Introduction to Population Ecology

Grizzlies Grizzlies

vs. vs.

Humans Humans

• What do the two organisms have in What do the two organisms have in common?common?

• How do they differ?How do they differ?

http://www.bear.org/images/GB_PhotoGallery2_03.jpg

Urcto actos horriblius

• Weigh from 300-1500 lbs.

• Can run up to 35 miles per hour

• Hind tracks are from 12-16 inches long

• Alaskan grizzlies can be 10 feet tall

• At the time of Lewis and Clark-50,00 bears in lower US.

• Now approx. 850 bears in lower US

Think about this…

• What do grizzlies eat?

• What has caused the decline in their numbers in the lower US?

Do now…

• Draw a graph representing grizzly populations in the lower US for the past 150 years

Grizzly Food Preference

Grizzly Range in 1850

Grizzly Range in 1920

Current Distribution: Lower 48

A Grizzly Slide Show

• http://www.sierraclub.org/grizzly/slideshow/

Now, switch gears…to humans!

China

• Greatest Genocides of the 20th Century• Turkey's Slaughter of Armenians 0.5 - 1.0 million• Hitler's Holocaust 6 million• Pol Pot's Killing Fields 1 - 2 million• Stalin Extermination of Jews 10 million• Mao's Great Leap Forward 10 - 20 million• Chinese One-Child Policy 5 - 10 million

(Since 1979)

Do now…

Define the word “Infanticide”

The History of China’s Population Growth

One child-One family policy

• Begun in 1979

• Penalties included: – fines – loss of employment– mass abortion– involuntary sterilization– Infanticide

Funded indirectly by US through UNFPA

UNFPA

• Stands for “United Nations Fund for Population Activities”

• Now known as…

“United Nations Population Fund”

Recent trends in China

Problems with population control…

• Too few females!

• Too many males (40 million without hope of marriage)

• Infanticide

• Aging population/Few young people

CONCLUSIONS…

“The primary cause of declining grizzly populations, and China’s population issues is…”