PDS AP Environmental Science 8th Period 2010-11

International Treaties and Conventions:

Convention on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES)

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

US Federal Laws:

Lacey Act

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Marine Mammal Protection Act

Wilderness Act

http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=legisAct

Preservation vs Conservation:

Preservationists like John Muir are focused on keeping wilderness as untouched as possible in order to maintain the biodiversity of a certain region. Conservationists like Gifford Pinchot are much more interested in finding ways to use land and resources while at the same time limiting their use so these resources aren’t over-harvested (sustainable use).

How do we preserve and conserve:

Approximately 1/3 of the land in the United States is owned by the public. That’s more land than any other country in the world has devoted to public use.

http://www.preservationnation.org/assets/photos-images/issues/public-lands/public-lands-map.jpg

Types of Public Lands

1-Multiple-use lands – This includes National Forests and National Resource Lands

2-Moderately Restricted-use lands – This includes National Wildlife Refugees

3-Restricted-use lands – This includes National Parks and National Wilderness Preserves.

The tropics are a hotpoint of contention for land management. Areas like rainforests with high biodiversity contain plants that can be used for medicinal purposes, as well as house countless species of animals. That’s why the tropics have become known as a “biodiversity hotspot”.

The UN supports a plan called “Biosphere Reserve.” This involves protecting one core area in a place of high biodiversity that is surrounded by two buffer zones. The core area has had very little human impact, while the first buffer zone is a limited use zone for humans, and the second buffer zone is impacted a little more.

The first step in land preservation and conservation is to designate the land to a specific type of public land so that it may be protected by the federal laws that are already in place.

The Isle Royale simulation in class points out the significance of free population growth, the presence of predators, and the availability of food in an ecosystem. The three simulations that we did focus on each of these and their effects on the populations of moose and wolves.

Exercise 1

This exercise focused on the population of moose when there are no predators present. We ran the simulation for about fifty years. The resulting graph looks similar to an S curve with a slight rise and fall before it reaches carrying capacity. This is an example of a population overshooting its carrying capacity, which then results in a dieback, also called correction, in the population until the carrying capacity is achieved.

A couple important things to note.

1 – A population grows fastest when it is medium sized.

2 – No population can sustain a J curve indefinitely. There is always a carrying capacity.

3 – The moose overshoot their carrying capacity because they have no natural predators. The dieback is then caused by the resulting food shortage when the moose are placed in direct competition with each other.

4 – The point of greatest population growth is called the inflection point.

Exercise 2

In this exercise, wolves were introduced to the island.

Hey guys. Hope you’re enjoying your Tuesday. I’ve been having trouble understanding one part of the triangle we made in class comparing economic, social, and preservationist views. Between preservationist (you might have it written down as environmentalist) and social I have environmental justice written down. I don’t quite understand what this means. Can anyone help? Thanks!

I think that the biggest environmental problem is the rate that humans are emitting gasses like CO2 into the atmosphere. The world, especially the more developed countries like the United States and China, is burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. This in turn is effecting the ozone layer by disrupting the natural balance of gasses in the part of the atmosphere that blocks the majority of the sun’s harmful rays. When the carbon disrupts this balance, more of those rays are allowed to hit the earth’s surface causing changes in environments. An example of this would be in the oceans, where carbon is being absorbed into the water and harming sea creatures, like coral, and in turn disrupting that habitat for the other animals that live there. In short, these emissions are causing harm on earth, and unless alternate fuel sources are exploited more effectively, they will continue to.