Chapter 23 Lecture Enrichment Ideas
Exponential growth can be illustrated by a sequence where one bacterium merely splits into two each half hour. While the sequence builds slowly at first, it soon explodes into huge numbers. You can relate the legend of the vizier who supposedly invented chess, asking merely for grains of wheat, one on the first chess square, two on the second, four on the third, for 64 squares…a huge number and more wheat than was in the kingdom.
Math equations are not taught by mere explanation; actual numbers should be plugged in and several trials run with each formula so students can grasp that as N approaches K, growth is dramatically reduced.
Ask students for other examples of r-strategists and K-strategists. Natural and human disturbance favors many weed species. Which strategist can best take immediate advantage of a new crop monoculture? Ask why predators that are more K-strategists take longer to catch up with pests. If an insecticide is sprayed eliminating both pests and predatory insects, why is the following insect infestation usually worse?
Discuss the political resistance to the ideas presented in this chapter, as people in the more developed countries (MDCs) refuse to give up their behaviors of high consumption and as those in the less developed countries (LDCs) want a better life for themselves.
Consider the arguments raised by citizens of LDCs and of MDCs about how to reduce the problems of increasing population and pollution and of decreasing natural resources. Propose ways to reduce all these problems through international cooperation.
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