BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Bisci Exam 2 Study Guide

Ch. 6- Human Population

Numbers: World/Global Population

Chinas One Child Policy;
China is the worlds most populous nation
Continued pop. growth could exhaust resources
To decrease birth rates, the govt. implemented an rewards and punishments program to
enforce the one child rule (1979)
Farmers and their families are exempt because their farming success depends on
having many children.
The Policy was a success; Chinas growth rate is down to .5%
Now easier to deal with social, economic, and environmental challenges
Unintended consequence: families prefer sons because they yield a greater
benefit to the parents. Ohhh so sad :/

Most pop. growth occurs in poverty-stricken, developing nations that are too ill-equipped to
handle pop. growth.
Our pop. grows by over 80 million per year
Pop. reached 1 billion just in 1800s
The population size will continue to grow
the growth rate peaked during the 1960s (baby boom) by 2.1%, then decreased to 1.2%, the
annual global growth rate (small decrease, large consequences)
Estimating Population Doubling:
70/(countrys percent growth rate)
Global: 70/1.2 = 58.3; will take approx. 58 yrs for pop. to double
China: 70/.5 = 140; will take approx. 140 yrs for pop. to double
Larger growth rate % = less time for pop. to double
Top 5 Nations
Population:
China - 1.34 billion
India - 1.21 billion
US - 312 million
Indonesia - 239 million
Brazil - 195 million
Impact rank (1 = highest total impact and 9 = lowest total impact):
1 China
2 US
3 India
4 Russia
5 Japan
6 Brazil
7 Mexico
8 Ethiopia
9 Belgium
1

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

IPAT model, incl. sensitivity

Population is one of several factors that affects the environment.
IPAT model - represents how our total Impact on the environment results from the interaction
among Population, Affluence, and Technology.
I=PxAxT

Demography - study of statistical change in human population; application of principles from population
ecology.
Demographers - study pop. size, density, distribution, age structure, sex ratio, birth rates, death,
immigration, and emigration of people.

Population Density
The uneven distribution of ppl across the globe
The uneven-ness means that some areas are more environmentally impacted than
others
Density is highest in regions with temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates
Density is lowest in regions with desert, rain forest, and tundra climates (aka extreme-climate
biomes)
Human pop. is dense along seacoasts and rivers; less dense away from water
At local scales, we cluster in cities and towns

Age Structure
definition - the relative numbers of individuals of each age class within a population
Helps predict future human pop.
A pop. with people past reproductive age will decline over time
A pop. with many ppl of reproductive/pre-reproductive age is will increase over
time
2

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Age Structure Diagram ( aka Population Pyramid)
Show the numbers of different age classes in a population

Canada (0.4% growth rate) has a fairly balanced age structure, while Madagascars
(2.9% growth rate) shows a distribution toward young people.

As Chinas pop. ages, older ppl will outnumber the young (by 2050)

Sex Ratio
definition - ratio of male to female dynamics
this ratio affects the population
Its been observed that for every 100 females, 106 males are born; males are more death prone
any stage in life, making the ratio approx. equal by the time ppl reach reproductive age.

Popn Growth
Population change results from birth, death, immigration, & emigration
Rates of birth, death, immigration, & emigration determine whether a pop. grows,
shrinks, or remains stable.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

Total Fertility Rate - Average number of children born per woman during her lifetime; key
statistic demographers use to examine a pop.s growth potential
Factors driving down TFR:
3

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

medical care
urbanization
Govt. (Social Security)
Educational opportunities (for women)
In Europe, these factors have driven TFR from 2.6 to 1.6 in half a century
Natural rate of population change - change due to birth & death rates ONLY, excluding
migration.
Replacement Fertility - the total fertility rate that keeps the size of a population stable.
For every human, replacement fertility equals a TFR of approx. 2.1 (2 Children replace
the mother & father, .1 accounting for the childs chance of death before reproductive
age)

Demographic Transition Model

Demographic Transition - a model of economic and cultural change to explain declining
death/birth rates in western nations as they industrialized
Demographic transition model stages:
Pre-industrial stage (1) - death & birth rates are high; death rate high b/c of
disease widespread, medical care rudimentary, unreliable/difficult to obtain food
sources; birth rate high b/c people compensate for infant mortality(death);
children are valuable as workers in this stage.
Transitional stage (2) - characterized by declining death rates due to increased
food production and improved medical care; birth rate high b/c ppl are not used
to new economic/social conditions and are still compensating for infant mortality
out of habit.
Industrial stage (3)- Industrialization increases opportunity, especially for
women; children become less valuable, in economic terms; access to birth
control exist and the choice to have less children; birth rate falls closing the gap
with death rates and reducing pop. growth.
Post-industrial stage (4) - birth & death rates fall to low stable levels; Pop. sizes
stabilize or decline slightly; no worries economically and no threat of runaway
pop. growth.

The Demographic Transition Model displays a process that has taken some populations from
a pre-industrial stage of high birth rates and high death rates to a post-industrial stage of low
birth rates and low death rates. In this diagram, the wide green area between the two curves
illustrates the gap between birth and death rates that causes rapid population growth during the
middle portion of this process.

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Family Planning
define - effort to plan the # and spacing of ones children.
birth control - effort to control # of children had by reducing pregnancy frequency
contraception - deliberate attempt to prevent pregnancy despite intercourse
Empowering Women reduces fertility rates
Women can potentially have very high fertility within their reproductive window but (b)
can reduce the number of births by delaying the birth of their first child to pursue
education and career and by using contraception to space pregnancies or to end their
reproductive window at the time of their choosing.

Poverty & Popn Growth

Pop. policies and family-planning are working around the globe
Reducing poverty lowers fertility
Expanding wealth increases the environmental impact per person

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Chapter 7 - Food

Iowa Farmers practice no-till agriculture.

Food Security
is the guarantee of an adequate, safe, nutritious, and reliable food supply available to all people
at all times, will be one of our greatest challenges in coming decades/the future

Food Production vs Popn Growth

Under-, Over-, & Malnutrition

Undernutrition - receiving fewer calories than the minimum dietary energy requirement
Many are undernourished b/c they are too poor to purchase food
Political obstacles conflicts, and inefficiencies in distribution contribute to hunger as well.
925 people worldwide suffer from malnutrition
Overnutrition - ppl consuming too many calories
Although 1 billion ppl lack access to nutritious food, many ppl consume too many
calories each day from overnutrition
Overnutrition leads to unhealthy weight gain > cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and
other health problems.
More than US adults are overweight; more than are obese
Malnutrition - a shortage of nutrients the body needs; occurs when a person fails to obtain a
complement of vitamins & minerals
can lead to disease

Biofuels - fuels derived from organic materials and used in internal combustion engines as
replacements for petroleum
Some biofuels reduce food supplies
In the US, ethanol produced from corn is the primary biofuel.

Traditional vs Industrial Agriculture

Agriculture
define - the practice of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption
We obtain most of our food and fiber from cropland and rangeland.
Cropland - land used to raise plants for human use
Rangeland - land used for grazing livestock
Agriculture covers 38% of the Earths land surface; 26% of this is rangeland & 12% is
cropland.
Traditional Agriculture
define - an approach performed by human and animal muscle power, along with tools
and machinery, to do the work of cultivating, harvesting, storing, and distributing crops.
(practiced today but not most common)
Traditional farmers typically plant polycultures (many-types) mixing different crops in
small plots on farmland.
Industrial Agriculture

Monoculture - (one-type) a highly organized approach to farming, leading to vast areas being
planted with single crops in orderly, straight rows
Makes farming more efficient, but provides fewer habitats in farm fields, reducing
biodiversity.
Genetically similar plants in one field
All plants become equally susceptible to viral diseases, fungal pathogens, or insect
pests that can spread quickly from plant to plant.

Seed Banks - institutions that preserve and conserve seed types

Green Revolution - (came in mid-late 20th century) agricultural revolution that introduces new
technology, crop varieties, and farming practices to the developing world and increased food
production in these nations drastically.
boosted production and exported industrial agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture is agriculture that maintains healthy soil, clean water, and genetic
diversity essential to long-term crop and livestock production; reduces environmental impacts
Low-input agriculture uses lesser amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, growth hormones,
antibiotics, water, and fossil fuel energy used in industrial agriculture

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

define - more powerful means of cultivating, harvesting, transporting, and processing
crops; uses large scale mechanization and fossil fuel combustion to agriculture, just as it
did to industry; oxen and horses are replaced with machinery
boosts yields by intensifying irrigation and introducing synthetic fertilizers, while the
advent of chemical pesticides reduced herbivory by crop pests and competition from
weeds
Industrial agriculture is a recent human invention and is practiced on over 25% of the
worlds cropland and dominates areas like Iowa.
Effects of industrial agriculture have been mixed

Soil Formation
Soil - complex system consisting of disintegrated rock, organic, matter, water, gases, nutrients,
and microorganisms
Soil consists of approx. 50% mineral matter and approx. 5% in organic matter
Soil forms slowly
Parent material - the base geological material in a particular location
broken down by weathering, which converts large rock into smaller rocks
bedrock - continuous mass of solid rock that makes up Earths crust

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

A soil profile consists of layers known as horizons

Mature soil consists of layers, or horizons, that have different compositions and characteristics.
Uppermost is the O horizon, or litter layer (O = organic), consisting mostly of organic matter
deposited by organisms. Below it lies the A horizon, or topsoil, consisting of some organic
material mixed with mineral components. Minerals and organic matter tend to leach out of the E
horizon (E = eluviation, or leaching) into the B horizon, or subsoil, where they accumulate. The
C horizon consists largely of weathered parent material and overlies an R horizon (R = rock) of
pure parent material.

Leaching - the process where solid particles suspended or dissolved in liquid are transported to
another to another location.
In some soils, minerals may be leached so rapidly that plants are deprived of nutrients

Regional differences in soil traits affect agriculture

Warm temperatures speed up decomposition of leaf litter and uptake of nutrients by plants

Soil Degradation - a process where soil deteriorates in quality and declines in productivity
Causes of soil degradation include:
Soil Erosion
Nutrient Depletion
Water Scarcity
Salinization - buildup of salts in surface soil layers
Waterlogging - over-irrigation causing water table to rise and water drowns plants,
depriving them of access to gases, suffocating them.
Chemical Pollution
Changes in soil structure and pH
Loss of organic matter from the soil
8

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Erosion
define - the removal of material from one place and its transport to another from wind or water.
Erosion can degrade ecosystems
Soil erosion is a global problem (dust bowl/Great Plains: TX, KS, NM, CO, OK)
Deposition - when eroded materials arrive at a new location and is deposited.
Erosion & deposition are natural processes that can help soil in the long run.
Causes of erosion include:
Over cultivating fields w/ poor planning or excessive tilling
Over grazing rangeland with more livestock than the land can support
clearing forests on steep slopes or with large clear-cuts
Soil Mgmt. Techniques
Techniques help reduce impacts of conventional cultivation on soils and combat soil
degradation.
The worlds farmers have adopted various strategies to conserve soil.
Rotating crops such as soybeans and corn (a) helps restore/return soil nutrients and
reduce impacts of crop pests; consists of alternating the crops grown in a field from one
season to the next.
Contour farming (b) reduces erosion on hillsides; consists of plowing furrows sideways
across a hillside, perpendicular to its slope and following natural contours of the land.
Terracing (c) minimizes erosion in steep mountainous areas; the transformation of
slopes into stairs allowing farmers to cultivate hilly land w/o losing huge amounts of soil
to water erosion.
Intercropping (d) can reduce soil loss while maintaining soil fertility; consists of planting
different types of crops in alternating bands or spatial arrangements.
Shelterbelts (aka wind breaks) (e) protect against wind erosion; rows of trees & tall
plants along the edge of fields slows wind down.
In (f), corn grows up from among the remains of a cover crop used in no-till
(conservation tillage) agriculture.

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Govt. Subsidies and Programs

Conservation Reserve Program - pays farmers to stop cultivating highly erodible cropland and
instead place it in conservation reserves panted w/ grasses & trees.
FAO - Food & Agriculture Organization
Agricultural subsidies affect soil degradation

*Food Production:
Water
Fertilizers - substances that contain essential nutrients
Pest Control
Pesticides - used to suppress pests and weeds
Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides
Pests evolve resistance to pesticides.
Biological control pits one organism against another.
the enemy of my enemy is my friend
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) combines varied approaches to to pest control.
Through the process of natural selection (pp. 4649), crop pests may evolve resistance
to the poisons we apply to kill them. When a pesticide is applied to an outbreak of insect
pests, it may kill all individuals except those few with an innate immunity, or resistance,
to the poison (resistant individuals are colored red in the diagram). Those surviving
10

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

individuals may establish a population with genes for resistance to the poison. Future
applications of the pesticide may then be ineffective, forcing us to develop a more potent
poison or an alternative means of pest control.

GMOs
Of the worlds genetically modified crops (a), soybeans constitute the majority so far. Of
the worlds nations (b), the United States devotes the most land area to GM crops.

11

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Animals
Different animal food products require different amounts of input of animal feed.
Chickens must be fed 2.8 kg of feed for each 1 kg of resulting chicken meat, for
instance, whereas 20 kg of feed must be provided to cattle to produce 1 kg of beef.

Producing different types of animal products requires different amounts of land and
water. Raising cattle for beef requires by far the most land and water of all animal
products.

Most meat eaten in the United States comes from animals raised in feedlots, or factory
farms. These locations house thousands of chickens (a) or cattle (b) at high densities.
The animals are dosed liberally with antibiotics to control disease.

12

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Organic & Local Food
Sales of organic food in the United States (a) have increased rapidly in the past decade, both in
total dollar amounts (bars) and as a percentage of the overall food market (line). Since the mid1990s in the United States (b), acreage devoted to organic crops and livestock has each
quadrupled, and the number of certified operations has more than tripled.
The average grocery store item travels 1,400 miles from its origin to your shopping cart.
This long distance transport consumes oil and contributes to pollution and climate
change.
Locally grown produce and locally made products cut down on the carbon footprint of
our food.
Make a difference
ask schools food director to buy locally grown produce
shop at farmers markets
partner w/ farmers in community supported agriculture programs
Corn-uses
Uses of corn include ketchup, peanut butter, Twinkies, cheese, cheez-its,salad dressing, jelly,
Coke, Sweet n' Low, syrup, juice, Kool-aid, batteries,charcoal, motrin, meats, feeding animals
like fish and cows, and fast foods.
The product containing corn that surprised me most was diapers!

Chapter 12 - Water

Freshwater locations
Only 2.5% of Earths water is fresh water. Of that 2.5%, most is tied up in glaciers and

ice caps. Of the 1% that is surface water, most is in lakes and soil moisture.

Water Cycle
Groundwater - water beneath the surface held within pores in soil or rock
groundwater is contained within aquifers, or porous sponge-like formations of rock, sand, or
gravel that hold water
13

BISCI 003 Exam Study Guide

Surfacewater
Rivers
Lakes
Wetlands
Watershed
Benthic
Ocean
Surface & Vertical Currents
Thermohaline Circulation
El Nino
Coastal Ecosystems
Estuaries
Salt Marshes
Mangroves
Rocky Intertidal
Kelp
Coral Reefs
Human Water Usage
Levees and Dams
Depletion/Overuse and Conservation
Water Pollutants
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Drinking Water Treatment
Bottled Water
Wastewater Treatment
Artificial Wetlands
Commercial Fisheries
Aquaculture

14