1. Land and Water Use: DO-NOWS

2. Design an integrated pest management scheme for a small vegetable garden in a city lot behind a house. How would this scheme differ from integrated pest management used on a large farm? What aspects of IPM could not be used? How might the artificial structures of a city by put to use to benefit IPM?

3. Under what conditions might grazing cattle be sustainable when growing wheat is not? Under what conditions might a herd of bison provide a sustainable supply of meat when cows might not?

4. You are sent unto the Amazon rain forest to look for new crop species
You are sent unto the Amazon rain forest to look for new crop species. In what kinds of habitats would you look? What kinds of plants would you look for? Could the rainforest soil be assimilated?

5. Should genetically modified crops be considered acceptable “organic” farming? Explain.

6. You are about to buy your mother a bouquet of 12 roses for Mother’s Day, but you discover that the roses were genetically modified to give them a more brilliant color and to produce a natural pesticide through genetic energy. Do you buy the flower? Explain your reasoning and justify it using what you understand about genetic modification.

7. Can a wilderness park be managed to supply water to a city? Explain.

8. What are the environmental effects of decreasing the rotation time (accelerating the rate of cutting) in forests from an average of 60 years to 10 years? Compare these effects for (a) a woodland in a dry climate on a sandy soil and (b) a rain forest.

9. What environmental conflicts might arise when a forest is managed for the multiple uses of (a) commercial timber, (b) wildlife conservation, and (c) a watershed for a reservoir? In what ways could management for one use benefit another?

10. In a small but heavily forested nation, two plans are put forward for forest harvests. In Plan A, all the forests to be harvested are in the eastern part of the nation, while all the forests of the west are set aside as wilderness areas, parks, and nature preserves. In Plan B, small areas of forests to be harvested are distributed throughout the country, in many cases adjacent to parks, preserves, and wilderness areas. Which plan would you choose?

11. Describe an ecological island you have visited
Describe an ecological island you have visited. Which species are most vulnerable to local extinction?

12. Why are we so unsuccessful in making rats an endangered species?

13. Of the eight justifications described in chapter 13, which apply (if any) to the following organisms: black rhino, Furbish Lousewort (small rare flower), newly discovered beetle, smallpox, wild strains of potatoes, and the North American eagle.

14. Both a ranch and a preserve will be established for the North American bison. The goal of the ranch owner is to show that bison can be a better source of meat than introduced cattle and at the same time have a less detrimental effect on the land. The goal of the preserve is to maximize the abundance of the bison. How will the plans for the ranch and preserve differ, and how will they be similar.

15. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested three key indicators of the status of the grizzly bear: (1) sufficient reproduction to offset the existing levels of human-caused mortality, (2) adequate distribution of breeding animals throughout the area, and (3) a limit on total human caused mortality. Are these indicators sufficient to assure the recovery of this species? What else can be done?