Page 92 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

think we should try to keep raising our carrying capacity? are asking for advice on how to focus their limited con-
Why or why not? servation funds. How would you rate the following three
4. Describe some of the challenges facing native species species, from most vulnerable (and thus most in need of
of plants and animals in Hawai‘i. What steps have been conservation attention) to least vulnerable? Give reasons
taken at Hakalau Forest NWR and elsewhere to address for your choices.
these challenges? What steps do you think biologists and • A bird with an even (1:1) sex ratio that is a habitat
managers will need to take in the future to safeguard generalist
native Hawaiian species, populations, and communities?
• A salamander endemic to the park that lives in high-
5. What are some advantages of ecotourism for a state like elevation forest
Hawai‘i? Can you think of any potential disadvantages?
• A fish that specializes on a few types of invertebrate
6. tHINK It tHRoUgH You are a population ecologist prey and has a large population size
studying animals in a national park, and park managers

Calculating Ecological Footprints

Americans love their coffee, whether it comes from Most coffee in Kona and elsewhere is produced in large
Hawaii’s Kona region or elsewhere in the world. In 2012, plantations, where coffee is the only tree species and is grown
coffee consumption in the United States neared 3.8 billion in full sun where natural forests have been cut. However,
pounds (out of 19.2 billion pounds produced globally). Next approximately 2% of coffee is produced in smaller groves
to petroleum, coffee is the most valuable (legal) commod- where coffee trees are intermingled with other species under
ity on the world market, and the United States is its leading a partial canopy. These shade-grown coffee plantations main-
importer. Given this data, estimate coffee consumption rates tain greater habitat diversity for birds and other tropical rain-
in the table below. forest wildlife.

Population Pounds of coffee per day Pounds of coffee per year
You (or the average American) 1 0.34 12.6
Your class
Your hometown
Your state
United States
Data from International Coffee Organization.

1. What percentage of global coffee production is consumed loss for forest-dwelling birds, such as the many song-
in the United States? If U.S. coffee drinkers consumed birds that migrate between Latin America and North
only shade-grown coffee, how much would shade-grown America?
production need to increase to meet demand? 3. If everyone in the United States were willing to pay as CHAPTER 3 • Ev ol u T i on, Bi odiv ER si T y, A nd Po P ul AT i on E C ology
2. How much extra would you be willing to pay per pound much extra per pound for shade-grown coffee as you are,
for shade-grown coffee as opposed to standard coffee, if how much additional money would that generate for bio-
you knew that your money would help to prevent habitat diversity conservation in the tropics each year?

STUDENTS INSTRUCTORS
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etext, and the Study Area with practice tests, videos, current graded activities, current events, videos, and reading questions
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