Week 3 Questions
Please reply to the following questions. Each response must have at least 150 words. Be sure to include a FULL APA reference and in-text citations. An internet resource is preferable.
Please reply to the following questions. Each response MUST have at least 150 words. Be sure to include a FULL APA reference and in-text citations. An internet resource is preferable.
- The decline of biodiversity at the hands of modern humans likely started even before the last Ice Ages. Recently some scientists have proposed a scenario called “Pleistocene re-wilding,” which offers an optimistic agenda for 21st-century conservation to bring back animals that disappeared from North America 13,000 years ago (see, for instance, “Restoring America’s Big, Wild Animals” by C. Josh Donlan, Scientific American, June 2007 issue, pp. 70-7).
Strictly from an ecological standpoint, what could the pros and cons be for populating areas with animals such as lions, cheetahs, hyenas, elephants, camels, etc.? How could this affect the dynamics of human and animal population? Which side of this idea would you be on? Why?
- Critically endangered animals, such as the Przewalski’s horse, the vaquita, and the kakapo, have either become extinct in the wild, or are soon to be doomed.
How were these animals physiologically suited to their environment? At this point, what more could you think of doing as a community to help preserve them?
- How does asexual reproduction make it difficult to define what constitutes an individual within a population?
- The age structure of a population can provide insight into whether the population is growing or declining. The presence of a large number of individuals in the young age classes relative to the older age classes often indicates a growing population. In contrast, a large proportion of individuals in the older age classes relative to the young age classes suggests a population in decline. What factors might invalidate this interpretation? When might a large number of individuals in the young age classes relative to the older age classes not indicate a growing population?
- What is the difference between a discrete (ΔN/Δt) and continuous (dN/dt) model of population growth? What is the difference between geometric and exponential growth?
- What environmental factors might result in random yearly variations in the rates of survival and birth within a population?
- What is the trade-off between the number and size of offspring produced for a given reproductive effort? How is this influenced by the level of parental care?
- What is the difference between r-selected and K-selected organisms? Which strategy would you expect to be more prevalent in unpredictable environments (high stochastic variation in conditions)?
