ESRM EXAM 2

How does the diet of people change when the forest is flooded compared to the non-flooded periods (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')?

When forest is flooded, most trees bear fruit. around this time, probably because water helps disperse seeds.

How did west European societies view people living in forests:

criminals, robbers, 'crazies', i.e., no one in right mind would live there.

Why can the example of pimples appearing on a human face be used to describe how we make bad decisions in forests?

Because it treats the diseases that keep countries from moving up in HDI Making choices that do not decrease societal ability to adapt or to not degrade resource endowment

In the wet tropics, plants have learned to protect themselves from the many animals that want to eat them as food. What is a primary plant protection mechanism against animals? For plants, why is their response to animals so effective? Do the plant protective approaches work on humans? Today, what benefits do humans derive from these plant protection approaches?

A primary plant protection mechanism against animals is a diversity of defensive chemicals that would stop animals from eating them.

Why did the British Navy need to continuously find new supplies of trees to build or to repair old ships? What happened to Columbus on his 4th journey to the Americas and why did he spend almost a year in Jamaica? Why were the new colonies in the Asian tropics important for the British navy?

Because building one new ship required 2,000 individual oak trees, repairing one ship required 435 individual oak trees. British navy continued to expand. Trees also not used very efficiently. On Columbus 4th voyage, all his ships sank due to damage by shipworms. Columbus forced to land on Jamaica, marooned for 1 year before rescue. The new colonies in Asian Tropics important for British navy because (India) had teak trees resistant to shipworm and good for building ships and because they lost american colonies (wood supply).

Why do coffee growers need to develop niche markets for coffee? What is an example of a niche market for coffee? Have you drunk this 'niche' coffee? What problems have arisen in this niche market?

An example of niche market is Cat shit coffee, quit literally civet cats eat coffee beans, shit them out, shit is washed off, worlds most expensive coffee. These niche markets are important for coffee growers because they can charge higher rates. A problem is that animals used for this production are caged and inhumane conditions. Elephant shit coffee also a thing.

A study conducted in Indonesia explored what factors will drive people to migrate to another area to live. What did this study report was the most important factor explaining this? Do extreme disturbances, e.g., volcanic eruptions, cause people to migrate and go live somewhere else? What is the link between volcanic eruptions and soil nutrient status? [Science Magazine; 19 Jun 2014 Vol. 344 #6190]

Average air temperature is the most important factor on whether people relocated elsewhere or stayed in their homes (Above 25 degrees celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit led people to migrate. Misconception, frequency/severity of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions) do not cause people to permanently relocate. Volcanic eruptions produce the best soils, materials spewed out mouth of volcano high in nutrients.

In wet tropical forests, why do people need to practice shifting agriculture? Why is shifting agriculture not practiced if you live along rivers? Define shifting agriculture and explain why it allows people to grow food crops in nutrient poor soils. Speculate why people just can't grow all their food in the riparian areas?

Because soil is nutrient poor, has toxic chemicals, therefore food quality low and low food options.

How is climate change impacting indigenous people who historically survived well in cold places? [Reading

Better for humans to live but loss of traditional practices and cultures. Humans nomadic at both extremes of temp. Eskimos do not migrate, eat seals, walruses, and seaweed.

In England, the British crown had a policy that marked all trees deemed suitable for building ships for the royal navy even if they did not own the trees. They tried to use the same policy in its American Colonies to have trees shipped to England. What was this policy called? What was the response of the American colonialists to this policy? Did this policy cause the over-exploitation of forests in the Americas? (See Reading)

Broad-arrow policy. Policy did not work in American Colonies, Americans did not like or respect this policy. Therefore, policy did not have any effect on deterring over-exploitation of forests or causing it. English can not be blamed for over-exploiting American forests because they lost control of americas. What occurred 200-300 years later was over-exploitative but not during this time. Clearing land by early colonialists for farming was not over-exploitative of forests.

If you live in a region of the world with extremely cold climates, how would you and other animals survive? Are people less healthy when living in extremely cold climates?

Cold frozen ground not good for farming, eat animals or fish (not survive as vegetarian). Took lots of food (5 or 6 steaks could still lose weight) due to energy used to keep people warm.

What past land-use practices did indigenous people use to increase food production that western scientists did not recognize (Hint: DICE)? What conditions were indigenous people attempting to address on their lands?

D- Deforestation I- Introduced new land species C- Created large garbage dumps along rivers in late pre-history (produced rich soils, terra preta soil) E- Encouraged weeds

Starting about 50 years ago, people in industrialized countries felt they had a right to be included on the decisions being made on forest uses on public lands. What drove this change? Define democratization of forest uses when you answer this question.

Democratization. What drove this change was forest over-exploitation and unequal distribution of forest economic benefits. Democratization - active participation of public in policy and management decisions regarding forests and ecosystem services derived from forests.

When European colonialists conquered the world, they drastically impacted nomadic people's ability to survive from their customary lands. Explain why this occurred? Historically, which biomes do people have to be nomadic to survive?

Desert, tundra, extreme cold or hot

What was the purpose of the first Debt-for-Nature [DFN] swap and who developed this program? What explained why the first DFN program was established in Bolivia? Why would Bolivia accept a DFN? Who benefited and who were impacted from the Debt-for-Nature swap in Bolivia?

Developed by Beni Biosphere Reserve in 1987, they bought government debt (ex Bolivia) to incentivize bolivian government to establish the reserve. Reason for DFN/DNS in Bolivia was because it was a hot spot for biodiversity. Government benefitted, bad for local communities (no consideration by government on how this would impact them, kicking out of lands).

The key components needed to build a soil can be shown using a scientific equation. What equation did Dan show you in class? Is it possible to construct a 'soil' if you are missing some of the components included in the equation, e.g., bugs or microbes?

Dirt + OM + organisms + ... = soil

During Henry VIII's reign [early 1500 CE], what drove the wide spread deforestation in the English countryside? What was the role of the Hanseatic League in British ship building? What two industries were responsible for forest loss in England during this time?

During Henry VII's rule, England imported almost everything including armaments. The Hanseatic League is what the British navy depended on for materials to build ships. But they could not control these supplies, had to compete with other European countries and pay lot of money for them Ship building industry and foundries to manufacture weapons (cannons, guns, etc) these industries needed so much wood that led to rapid deforestation.

Why do societies need the Ecosystem Services forests provide? What would happens to societies losing forest ecosystem services? Are ecosystems services economically traded in global markets? As part of this question, define Ecosystem Services.

Ecosystem services are global commons, benefits from ecosystems (food, water, regulating services as flood or disease control, cultural services, supporting services) maintain conditions on earth or habitat for animals (UNEP) that we do not pay for. Environmentalists introduced the idea that ecosystem services have rights even if they do not provide human benefits at a global scale. Societies losing forest ecosystem services would lose biodiversity. Ecosystem services are not economically traded in global markets.

How may a countries consumption of resources acquired from another country impact the success of its conservation projects within its country borders? Use an example to answer this question. What is the take home message from your example?

FINLAND & CHINA -increasing forest protection in-country without decrease in their wood demand; needing to increase foreign imports of wood [in this case] from Russia. Easier to Make Sustainable Choices for Local Forests since Not Dependent Upon them for Survival, opposite for emerging countries.

High HDI ranked country always ranked as making more environmentally friendly choices compared to low HDI ranked countries. What is wrong with this statement?

False sense of security when making environmental decisions

n the Amazon Basin, what provides the 'caboclos' or local people the starch and protein they need in their diet? (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')

Fish and manioc

How did the U.S. Forest Service policies on the uses of public forest lands change after the 1960s. What was their policy before the 1960s? What happened to the quantity of timber sold from Forest Service lands after the 1960s?

Forest degradation linked to over-exploitative practices raised public concern. It changed the US forest service and how decisions were made. Reasons: fears of resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, massive starvation. REAL reason: causing intervention and action by societies! Before 1960, main job was to protect people from fires. Before 1960, forest policy for its uses was development oriented (make money), professional foresters (Focus on timber only), "Iron Triangle": Forest service, congress, forest industry. After 1960: new environmental laws, increased participation by public in policy making. Biologists, ecologists, hydrologists, archaeologists, and sociologists joined foresters in managing public land.

People who are subsistence survivors find it easier to survive if they live next to or in forests. But not all forests are equally good for human survival. Explain this statement? Speculate how adaptive forests are too a diversity of environmental changes compared to humans? If you met an extraterrestrial, where would you tell them to go to live on earth [Reading]?

Forests in which there are moderate, comfortable temps and rainfall occurs every month are best suited for human survival. Forests where it is too cold or too hot or there is too much or too little rain to grow crops are not well suited for human survival. If I met extraterrestrial, I would tell them to live in a moderate area where it is not too cold or too hot as well where there are forests, moderate temp, and rainfall occurs every month.

What term is used to describe people eating clay? Historically, why do people eat clay and where do you still find people following this practice today? Why would a human eat clay?

Geophagy is the term used to describe people eating clay. Historically, people ate clay as a traditional cultural activity during pregnancy, religious ceremonies, or as a remedy for disease. Some pregnant/lactating women in Africa eat clay for nutritional intake, some eat as filler in stomach because they lack food. people globally eat clay but particularly common in central Africa and southern US Clay consists primarily of hydrated silicates of aluminum, fine-grained, firm, earthy material that is frequently plastic when wet and hardens when heated. Widely used in making tiles, bricks, and pottery.

In the wet tropical forests of the Brazilian Amazon, how does the river make it hard but also easier for both plants and animals (including humans) to survive?

Grow food along banks of river, drinking water, fishing, travel easily. However flooding is bad and dangerous animals

Before supporting economic development projects, international organizations rank a countries development potential [e.g., the Human Development Index (HDI)]. What does HDI tell about a country that they can't get from looking at a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? List what HDI uses to rank countries.

HDI tells you that the higher the human development potential appears to be, the higher the health of soils and higher temperate climates. What is used to calc: health, economic status, educational opportunities.

What disturbing trend did the American scientist (Michael) note when he visited the local fish markets? What is the implication of what he noted for the people who survive from the forest and for the continued persistence of the forest? (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')

He noticed that the fish at market had become much smaller, even the same species as before had shrunk. This indicates that fisherman have over-exploited most of main fish stocks, consequently, began capturing very small fish.

Why is capybara an important food source if you live in the American wet tropical forests? How were capybara caught in the video clip you saw from Venezuela? If you can't get capybara, what else could you eat to get the same benefits? As part of your answer, describe what a capybara is.

High in protein, herded like cattle in Venezuela. Capybara is giant cavy rodent native to South America. It is the largest living rodent in the world. Guinea pigs also have same benefits.

What is the relationship between the HDI ranking of a country and whether its people are mostly employed in natural resource-based or service-based economies? What is the problem with characterizing a country by whether it consumes natural resources or not? What type of employment opportunities are commonly found in countries ranked low by HDI? Speculate what these views mean for our views of nature?

Higher HDI, most people employed in service-based economies. Lower the HDI, more people natural resource-based economies. Agricultural employment commonly found for countries with low HDI

Why don't history books include forests when they recount stories of the building of empires and past civilizations? How does the BASF advertisement help you to answer this question? Speculate how challenging it would have been for human to develop and build great civilizations without access to other people's forests?

History recounts stories of people and strategies they took to build empires or why they lost battles. History written by victors, and not losers, so they don't tell stories of how they stole someone's forests. BASF AD (Chemical company): "We don't make a lot of the products you buy, we make a lot of the products you buy better". History written from official reports, files, court documents, financial papers, newspapers old family papers.

If you want to a healthy life style, why do you need to know what soils are used to grow your food? Why is this statement correct - 'the plant that you eat is only as good as the soil that it grew in'?

Humans are only as healthy as the nutrients they get from the soil via the food we eat.

[BBC YouTube clips entitled Elephant Cave] Why do elephants go into dark caves in central Africa? What mineral element is low or lacking in their food that they eat on the surface of the ground? Is it dangerous for elephants to go into dark caves?

In areas where vegetation is low in sodium, elephants go into caves to scrape the cave walls for the salts the rock contains. The mineral element that is low or lacking in food that they eat is sodium. It is dangerous due to the darkness which can lead to injury or the amount of predators around or in the caves.

Why did the industrialized countries feel that they had the right to impose their values on forest uses in the less industrialized tropical countries who owned these forests? Speculate why these less industrialized tropical countries were not interested in having industrialized countries decide how they use their forests?

Industrialized countries felt that developing countries should adopt their environmental values of stopping deforestation in high biodiversity areas (not including indigenous people). They felt they had this right because they made forests and biodiversity common resources to avoid "tragedy of the commons" (economic theory of situation in which shared-resource system where individual users act contrary to common good by depleting resources).

Do farmers manage their 'soils' when practicing intensive or industrial scale agriculture to increase their crop yields? Are farmers focusing on improved plant breeds to increase their yields and ignoring the soil? Why do farmers need to be concerned about the impacts of high fertilizer application rates on their soil quality and health in intensive-scale agricultural operations? What is a limiting factor for continuing intensive agricultural practices today?

Intensive/industrial scale agriculture is highly dependent on petroleum for fuel, fertilizer, and synthetic pesticides. Unmanaged soils release nutrients to plants in amounts related to the soil's "nutrient supply capacity". If the soil is not healthy, sufficient nutritious foods cannot be grown to feed people depending on it. Must intensify our management of soil/crop production. Land cultivation for agriculture decreased the organic matter content of a soil by 50%.

How does knowing the amount of forest, pasture, agricultural fields, ice or desert area found in a country tell you about how difficult it will be for people to survive in a region? If you compare the U.S. to the rest of the world using this information, how difficult or easy is it to make decisions for natural resource uses in the U.S.? Based on this data, will the U.S. have a smaller or larger disturbance footprint compared to the world?

It determines the survivability of the region and the ease of which humans can survive in it. It is easy to make decisions for US natural resource use.

Why do you find some ecosystems having a large number of keystone species? Are keystone species important food sources for humans or are they mostly beneficial to the survival of wild animals? Why? What story did Disney fabricate about one keystone species and why would they produce a movie like this in 1958?

Keystone species are important food sources mainly for other animals. No keystone, population crashes of animals dependent on them for food. Crane flies favorite food of migratory birds. Brown lemming is a herbivore keystone species that Disney made a movie about. Disney perpetuated a mass suicide myth- this never happened, just good movie shots (caught public attention that high population sizes equal mass suicide).

Throughout human recorded history [From ~2500 BCE until the mid-1800s CE], global forests were mostly controlled by one group of people. Who were they people? What did these people do in their forests and how did they treat people who trespassed and hunted or collected resources from their forests? Why explanation did CIFOR 2013 give to explain why past feudal practices still impact forest uses in present day Ethiopia? (Reading)

Kings and rulers mostly for 4000 years (2500 BC to 1800 CE. Used forests for hunting. Hunted for social interactions (bonding with members of same social class), hunted for recreation, and hunted for war training skills(never know when king might ask you to give soldiers to fight war). Medieval women also hunted (Cudgels/clubs used for clubbing small animals by women). they kept peasants out. Peasants punished for killing animals in noble forests (fined or killed for collecting from land or killing animals). Penalty for someone who peeled bark of a tree (eventually kills the tree) would have navel cut out, nailed to tree, and driven round the tree until guts wound about tree trunk. Since expansion of Ethiopian kingdom in 13th century, when kings would degrade landscape wherever they went, many farmers stopped planting trees. Feudal past still discourages Ethiopia's farmers from planting trees.

Years before Great Britain controlled who could access India's teak forests, which country bought teak growing in India to build boats and developed a rich regional maritime business recognized around the world? What is unusual about this country becoming a major maritime power? During the 17th and 18th century, what did this country harvest using ships built out of teak wood?

Kuwait. Harvested pearls using teak trees during 17th and 18th centuries. Once they found oil, no longer harvested pearls. What is unusual about this country becoming a major maritime power is that it is a desert country.

Dirt and soil are not the same thing. What does each term define? Which term describes a healthier growth medium for plants? What does the 'surface mining' practice of removing the upper soil layer mean for future plant growth? What is the take-home message of the video you entitled 'Soil is not DIRT'?

Soil describes a healthy growing medium for plants. Main component of soil is dirt as well as dead organic matter, bugs, earthworms, microbes, water, air, etc.

By destroying forests what utilitarian value did you lose since no longer building ships using wood

Loss of safe haven, disruption of society

John Gast's 1872 painting "the Manifest Destiny" was used to entice Euro-American settlers to move westward in the Americas. What activities did the painting suggest settlers should pursue in these western lands? How were Native Americans portrayed and impacted by the Manifest Destiny?

Manifest destiny is a religious belief that US Should expand from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean in the name of God (popular view of America at the time). Called "Spirit of the frontier" distributed in tourism pamphlets, displayed settlers moving west, protected by goddess like figure and aided by tech (railways, telegraphs). Suggested settlers should colonize, farm and tame lands. Also suggested Native Americans as dark, suggested natives and bison should be driven into obscurity.

Why is cassava an important food source for people living in the American, Asian and African wet tropics? Why would you not only want to eat cassava? What other trade-off issue do you face if you eat cassava? How do you deal with this other issue if you are going to eat cassava without having health issues?

Manioc/cassava staple food in amazon and africa. contains poisonous cyanide compounds, careful prep required. Does not need high levels of soil nutrients.

During class, a comparison was made between the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking of a country and its climatic conditions. What climatic conditions are generally found in countries ranked high by HDI? What relationship, if any, exist between a countries HDI ranking and whether forests are privately or government owned? Can a country increase its HDI rank by just increasing the amount of private ownership of forests?

Moderate conditions. Lots of forests in countries with moderate HDI in 2013 and now very high HDI. Higher HDI means high amount of forests privately owned (Direct relationship/correlation). Country cannot increase HDI rank by increasing amount of private ownership of forests.

One sustainability myth you heard in class states 'Rural people do not support conservation values'. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

No, fewer people working in agriculture higher HDI rank

What is the impact of forest floods on the life of the people and wildlife who live in the Amazon Basin? How many months can forests be flooded or inundated with water in the Amazon basin? How do people and animals adapt to living to these flooded landscapes when you cannot walk on the ground? (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')

Often had to relocate and rebuild houses. Can be six months before water levels lower.

The Bio2 is a 'closed system', i.e., the atmosphere inside the closed system was totally isolated from the outside environment. It was built in a desert where soils are naturally alkaline but included a tropical forest that grows in acidic soils. How do you convert a desert soil into an acidic tropical soil? Why did the tropical soil cause health problems for the 8 people who lived for two years in the Bio2?

Organic matter was added to the desert soil to try to acidify it. However, too much organic material was added to the soil, microbes start decomposing the OM, which decreased O2 to abnormally low levels (too low for human comfort) and increased CO2 was absorbed by rock which did not slow decomposition, vicious cycle. Not enough oxygen for people living there, too much co2 (get kidney stones).

When a country is classified as an outlier in the quantity of resources it consumes compared to other countries under similar climatic/edaphic conditions, is that country sustainably consuming resources? When you are identified as an outlier country in energy consumption, generally are you a High or a Low HDI ranked country? Explain OUTLIER when answering the question.

Outliers- Consuming more or less than a comparable group of people living under similar environmental and/or climatic conditions No, either too much or too little resources consumed. Linked to high HDI

Where did Portugal get the wood they needed to build ships that allowed them to form trading partnerships with northern African countries? What did Portugal call the island where they cut trees to build ships? After cutting the trees, what did they grow on the treeless lands? What is the link between Portugal and the 13 original American colonies? Why did Great Britain not like the close interactions that developed between Portugal and the American colonies?

Portugal got the wood to build ships from an island called Madeira, or "wood island". They started planting vineyards on the treeless lands. The link between Portugal and the 13 original colonies was that they enthusiastically consumed a quarter of all wine produced on the island every year (no wine quality grapes grew on thirteen colonies). Madeira wine contributed to American revolution: British seized John Hancock's sloop after he unloaded cargo of madeira wine and dispute rose over import duties. Colonists sold Portugal the wood the oak they needed for wine barrels.

About 100 years before the rest of the European countries (starting in 1415), Portugal was an active sea faring nation and had formed successful trading partnerships with northern African communities. Why were they so successful? What prevented other European countries from competing with Portugal during this time period? During the 1600-1700 CE, why were sailors afraid to go on long sea voyages?

Portuguese started colonizing 100 years before rest of Europe because invented and designed an ocean-travelling ship called the caravel. Made advancements in navigation tools (Portuguese were first to navigate using latitudes). These technologies saved Portuguese sailors from unnecessarily long voyages (>5years) shipwrecks, commercial losses, accidental discoveries, and not returning home. Sailors during 1600-1700s were afraid of scary sea monsters attacking ships. They did not know where they were going, could travel back home or fall into abys at edge of earth (since they thought Earth was flat).

Out of the three general category of values you heard about during the beginning of class, what attitudes do the local people living in the Brazilian Amazon have towards nature? Are they afraid of, revere, or view nature as only providing them survival resources [i.e., utilitarian]? How would you characterize their view of how they fit into nature? (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')

Reverence towards nature,

During intensive agricultural practices, what happens to soil organic matter levels? Do organic farming and intensive agricultural practices have the same impacts on soil organic matter levels? Why should we care if we lose soil organic matter or soil carbon from soils when farming?

Soil organic matter levels drop and are depleted during intensive agricultural practices. Organic farming and intensive agricultural practices do not have the same impact on soil organic matter levels. We should care if we lose organic matter or soil carbon from soils when farming because the soil will no longer be able to support the growth of plant matter. Every time we harvest a crop, we remove soil nutrients which is why we must fertilize our intensively managed agricultural fields.

Why are forest certification protocols being used to assess whether coffee production is sustainable? What do local coffee growers need to practice to become certified and for Starbucks to buy their coffee beans? Are there any benefits for a local coffee grower to participate in Starbucks certification program when coffee markets are global?

Sustainably grown coffee grows under a forest canopy, is used to provide credible assessment if coffee production is sustainable. For local coffee growers to become certified and for Starbucks to buy their coffee beans, must grow in forest shade, creation and maintenance of forest buffer zones around forest reserves. Less use of chemicals, must be Arabica beans with no blemishes on bean. There are few benefits (unless they find niche market) for local coffee grower to participate in certification when global markets determine international prices for coffee beans.

More than 2,000 years ago, people in the tropical forest regions of the world successfully increased the organic matter contents of their naturally low carbon soils. How did these people increase the soil carbon contents and what are these soils called today? Today, how important are these soils for farmers living in the tropical regions? Globally, how wide-spread was the practice of local communities increasing their soil organic matter levels?

These people increased the soil carbon contents by making "terra preta" an anthropogenic soil with enhanced fertility due to its high levels of soil organic material (SOM) and nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium) in a landscape of infertile soils. This was made by adding charcoal to infertile soil. These soils still very important for farmers living in tropical regions.

Western educated scientists have many ecological fallacies of tropical forests. Mention one of these fallacies and how would it impact your view of indigenous communities? How would this view affect whether you would allow indigenous communities to live in a forest?

They assumed tropicals were pristine wilderness. One fallacy is that forests were fragile and highly susceptible to degradation with any human use. This would mean I would not want allow indigenous communities to use these forests.

Between 1200 to 1700 CE, why were trees important for the European countries to colonize and conquer other lands? Since supplies of trees were already scarce at this time, what vicious cycle resulted from this demand for trees? What evidence tells us that the Europeans were very successful colonizers and conquerors of land during this time?

Trees were so important for European countries to colonize and conquer other lands because they were used to build ships. The evidence we have that tells us the Europeans were very successful colonizers and conquerors of land is the amount of forests that they decimated.

Why did industrialized countries initially try to use global trade markets to control what other countries did with their forests and did it work? How did Forest Certification differ from controlling trade markets? How does forest certification work and who ultimately benefits [i.e., the producer or supplier of a forest product] when it is implemented? Define forest certification.

They did this to impose their environmental values on to what other countries did with their forests, it did work (Ex. brazil trade embargo due to high deforestation for sale of lumber). Forest certification, on the other hand, was a voluntary third person assessment that forest materials were collected sustainably, a stamp that would allow a buyer to know when and type of sustainable practices used to produce products. This was market-based solution where buyers buy using values, determines whether your resources will have a global market share. Forest certification benefitted the countries who supplied forest products by ensuring sustainability. PROBLEM with forest certification: costumers want cheapest product, not using environmental values HUMANS are cheap.

Why would one country destroy another countries forests during warfare or civil conflicts? Is this a practice that occurred in the past or does it still exist today? Use an example to answer this question. [Reading: 'Forests, warfare, and global history']

They would destroy another countries forests during warfare or civil conflicts because forests were used to build ships and because they provided protection and hiding spots for armies. Destroying someone elses forests became a weapon of war Ex. Spanish armada attacked south coast of england and destroyed english royal forests.

Why did we say that a theater stage is a good analogy for the role soils have for human survival and health? HINT: How are human health problems, low food quality and soils linked to one another? What is geophagy and what does it have to do with soils? What happens to human/animal health if they do not practice geophagy?

Think of land as stage, stage surface varies (Soil factor determines what can be done on stage or resource availability or what land use is possible. Low food quality is linked to low quality soil and human health problems. Low quality soil causes low quality food causes human health problems. Geophagy practice of eating earth, especially clay. Without geophagy, humans can have mineral, salt, and iodine deficiencies.

The first great civilization founded in Mesopotamia developed a form of agriculture that allowed them to feed their expanding population. What is this agriculture called today? Could this civilization flourished if they had not developed their new agricultural practices? Does this statement contradict what Montgomery wrote as a myth "Myth 1: Large-scale agriculture feeds the world today"? [Reading: Healthy soil is the real key to feeding the world]

This agriculture is called intensive, year-round agriculture. It consisted of large-scale cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organized irrigation, and specialized labor-force to farm. This civilization could not have flourished without new agricultural practices, because their agricultural practices meant fewer people had to be involved in farming, lead to development. Did not contradict what Montgomery wrote, as both Montgomery and Sumeria believed most food came from farmers who had less than one hectare of land.

In the Brazilian Amazon, local people have a myth about the pink dolphin. What is this myth? Why would local people living in tropical forests tell stories about pink dolphins?

This myth is about the Botos (pink dolphin) which would turn into young handsome men, carry off young women or get them pregnant (baby being born part dolphin is how you know Botos was involved). Only at night, turn into dolphin during day.

During the time of Louis XIV - King of France(sun king) - an ordinance entitled 'Ordonnance des Eaux et Forets' [Water and Forests] was passed. What was the purpose of this Ordinance and how did it impact whether we have forests in France today? France makes high quality ________ ________ today because ________ trees were planted because of this ordinance.

This ordinance is why we have forests in France today. Secretary of State, Colbert was more important in creating this ordinance because he recognized forests and water needed to be maintained to be future ship building and naval power. Some motives behind ordinance are hunting for recreation and collective use of forests to build warships. Influenced other countries in Europe by making them recognize they needed forests for ships. France makes high quality wine barrels because oak trees were planted because of this ordinance.

Globally, many societies collapsed during the Medieval Global Warming period. What caused some civilizations to collapse during this time period while others flourished? Speculate whether we can experience similar global warming events today as what occurred during the Medieval Global Warming period? Where in the world were people most vulnerable to global warming events?

This was good for Europe (northern especially), the result was that people could live in big cities (not everyone needed to farm to grow crops in order to survive). However, bad for other civilizations ( we know they collapsed because of ruins of their civilizations). bad for civilizations with hot or dry temperatures (rainforests or deserts).

In the wet tropics, why do sloths climb down from the top of the tree to the base of the same tree once a week? What is unique about the one energy source that sloths can use at any time for food and can feed their young? What bizarre habit have researchers recorded sloths practicing and what would explain this behavior?

To take a shit. Eating algae on their fur gives energy (ex to go down tree) or to feed young. The bizarre habit is going into human toilets and eating the shit.

When Euro-American settlers first began colonizing and moving westward in the Americas, why were trees cut? Did trees have economic value at this time period? Was this cutting considered to be over-exploitative? What was the ideal forest condition for a Euro-American settler during the 1800s?

Trees were first cut for redemption, e.g. manifest destiny, progress (clearing lands for farming), to be civilized, and because they had fear (these lands are scary places that need to be tamed, animals saw humans as food). Trees had no economic value at this time. This cutting was not considered to be over-exploitative.

Do 'caboclos' or local people have any ecological knowledge that University scientists would want to include in their research on these tropical forest ecosystems? Why did the American scientist (Michael) call caboclos 'scientists'? (Video 'Amazon: The Flooded Forest')

Yes, he called them scientists because they must understand the life history and ecology of the plants and animals that they exploit in order to be successful (oral natural history).

Wet tropical forests are a difficult place for humans to survive despite its high insect, plant and animal diversities. Why? How does your answer help explain the relative intactness of wet tropical forests today? Can you survive by eating plant leaves you collect from trees in these forests? Do animals and humans have to worry about eating plants found growing in these tropics? How healthy are humans dependent upon forests for their survival?

Yes, plant toxins bad. Due to decoupling from soil.

democratization

active participation of public in policy and management decisions regarding forests and ecosystem services derived from forests.

What does it mean for your survival if you are 'decoupled' or unable to access your soils to grow food crops? What would make a group of people not be able to use their soils to grow food crops? In general, past societies who did not have access to using their soils needed to become __________ to survive?

chemical toxicity, hot or wet climates can decouple one from their soil. Had to become hunters