CLUSTER M1A Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Resource Consumption, Carrying Capacity
Document Summary
Environmental problems exist because of human population size and rate of resource consumption and waste production. Carrying capacity (k)- the maximum number of individuals of a species that an area can support indefinitely. Ex: reindeer on st. matthew island: not native, introduced as food source for military, no predators on island, started with 29 of them, abundance of their food source, population grew to. 6,000 of them 20 years later, heavy snowfall one year, population dropped to 42 and then eventually zero (their carrying capacity probably around 2500) (big overshoot here - must be corrected with die-off) Population estimated to be 8 billion by 2024 (rate is slowing by about 1 year) Global rate of population increase: 1. 16% per year. Developed nations have relatively lower growth rates than developing nations. S1: slow growth rate, poor sanitation and medicine. S2: very rapid growth rate, when living in rural areas, having more children was an advantage.
