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Studying Diet of Desert Scorpions: Ecological Organization and Population Growth

An ecologist is tracking the diet of desert-dwelling scorpions to study their ecological organization and population growth. Learn about different levels of ecological organization, population growth curves, carrying capacity, ecological footprints, and the global carrying capacity for the human population.

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Studying Diet of Desert Scorpions: Ecological Organization and Population Growth

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  1. Ecology

  2. An ecologist is studying the diet of a group of desert-dwelling scorpions, which have many types of potential prey (insects, small mammals, etc.). She tracks the scorpions to see how much they eat of each prey species. What level of ecological organization is she studying? Organism Population Community Biome

  3. Population Ecology Populations vary from each other based on: Size Density Growth rate

  4. Exponential growth

  5. Types of growth curves: J vs. S 1. If you have a population growth curve that shows a decrease in the growth rate as the population size approaches carrying capacity, you would say that population is exhibiting which type of growth? 2. Growth rate during exponential growth is greatest at the highest population level. TRUE OR FALSE 3. Growth rate is greatest in the logistic growth model at the highest population level. TRUE OR FALSE

  6. Carrying capacity (K):

  7. Is our population growing exponentially? Is it still going to grow? What measures have been effective at curbing population growth? What is the carrying capacity for humans? What can happen if we exceed it? HUMAN POPULATION

  8. Is the carrying capacity going to depend only on the number of humans?

  9. Ecological Footprint: measures the amount of earth surface that anindividual or a country needs Size of land depends on: land to provide all resources a person needs land to dispose of all waste produced by a person

  10. Choices affect footprint size: • Your throwing a part, what do you use? Disposable plates or regular plates • You want some orange juice? By oranges, buy orange in a jug juice, buy a can of frozen juice • You want to take some nuts as snack? By a big bag and put them in a small container, buy prepackaed snack size • When should you buy apples? Fall, winter, spring, summer

  11. EcologicalFootprints vary between countries 4. Which country has the largest personal ecological footprint? a. Australia b. United States c. China d. Russia 6. The personal ecological footprint of Australia is more than 2.5 times that of China, but Australia’s national footprint is only 4% the size of China’s footprint. Which of the following is a correct inference from these data? A. Individuals in China use more ecological resources than individuals in Australia. B. The geographic area of China is larger than the geographic area of Australia. C. The population of China is much larger than the population of Australia. D. The population of Australia is larger than the population of China. 5. When the total area of ecologically productive land on Earth is divided by the global population, the “fair share” for each individual is 1.7 global hectares (gha). In which countries does the personal footprint exceed the “fair share”? Select all that apply. Russia Nigeria Mexico India China Australia United States Why does it matter if some people have greater footprints than others?

  12. The size of the Ecological Footprint for each of us will determine the Earth’s carrying capacity for humans

  13. Why do Americans consume more than others?Are there solutions?

  14. Select the correct statement about the global carrying capacity for the human population. • The global carrying capacity for the human population is limitless because technological advances allow food supply to keep up with global population growth. • B. Estimates of the global carrying capacity for the human population depend on resource use per capita. • C. It is impossible to calculate the global carrying capacity for the human population.

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