Carrying Capacity
Task 1: Rapa Nui
- What happened? Use the flash cards to figure out the narrative for what happened to this island.
- Write down what happened in your notebook.
Carrying capacity is the maximum number of a particular species that a specific ecosystem can sustainably support. As we have seen humans can exceed their local carrying capacity by several means including trade to import resources. Thus human carrying capacity can also be viewed as the maximum load (rate of resource harvesting and waste generation) that can be sustained indefinitely without reducing productivity and functioning of ecosystems wherever those ecosystems are. Thus human carrying capacity is better viewed not so much as population size but as areas of land that support that population. An ecological footprint is the area required to sustainably support a given population rather than the population that a given area can sustainably support. An ecological footprint is therefore the inverse of carrying capacity and provides a quantitative estimate of human carrying capacity. The ecological footprint of a population is an area of land (and water) that would be required to sustainably provide all of a particular population’s resources and assimilate all its wastes.
Task 2: The 5 mark exam style question. Please answer it in the book.
Who are the 2 people below, why are they important? Explain why you would support one person over the other. [5]
Who are the 2 people below, why are they important? Explain why you would support one person over the other. [5]
Ecological Footprints
Task 3: Measure your ecological footprint.
a. Click the link opposite and complete the measurement
b. Find out what your result is.
c. Write down in your notes the result, your ecological footprint. In 1 long paragraph, explain your results.
Here's how the ecological footprint is calculated in general.
Ecological footprinting converts various kinds of consumption and waste production into a land area needed to produce or service it.
Ecological footprinting converts various kinds of consumption and waste production into a land area needed to produce or service it.
|
Task #4: Map out the footprints of Asia
a. Use the data from the site opposite to create a chloropleth map. b. Open the site and categorise the data under "Ecological deficit or reserve" for the on the Asian countries map below into 5 groups and assign each group a colour. c. Download the map below and use "SUMOPAINT" to colour the map according to the category. d. Create a legend that reflects colour and footprint respectively. |
Task 5: Investigate the ecological footprint of 2 economically differing countries.
The ecological footprint may vary between countries, particularly of different economic development. Explain why 2 countries of different economic by creating your own exam style resource booklet. This will help you to answer the any EF related question but also allow you to have a more holistic picture of the topic, better understand the resource booklet structure and prepare you for the exam.
The resource booklet will be assessed similar to the 9 mark question on the exam and use the same rubric below.
The ecological footprint may vary between countries, particularly of different economic development. Explain why 2 countries of different economic by creating your own exam style resource booklet. This will help you to answer the any EF related question but also allow you to have a more holistic picture of the topic, better understand the resource booklet structure and prepare you for the exam.
- Try to compare and contrast the EF of two countries while exploring how the EF is calculated for both.
- Try to cover each of the areas of the EF: Cropland & Footprint, Grazing & Footprint, Forest & Footprint, Fishing Ground & Footprint, Carbon Footprint, and Built-up Land
- Try to use a mixture of data, picture evidence, maps, charts and graphs.
- Consolidate this by developing 5 questions that would correspond to the resource booklet.
The resource booklet will be assessed similar to the 9 mark question on the exam and use the same rubric below.
Past paper examples
|