Human Population Growth
True or false? Human population growth is evenly distributed geographically.
False
4% = more-developed countries
96% = less-developed countries
What equation is used to determine population change?
Population change =(Births + Immigration) – (Deaths + Emigration)
True or false? Is atmospheric pressure greater near the Earth's surface?
True
Describe the difference between weather and climate in terms of time.
Weather = hours to days
Climate = decades or longer.
Factors impacting rapid rise of human population?
Emergence of agriculture
Increased food production
Technology
Drop in death rates with improved health care
Why is the U.S. fertility rate decreasing but its population size still increasing?
Immigration
What is the term for an advancing cold air mass that stays close to the ground, wedging below warmer air?
Cold Front
List the greenhouse gases.
H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O
What are the three age structures and roughly what ages are in those categories?
Pre-reproductive (ages 0–14)
Reproductive (ages 15–44)
Post-reproductive (ages 45 and older)
What is the difference between the replacement-level fertility rate and the total fertility rate?
Replacement-level fertility rate
• Average number of children a couple must bear to replace themselves
Total fertility rate (TFR)
• Average number of children born to women of childbearing age in a population
Where are tornadoes most likely to occur, and why?
Most occur in the Midwestern United States because of collision of dry, cold front from Canada and warm, humid air from Gulf of Mexico
Explain the five factors that determine regional climate.
(1) Cyclical movement of air driven by solar energy and convection; (2) uneven heating of the earth's surface by the sun; (3) tilt of the earth's axis and seasonal changes; (4) rotation of the earth on its axis (Coriolis effect); (5) ocean currents redistributing solar heat.
What two indicators measure the overall health of people in a country?
Life expectancy
Infant mortality rate
Name three factors that affect birth and fertility rates.
Importance of children as part of the labor force
Cost of raising and educating children
Availability of pension systems
Urbanization
Educational and employment opportunities for women
What roles do mountains play ecologically?
Large portion of world’s forests
Islands of biodiversity
Habitats for endemic species
Help regulate the earth’s climate
Major storehouses of water
Role in hydrologic cycle as water
storehouse (snow, ice, glaciers, streams)
What makes El Niño different from La Niña?
El Niño pushes warmer waters toward the Americas, moves the Pacific jet stream south, makes the northern U.S./Canada drier and warmer and the Gulf Coast/Southeast wetter with more flooding. La Niña pushes warmer waters to Asia with upwelling of colder water off the Americas, moves the jet stream north, brings heavier rain/floods and cooler winters to the Pacific NW and Canada, and more droughts and warmer winters to the southern U.S.
What is cultural carrying capacity?
Maximum number of people who could live in reasonable freedom and comfort indefinitely, without decreasing the ability of the earth to sustain future generations
Name three problems associated with rapid population decline.
Threatens economic growth
Labor shortages
Less government revenues with fewer workers
Less entrepreneurship and new business formation
Less likelihood for new technology development
Increasing public deficits to fund higher pension and health-care costs
Pensions may be cut and retirement age increased
What affects the changing of weather?
Moving masses of warm or cold air
Atmospheric pressure changes
Occasional shifts in major winds
List the three climate types and give an example biome for each.
Tropical, temperate, polar. Biomes include polar ice, arctic tundra, coniferous forest, cold desert, temperate deciduous forest, chaparral, temperate grassland (prairie), temperate desert, tropical rainforest, tropical grassland (savanna), tropical desert. (Any three climate/biome pairings.)