Flashcards
Human Demographics
Flashcards do conjunto (16)
- 1Why do humans have such a high population density compared to what our body size says we should have?Humans are able to structure society in a way that allows us to avoid the things that normally reduce population density.
- 2What is Malthus' simplistic view as to why human populations will crash? What's the problem with this view?Population increases exponentially, resources increase linearly. It doesn't take into account technology which can increase resource availability.
- 3Why have human populations increased by a massive amount even though recently land used for agriculture has barely increased?While land used for agriculture has only increased a small amount, agricultural efficiency has increased by a large margin.
- 4What are the two reasons for rapid human population growth?1. Rapid decrease in mortality with no decrease in birth rates
2. Decrease in infectious diseases - 5Describe the 5 stages of the demographic transition model in terms of birth and death rates.1. Pre-modern: High birth and death rates
2. Industrialization: High birth rates but death rates decrease
3. Mature industrialization: low death rates, birth rates decrease
4. Post industrial: Low birth and death rates. - 6What are the three factors that affect birth rates.1. Per capita GDP
2. Income inequality
3. Education of women - 7What is an ecological footprint?The area of productive land required to support 1 person with resources to sustain their affluence.
- 8What is the equation for environmental impact?I=PAT
I= impact
P= population number
A = Affluence
T = technology - 9What are the three types of environmental scarcity? How do they arise?1. Demand-induced scarcity: result of high population number.
2. Supply-induced scarcity: result of degradation of resources
3. Structural scarcity: result of unequal distributions of wealth. - 10Have humans exceeded their carrying capacity?Probably.
- 11Why doesn't the optimistic guess of human carrying capacity make sense?Doesn't take into account equity, economic level, stability or biological impacts.
- 12What is the living planet index?The measure of the state of the world's biological diversity based on vertebrate population trends.
- 13Organisms must _____ or ______ due to climate change.1. Move
2. Die - 14What are the 3 changes that climate change causes?1. Range shifts
2. Phenological shifts
3. Change in ecological interactions - 15What is phenology?Study of periodic plant and animal lifecycle events
- 16Why does range expansion?It happens due to a reduction in climate related barriers along poleward margins. Can also occur along equator-ward margins caused by the imposition of intolerable climates.