Name: ___________________________________________________________________________________

BIO 511: Current Environmental Issues and Problems

FINAL EXAM

Answer all the questions from the list provided. Take care to address each component of the exam question.

1. Climate change has emerged as the greatest danger of the 21st century. This danger is believed to be
greater than the third world war or the collision of any asteroid with the Earth. Climate change has been
manifesting itself in the form of irregularities and disturbance in the climate cycle as fallout of increase
in the temperature of the Earth due to the phenomena of global warming. Discuss the causes,
consequences and possible solutions to climate change. Discussion should give emphasis to issues we
have discussed in class such as fisheries depletion, ocean acidification, biodiversity, pollution, food
security, disease outbreak and others. (20 pts.)

2. Invasive species are often assumed to be driving native species to extinction when they spread into
places that don’t have the predators and diseases that normally control their populations. However, some
ecologists believe that our expensive fights against introduced species often do more damage than the
invader might have caused in the first place. These ecologists think that most of the time, introduced
species are simply responding to opportunities that human changes to the environment have created. Do
you also support this idea? Why or why not? (10 pts.)

3. Explain why you agree or disagree with the following ideas:

a) everyone has the right to have a as many children as they want
b) all people have the right to use as many resources as they want
c) individuals should have the right to do anything they want with the land they own, regardless of
whether such actions harm the environment, neighbors, or the local community
d) other species exist to be used by humans
e) all forms of life have an intrinsic value and therefore have a right to exist

Are your answers consistent with the belief making up your environmental worldview? (10 pts.)

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Explain to the residents that standing dead trees and fallen timber provide habitats for wildlife, and also keep
nutrients recycling in the forest. The long-term gain is a healthier forest, which will provide both economic and
ecological services into the future.

If removal of the dead trees is eventually decided on, explain that they should be removed via selective cutting
so that surrounding healthy trees will not be harmed or destroyed in the process. This process would not be as
0i-quick as clear-cutting, but would maintain the forest that this resort depends on for its livelihood.

Invasive species are often assumed to be driving native species to extinction when they spread into places that
don’t have the predators and diseases that normally control their populations. However, some ecologist
believe that our expensive fights against introduced species often do more damage than the invader might
have caused in the first place. These ecologists think that most of the time, introduced species are simply
responding to opportunities that human changes to the environment have created. Do you also support this
idea? Why and why not?