to each model?

What model has human population growth followed so far? Why is this a problem?

What are the factors that can affect population size?
What factors limit growth? Be able to compare and contrast density dependent and independent factors and give examples of each or recognize examples.

What are biotic and abiotic factors? How do these affect where an organism can live?

Be able to discuss the demographic transition. What are some examples of countries that have gone through it? What factors are important in undergoing the transition? How do age structure diagrams help reflect whether a country has (or has not) gone through the transition?

Be able to interpret Age Structure/Distribution diagrams.

What are the expert predictions for World Population Growth from now until 2050?

Ch 6

How have we changed the way in which we obtain food in the last few thousand years? Why was agriculture so important to the development of human society?

What is monoculture? What was the “Green Revolution”? What problems face future agricultural development?

How has the development of human society been fueled for the last few hundred years? Why is this a problem?

How has the movement of people to the suburbs further strained agriculture’s productivity?

What is the difference between a renewable and a nonrenewable resource? Be able to give and recognize examples.

What is desertification? How does it tie to agricultural practices?

How has modern society threatened forest, water, and air resources?

What is biodiversity? Why is it valuable? How have we threatened it? How can we conserve it?

What are the concerns we should have about ozone depletion? Global warming? What are the causes of each of these?

How does population growth tie into all of the problems mentioned?