Go to the Earth Systems Laboratory and open a browser to the web address for this exercise:
http://geosci.sfsu.edu/courses/geol103/labs/new/ecology
PART I: Assessing human population growth
1. Graph the human population estimates and projections on the graph paper provided. Plot the population every 100 years, from 1000 to 2050. Be sure to label your axes and connect each successive data point with a straight line.
Is the global human population still growing? Is the growth linear or exponential?
2. Based on your graph, how many years did it take for the human population to double before and after 1700? Given the equation (doubling time in years)=70/(percent annual growth rate), determine whether the percent annual growth rate of the human population has decreased, remained constant, or increased over time? Show your work.
3. When do you think the human population explosion occurred? Give two reasons why it might have occurred during that period of human history.
PART II: Humans and the marine food chain
4. For each of the trophic (or food chain) levels below, list (at least one) marine and land organism/s that humans eat. Search the web if you cannot think of an example.
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Marine Organisms |
Land Organisms |
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Primary producers (plants/phytoplankton)
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Herbivores (plant/phytoplankton eaters)
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Carnivores (herbivore eaters)
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Have you or anyone you know ever eaten a land carnivore?
If so, what species was it?
Do you think its population could sustain the impact of humans eating it regularly? Why or why not?
List the species of marine carnivore that you or anyone you know has eaten.
5. As the human population grows the demand for food from the sea increases. In response, technological innovations that make fishing more efficient are economically valued. Past and present experience reveals that such economic demand can drive ocean species to extinction. Search the web and the recommended links to learn how humans have influenced the populations of some (edible) marine animals and answer the following questions. Choose one of the following marine carnivores that is commercially fished along the west coast of the United States.
Sardines: Recommended link -- http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/99001.html
Salmon: Recommended link -- http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/esa/c2-DecliningSalmon.htm
Squid: Recommended link -- http://www.sanctuaries.nos.noaa.gov/special/special.html
Summarize the historical and present state of this animal's population. You can make a verbal description, draw a graph, or sketch a time line.
State three factors that control the size of this animal's population.
Would you recommend that humans continue to hunt and eat this species?