1. What do we mean by closed-canopy forest and old-growth forest?
Closed-canopy forests are forests where tree crowns cover most of the ground. Old-growth forests, or frontier forests, are those that are large enough and have been undisturbed by human activities for long enough for the trees to live out a natural life cycle and for ecological processes to happen normally.
Ok, which processes do you mean?
Old-growth forests exhibit a large amount of biodiversity and ecological complexity, built up from over years of growth and change. There may also be periodic cycles of death and renewal happening, leading to many generations of trees with different ages coexisting.
2. What land use is responsible for most forest losses in Africa? In Latin America? In Asia? (fig. 6.7).
In Africa, most forest losses are due to conversion to small-scale permanent agriculture. In Latin America and Asia, it is conversion to large-scale permanent agriculture.
e.g. what?
In Latin America and Asia, smaller farmers who do their own operations are beginning to be bought by corporations that bring in larger mechanized operations. As the land is already nutrient-poor (being in a tropical rainforest biome), the soil is drained after just a few years of cultivation ("slash and burn").
3. What is a debt-for-nature swap?
In developing countries, the need for resources is the greatest and can often override the need for conservation. These countries also owe much debt to banks, creditors, and other governments;
do they just "owe" it, or are they persuaded into going into debt to richer countries? How is this done?
It can be both. Many countries do give aid and loans to developing nations as a means to help development, but other countries have debt because of NGOs that exchange development, funding, or donations for promises of conservation policy changes or other investment in environmental measures.
developed countries then buy the debt and promise to cancel it in return for the preservation, conservation, or restoration of areas of biological importance.
It's an odd game, similar to the agri-business attack on smaller farmers: "you need this larger combine, we'll loan you the money to buy it. Can't pay us? We get your farm now"
Ever heard of this in NE?
This sounds like Russian loan sharks...
4. Why is fire suppression a controversial strategy? Why are forest thinning and salvage logging controversial?
Fire suppression lets dead and decaying plant matter to build up, increasing the risk for a larger and even more severe fire.
e.g. where?
The United States followed a policy of fire suppression for most of the 20th century. Fires in the Yellowstone, the Great Plains, and the Rockies were common until the Park Service started actively fighting any fires, wild or otherwise. This led fuel to build up, leading to big fires such as the Yellowstone fires of 1988.
Many biological communities also depend on periodic fires for regeneration, and so suppressing fires is a dubious strategy. Forest thinning programs were started to let loggers remove excess fuel from the forests; however, to make it profitable for them to do so, the government has also allowed them to harvest large, valuable trees in backcountry. Thinning projects are also exempt from oversight and regulations; this has led to the public to call it merely a cover for logging without laws. Salvage logging can actually increase fire susceptibility, and it rarely does what it is supposed to; loggers harvest free-standing trees instead of the underbrush that really is the cause for forest fires.
yep, but they got what they came for, what could motivate them to do otherwise? How could "enlightened self interest" be harnessed here?
What is "enlightened self-interest" again? This sounds really familiar...
5. What portion of the United States' public rangelands are in poor or very poor condition due to overgrazing? Why do some groups say grazing fees amount to a "hidden subsidy"?
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 55% of public rangelands are in poor or very poor conditions due to overgrazing. Grazing fees collected from ranchers and herders amount to only $11 million, while $47 million is spent every year to maintain and administer these rangelands.
Yep, is this just bad business, bad politics, economic re-distribution, or corruption?
This is mostly a case of bad business and politics, an example of outdated policy and bad subsidy that has not been rectified.
6. What is rotational grazing, and how does it mimic natural processes?
Rotational grazing is short duration, intensive grazing that forces animals to eat everything in a small area equally, trample it, and fertilize it with manure before moving on. This simulates migrating wild herds of animals that constantly stay on the move and graze on grass sustainably.
ok
7. How do the size and design of nature preserves influence their effectiveness? What do landscape ecologists mean by interior habitat and edge effects?
Reserves should generally be large enough to support viable populations of endangered species, keep ecosystems intact, and have adequate buffer zones to protect vulnerable core areas. However, smaller areas are better for species that don't need as much land, because multiple reserves can serve as insurance against disasters or disease. Proposed solutions include creating corridors between smaller reserves to combine them into a larger one. Interior habitats are deep inside habitat areas, allowing for conditions for more specialized species to exist. Edge effects are edge areas of a habitat that form a transition to the surrounding areas, and have varying conditions compared to the habitat itself.
This is a big deal in the state in which you now reside...
8. What percentage of the earth's land area has some sort of protected status? How has the amount of protected areas changed globally (fig. 6.18)?
Nearly 12% of the earth's land area has some sort of protected status. Since 1932, the amount of protected land area has steadily gone up, to 19.6 million ha.
Land, ocean, both?
This statistic is only for land area. I'm not sure how ocean preserves factor into this...
9. What is ecotourism, and why is it important?
Ecotourism is tourism that is ecologically and socially sustainable. This fuels public interest in the environment, which provides to sources of income needed fund park management and administration.
yep, pr for the beasties...
10. What is a biosphere reserve, and how does it differ from a wilderness area or wildlife preserve?
Biosphere reserves are protected areas that are divided into zones with different purposes, such as settlements, roads, and farming on the outer areas and research plus ecotourism in the inner areas. They differ from traditional wilderness areas or wildlife preserves by not having clear boundaries, instead recognizing the need for people to have access to the resources by having buffer zones and multiple-use areas around the perimeter.
yes, good answer...
Nice work.
aloha
b
hoang phong
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