Environmental Biology Essay Questions

The global population has reached 7 billion, and the resources required to support the increasing human population are limited. The carrying ability of an ecosystem applies to the infinite amount of animals that it can sustain indefinitely. Humans have a different carrying ability than most organisms because other creatures reproduce, eat resources, and communicate with their environment in predictable ways. Ecologists, on the other hand, find it impossible to measure human carrying ability when humans communicate with the environment in non-uniform ways. The carrying capacity is an estimation based on projected demographics, capital supply, and technological and economic growth. An ecological footprint is used to track biocapacity and comparing what humans can consume natural resources and the ability of the environment to replenish those resources ("Carrying Capacity - World Population"). Human population growth is a problem since the planet does not have the biocapacity to sustain current population growth and our level of consumption. The current population consumes more than the planet can replenish and this leads to depletion of resources. In other words, lack of balance in the ecosystem occurs, as a result of an overpopulated planet.

Essay Question 2

Three-factor model is used to show an impact on the environment. The model (I) has three factors; the number of people (P), affluence per person (A), and environmental effect of technologies used. The following equation is used to represent the environmental impacts; I=P*A*T ("The IPAT Equation"). Factors such as social, political and technical factors can be to the model, but this will make it very complicated. The environmental impact may also be expressed regarding resource depletion or waste accumulation. Population the three-factor model refers to the size of the human population in a given environment. Affluence relates to the level of consumption by the human population. Technology refers to processes applied by human population to obtain resources and ways of transforming them into wastes and goods.

Works Cited

"Carrying Capacity - World Population." World Population, 2016, http://worldpopulationhistory.org/carrying-capacity/.

"The IPAT Equation." Sustainablescale.Org, 2017, http://www.sustainablescale.org/conceptualframework/understandingscale/measuringscale/theipatequation.aspx.