Unit 5 Blog Post- The Human Population

Vocabulary-

CBR- crude birth rate shows the # of births per year per 1,000 people
CDR- crude death rate shows the # of deaths per year per 1,000 people
TFR- total fertility rate shows the # of children born to a woman per year
Replacement Level Fertility- describes the # of children a woman should have to replace herself and her husband which averages at 2.1
Population Momentum- population growth at the national level that would occur even if levels of childbearing immediately declined to replacement level
Net Migration Rate- difference of immigrants and emigrants of an area divided per 1,000 people
Family Planning- program to regulate the # of children in a family through birth control
Affluence- amount of wealth a nation has
IPAT Equation- human impact (I) on the environment equals of population (P) times affluence (A) times technology (T)
GDP- total market value of all the goods and services produced by a nation
Population Pyramid- 

Making Connections-

1-2- At this point there will be very little environmental impact due to a smaller population and less resources being used. Most land used for farming.
2-3- Massive increase in land usage due to larger population. Much more resource usage but pollution kept somewhat low still.
3-4- Massive increase in land usage due to almost maxed out population. Resource and pollution at near peak. Most land consumed by cities and industry.

Current Event-

http://nypost.com/2014/11/11/8-indian-women-die-20-more-injured-after-sterilization-surgery/
On November eleventh, 28 women were rushed to private hospitals. The week before the government gave sterilization surgery to 83 poor women all under the age of 32. They were all paid ten dollars to participate. Compensation payments of about $6,600 were given to the families. Eight died and the other 20 were worked on to try to save them. At the time the article was written they had not yet figured out the cause. Three government doctors and the surgeon were suspended.

If the operations had gone well and without the injuries and deaths then it would help the severely overpopulated India. With the fact that most fathers want a son over a daughter they continue to try to have children until they get the son they want. With more successful sterilization it can cease this careless overpopulating. Sterilization can be very dangerous though as found out in the article. If performed incorrectly it can cause problems for the women that had them.

Big Picture Reflection-

Human Impact- The world's population is directly impacted by humans. The more children reproduced the larger the population of humans. If growth is too fast or too slow it can either wipe out resources or leave too much of unneeded resources. Larger populations that continue to grow tend to put out more pollution while smaller populations tend to live off of the land.
Environmental Impact- When populations grow and are able to easily sustain themselves they start to develop technology that is more for ease of life than for survival purposes. When this happens big industries form and can cause tons of pollution in the area. Although when they get big enough they may try to stop pollution from spreading it sill won't be entirely stopped. In rising up nations that enter industrial ages, pollution can become a permanent issue like what is happening in China.
Economic Impact- Larger, more advanced technologically, nations tend to spend tons of money on recreational products that stimulate economies. Smaller nations tend to not spend as much money and rely instead on growing crops. Growing nations either spend tons of money on not growing too big or on industry. The nations attempting to stop growth spend money on keeping conception of children down with either laws or perks if families are kept smaller.
Government Legislation- In China a one child policy has been in affect for years. It stated that families may only have one child but recently it has had some excuses. One way families could get away with having two children would be if neither parents had siblings. To prevent more overgrowing in India the government has been offering free classes on parenting education for newlyweds.

Unit 4 Blog Entry

 

Vocab:
Species Richness- number of species in a given area

Species Evenness- relative proportion of different species in a given area

Microevolution- evolution occurring below the species level

Macroevolution- evolution that gives rise to new species, genera, families, classes, or phyla

Evolution by Natural Selection- change in the genetic composition of a population over time as a result of the environment determining which individuals are most likely to survive and reproduce

Evolution by Artificial Selection- change in the genetic composition of a population over time as a result of humans selecting which individuals breed, typically with a preconceived set of traits in mind

Allopatric Speciation- process of speciation that occurs with geographic isolation

Sympatric Speciation- evolution of one species into two, without geographic isolation

Genetically Modified Organisms- organism produced by copying genes from a species with a desirable trait and inserting them into another species

Fundamental Niche- suite of ideal environmental conditions for a species

Exponential Growth Model- growth model that estimates a population's future size after a period of time, based on the intrinsic growth rate and the number of reproducing individuals currently in the population

Logistic Growth Model- growth model that describes a population whose growth is initially exponential, but slows as the population approaches the carrying capacity of the environment

Carrying Capacity- limit of how many individuals in a population the food supply can sustain
 

Keystone Species- species that is far more important in its community than its relative abundance might suggest

 

Current Event:
Biodiversity Hotspot- biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans; they are important because they contain a large amount of genetically varied species but could be destroyed
My hotspot is located in the Caribbean Islands and it has ecosystems ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus shrublands 
Endemic Species- species restricted to a certain area; Caribbean mahogany and Cuban solenodon
Deforestation is a huge problem there and is causing destruction of the only habitat most of the species can live in; the bringing in of certain alien species that invade, push out the native species
Efforts have been made to try to make certain areas protected and made into conservations

Pick A Side:
The fundamental niche of a species can both provide a perfect ecosystem and use a perfect ecosystem needed for life to survive. If more species can reach this than the species richness will increase. If the keystone species can undergo enough microevolutions to best fit the location than the ecosystem will follow the logistic growth model until the carrying capacity is reached.

Big Picture Reflection:
Human Impact- Humans can change the way species are when they artificially modify specific organisms into their own desirable species. They can also cause geographic isolation when they cut down trees and destroy parts of ecosystems.
Environmental Impact- When an organism reaches its fundamental niche it can rise up to the carrying capacity allowing for it to be preyed on more or allowing it to control other populations. Through natural selection, species could prosper or die off.
Economic Impact- When new breeds are introduced with artificial selection, they can be sold for higher prices than previous, more common breeds.
 Government Legislation- Laws are put in place to protect environments such as the biodiversity hotspots mentioned above. The efforts to keep the species richness up have grown in numbers over the years as more species reach endangered status.