ECS 111 Homework Problems January 2018 1) Choose a region (state, province, part of a country or country) and discuss their carrying capacity relative to Lester Brown’s three factors. Include the constraint in terms of the current populations and future population trends. 2) Describe the various ways that water is used as an ecosystem service. How do these uses impact ecosystem function? Provide examples. 3) Discuss examples of soil loss and their causes. How can these be tied to population transitions in human civilizations? 4) What is meant by population transition? Briefly describe the recent changes in human populations and the driving factors involved. Historically what other transitions have occurred? Is this a constant process or have there been periods with larger changes? What has the role of technology played in different population transitions? 5) If births (b) are influenced by population density (N) such that b = bo - N, and deaths (d) by d = do + N rewrite the equation for population change dN/dt = (b=d) N as a logistic equation dN/dt = r N (1 – N/K). What are the r and K terms in terms of b and d? 6) The current turmoil in the Middle East is causing sharp transitions in populations and a great deal of environmental damage. Summarize the recent history of these events and the social economic problems behind them. Include an explicit discussion of demographics of the situation. 7) The western United States is currently experiencing a prolonged drought. It is especially severe in California.Write a short essay focusing in on one aspect of the situation. For example, one might discuss the impact this is having on a particular food such as almonds or a commodity such as cotton. Another topic might be wild fires. ECS 111 Spring 2018 Dr. Olson Writing Tips for Homework: Homework and rewrites of test questions will be graded primarily based on the scientific and analytical content of the work. This includes an adequate use of citations to appropriate literature, use of appropriate analytical tools including proper introduction and explanation of equations and calculations used to consider the problems, a concise discussion of the conclusions of the work. Homework assignments are considered part of your own work and therefore should not include material copied from other sources. To do so is plagiarism and will be grounds for disciplinary action. Below the basic formats expected and some guidelines for layout of assignments are outlined. References: Appropriate references are typically considered to stem from juried (reviewed) literature. This means that the work should have been reviewed and published in scientific or engineering journals. Citing textbooks is allowed when documenting well known techniques and or solutions to specific mathematical problems. In general, it is not appropriate to quote a text book when the object is to refer to a specific piece of work in the juried literature. Instead it ...