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
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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
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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)
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 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
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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
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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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