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Solutions to the energy crisis
• David’s idea: Do everything
– Increase fuel economy standards for US autos
– Provide every incentive for development of
vehicles that don’t use petroleum
– Increase energy efficiency across the board
– Increase investment and provide incentives
for development of renewable energy
– Invest in nuclear power
One third of primates risk extinction
• Primates In Peril: The World's Top 25 Most
Endangered Primates ( Report by Conservation
International and the IUCN).
• Primates die as forests shrink
• Only humans are increasing
Decline in frog populations worldwide
Passenger Pigeon
- In 19th century, the most numerous bird on the planet. (Over one billion in the U.S. )
- Fly at speeds > 60 MPH.
- Flocks darkened the skies for miles.
- Last sighting in the wild in 1900.
- In 1914, at 1 PM, the last one died in a zoo in Cincinnati.
- Reasons for extinction (50y): 1: Hunting for meat (passenger pigeons were very tasty) 2: Hunting for sport (Record: >30,000 pigeons) 3: Deforestation
How many extinct species can you name?
Oregon silverspot butterfly
Habitat: salt-spray meadows or coastal dunes Larvae feed on western blue violet Adults feed on wildflowers
Reasons for decline: -Reduced fires → loss of meadows (succession) -Invasive plants replace violets -Herbicides and pesticide use
Solutions: -Mowing -Regulation of coastal development -Control spread of invasive plant species
Threatened in WA
Primary causes of
extinctions:
1: Habitat loss
2: Hunting
3: Introduced species
Japanese knotweed
ornamental introduced in 1800s
Current distribution
Japanese Knotweed
• Invading throughout
Skagit and Whatcom
counties
• 18 feet tall with
pizza-sized leaves
• Hard to kill
Photos from Skagit Valley Herald
Spartina anglica
• Changing coastal
ecosystems in WA
• Mudflats → marshes
• Reduces wave energy
• Reduces mudflat
habitat used by birds
Photo: WA State Noxious Weed Control Board
Endangered Species Act
"Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than
the rich array of animal life with which our country has been
blessed." Richard M Nixon
- Endangered Species Act (1973)
Coordinated by the USFWS and NMFS
- 1982 amendment to ESA: Habitat Conservation Plan
- 1,800 species now listed as threatened or endangered in US
- “Under attack” in congress
Gray Whale History
• 45’ coastal whales
• Feed on benthic organisms
• 10,000 mile migration
(Longest any mammal)
• Atlantic population extinct by 1700
• Two Pacific populations nearly exterminated
• Placed on Endangered Species List
• 1995: Removed from ESL (population > 20,000)
• ESA success story
Photo from NOAA
Makah Treaty of 1855
- Hunted Gray whales for 2000 y
- 1920s: hunting ceased
- 1995: Gray whale removed from
ESL
- 1998: Makah granted permission
to take 5 whales per year
- 1999: Killed a 2-y old Gray whale
- 1972 Marine Mammal Protection
Act – whaling halts
- 2005: Makah apply for MMPA
waiver to continue hunting
- 2007: Five “rouge” Makah kill
Gray whale without permission
Endangered species
• Habitat alteration is the number one
reason for extinction
• Given increasing human population size,
how can we prevent extinction?
Living Natural Resources
“What is common to the greatest number gets the least
amount of care.” - Aristotle
• Topics
- Public goods and the Tragedy of the Commons
- Solutions to the problem of public goods
- Examples
- Fisheries management and max. sustainable yield
- Forest management
Tragedy of the commons
- Another animal = one unit of benefit for herdsman
- Another animal is bad for the commons, using extra
resources (minus one unit of benefit)
- If the resource is shared by 100 individuals, negative
effects to the herdsman is 1/100 units.
- It is logical for the herdsman to continue to graze more
sheep on the commons → the commons is destroyed.
Solutions to the tragedy of the
commons?
• Regulate access to the resource
• Privatize the resource
• Example: Fisheries
Northern Shrimp
ME NH MA Total
Gulf of Maine northern shrimp landings by fishing season (December to May).
Data from MA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
MT (thousands) Pandalus borealis
Northern Shrimp MSY
Maximum sustainable yield versus
maximum economic yield
• Which would be lower (more conservative)
– Maximum sustainable yield of a public resource?
– Maximum economic yield of a private resource?
• Maximum economic yield!
• MSE is lower than MSY due to
– Reduced costs and capital
– Higher fish value
Privatization vs. Regulation
• Ways to regulate a fishery
– Limited entry into fishery
– Gear limitation
– Limited catch per fisher
– Limited fishing season
– Limited total allowable catch
– Private ownership: Fishers regulate
• Advantages of the different strategies?
Example 2: George’s Bank Fishery
Which is more important, preserving benthic habitats or fishers’ livelihoods? Film
Trawling in Alaska
Alaskan deep-water corals
Photos: Seattle Times
Diverse deep—water coral communities are diverse and provide essential fish habitat.
North Pacific Fishery Management
Council bans trawling in AK waters
Trawling banned in most of Alaskan waters. (over ½ million squ. mi.)
Trawling will continue in traditionally fished areas.
Opposite of traditional wildlife reserve approach
Alaska Trawling Ban
Primary forest: Mostly late successional species, few understory plants
Secondary forest: Relatively uniform age distribution, early successional species
Changes in primary forest from 1620 – 1920
Most US forests are secondary
Most forests in US were “clear cut”
- Reduce productivity
- Reduce nutrients
- Reduce biodiversity
- Promote soil erosion
- Reduce water quality and groundwater flow
- Release CO 2 , eliminate CO 2 sink
- Eliminates other forest-related products
Recent data from U.S. Forest Service
Who owns US forests?
Where do our forest products come from?
What is the best way to regulate
use of natural resources?
- Regulation of access?
- Privatization?
