What would happen to an ecosystem if all its decomposers and scavengers were eliminated?

Please answer the following 21 questions listed below will help you prepare me for my Midterm Exam. These questions
are not taken verbatim from the exam and do not cover every topic area associated
with the midterm but are provided as a guide to help me study and focus for the
midterm exam.

1. Look up the Environmental Worldviews described in Chapter 1 of Miller &
Spoolma.
a) Which one is closest to your Environmental World view? Why?
b) List the basic beliefs of your environmental worldview.
c) Are your actions consistent with your environmental worldview?
2. What are three major environmental costs of industrial agriculture?
3. How would including the harmful environmental and health costs in the market
prices for food bring about a shift to more sustainable agriculture? Explain in
detail.
4. Explain how coral reefs (Chapter 8 Core Case Study) are living examples of
the three scientific principles of sustainability. Include the zooxanthellae in your
answer.
5. What would happen to an ecosystem if all its decomposers and scavengers
were eliminated? Explain in detail.
6. Use the second law of thermodynamics to explain why predators are generally
less abundant than their prey.
7. A tree grows and increases its mass. Explain why this phenomenon is not a
violation of the law of conservation of matter.
8. Why do you think that about half of all attempts to create new wetlands fail to
replace lost wetlands?
9. What three things would you put on the top of your list to do, in order to insure
the continuation of species threatened by human civilization?
Last updated: 20 August 2018 EVN 330- Midterm Exam Study Guide
10. Explain how and why the Tropical Rain Forest soil is different from Temperate
Grassland Soil.
11. Explain why the soil of Tropical Rain Forests is so fragile.
12. Make a numbered list of the three most important features of your human
population policy.
13. Why could some developing countries get stuck in stage 2 of the
Demographic Transition? Explain.
14. Compare and contrast the population age structures of Niger, the U.S., Japan,
and Russia (Chapter 6, Miller & Spoolman).
15. What are three actions you would take, as a policy maker, to provide
sustainable supplies of water for the worlds population?
16. How do human activities increase the harmful effects of prolonged drought?
17. Make a numbered list of the three scientific principles of sustainability.
18. How would you respond if someone told you not to worry about Global Climate
Change because its just a theory? (Hint: Whats the difference between a
hypothesis and a theory).
19. What is the California Water Project (Chapter 13) and the Chinas South-North
Water Diversion Project?
20. What is the major sources of the water supply in your community.
21. Evaluate the food that your family wastes in a typical week. Develop
a detailed plan to cut the waste in half. Include at least 8 items in your list.

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