Global Warming Effects of Mating Behavior

Presenter: Emily Collins

Presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/secret/qbauz3aXPGHGhW

Readings

http://www.pnas.org/content/103/16/6248.full.pdf+html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1679901/pdf/rspb20063688.pdf

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/1/12.full.pdf+html


Expected Learning Expectations

At the end of this presentation, a fully engaged student should be able to

1) Name at least two ways warmer temperatures have affected animal mating behavior

2) Define “double brooding” and discuss what must happen in order for this to occur

3) Discuss examples of birds are positively affected by global warming, and what kind are harmed

4) Discuss how is warmer temperatures affecting the sex of Loggerhead Sea Turtle hatchlings

5) Discuss why Antarctic seabirds arriving and laying their eggs earlier or later than their relatives

6) Explain why are the Netherland Great Tits not as successful as their British counterparts in responding to global warming

Human Population Growth

I have spent a lot of time telling you that exponential growth is an unrealistic model of population growth. Interestingly, human populations have experienced exponential-like growth. How can this be?

What makes humans different from other species?

In other species per capita birth rates and per capita deaths rates are density dependent. However, as human populations have increased there has been no corresponding decline in per capita birth rates or increase in per capita death rates. What makes humans different from other species?

Humans have the ability to alter their environment so that they can avoid the density dependent effects on birth and death rates. 1) Humans have increased food production by improvements in agriculture (e.g., irrigation, fertilization, mechanized farming, genetically improved crops). 2) Humans have been able to decrease death rates by improvements in medicine and public health (things as simple as not pooping in the water you drink helps a lot!). 3) Humans have elimnated most human predators (ocassionally, someone gets killed by a shark or a mountain lion).

Where is human population growth occuring?

The rates of human population growth are not the same in all regions. Today, human populations are increasing in size much faster in developing countries (e.g., Mexico, other countries in Central America, Africa, and Southeast Asia) than they are in developed countries (e.g, USA, Canda, Western Europe). The figure at the top of this post shows the patterns of population growth in developed and developing nations.

Thus we see that populations are increasing most rapidly in the countries that are least able to deal with a rapidly increasing population. See "Population Challenges-The Basics" that can be downloaded from the Population Institute's website.
http://www.populationinstitute.org/population-issues/index.php

Human Population Growth Problem?

There is a great deal of debate about whether increasing human populations are a problem or not, and if they are what should be done about it. Unfortunately, we don't have time to discuss this issue in very much detail in class. My personal opinion is that we have too many people consuming too many resources and the last thing that we need are billions more people living on the planet. This is an issue that I am always intersted in talking more about if you would like to chat.

Further Reading

"Human Population Explostion" from the EoE.
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Human_population_explosion

World at ^ Billion- United Nations Report
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/sixbillion/sixbilpart1.pdf

Website

World Population Clock (and other interesting info)
http://www.worldometers.info/population/

Really Cool Video

Here is a link to a YouTube video on "World Population" The first minute and a half or so is a little boring, so you can skip over it if you wish. However, I think the animation showing when and where human population growth has been occuring is really cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BbkQiQyaYc

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- describe patterns of human population growth in developed and developing nations

- discuss some reasons why the pattern of population growth in humans is so different from that in other species

- describe the demographic transition

- discuss their own personal view of human population growth.

Presentation Schedule

March 30
Emily- The effect of climate changte on mating behavior.


April 1
Laura- Possum Kingdom Lake
Elizabeth- Invasive species- Asian Carp

April 6
Megan- Organic Foods
Kristi- Electropollution

April 8
Colleen- Ecological effects of the Tsunami on Sumatra
Kyle- Outbreak in Colorado Forests

April 13
Levi- Ecotourism in Sabah
Brittany- Looking for medicines in tropical rainforests

April 15
Obed- Destruction and restoration of prairies
Rebecca B- Geoengineering

April 20
Brad- Invasive snakehead fish
Devin- Disposing of medical wastes

April 22
Christine- invasive species
Steven

April 27
Geoff- Orcas
Rami- Invasive cane toads

April 29
Shauna- alternative vehicles
Rebecca- Nanotechnology

Midterm Exam

Date Due: Tuesday March 23rd


1 (25 points) Answer only ONE of the following. Maximum length one side of a page single spaced.

A) Discuss the characteristics of (i) species and (ii) communities that allow species to invade new communities.

B) Discuss the trade-offs that are required to allow disturbance-mediated and coexistence-mediated coexistence.

2. (25 points). Maximum length one side of a page single spaced.

Pretend that your roommate, best friend, or significant other not particularly concerned about the damage that humans are currently doing to the environment. Explain the many ecosystem services that biodiversity supplies in an attempt to convince them that they should care.

3. (10 points) Fun with Graphs.

A)


Explain how the future value (measured in dollars) vary over time for both simple and compound interest

B) Draw the graph that shows how (a) the distance travelled varies over time and (b) the speed travelled varies over time for the following scenario.

You leave your house and slowly accellerate to the maximum speed limit. Once you reach the maximum speed limit you continue at that speed for some time. You slowly accellerate in order to pass a car and you crash into an immovable object (of course, your airbag deploys correctly so you aren't hurt and you insurance buys you a new car).

4. (10 points)

Compare the species diversity between the following two communities using at least three metrics.

Community A
Species 1- 5 individuals
Species 2- 4 individuals
Species 3- 6 individuals

Community B
Species 1- 1 individuals
Species 2- 10 individuals
Species 3- 3 individuals
Species 4- 1 individuals
1

5. (15 points)

Lubbock, TX is located about 33 degrees North latitude in the Southern High Plains. Use your knowledge of the factors that influence to explain why Lubbock has the climate it does.

6. (15 points) Maximunm length one side of a single page.

I prefer to study organisms so I find ecosystem ecology to be a bit less interesting than many other areas of ecology. Choose a topic of ecosystem ecology and convince me that it is indeed important for students of ecology to learn about ecosystem ecology.

Biodiversity

Readings

Biodiversity- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Biodiversity

Species Diversity- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Species_diversity

Species Richness- http://www.eoearth.org/article/Species_richness


Slideshows

Biodiversity Slideshow- http://www.slideshare.net/secret/3SlLJpkXBCNrIU

Biodiversity Exercise: Candy: http://www.slideshare.net/secret/7WKffzpWlqKYYf

Species Diversity in Malaysian Bats- Exercise
http://www.slideshare.net/secret/iQrgbLVr19ozgo

Expected Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course a fully engaged student should be able to

- define biodiversity

- discuss components of biodiversity including species richness, species evenness, genetic diversity, etc.

- use diversity indices such as Shannon Index and Simpson Index