Human development index
McKee et al (2003), Jha and Bawa (2006) – Questions for Discussion
- What is the human development index? What factors does it consider? (1pt)
- What are biological hotspots? Why are they important to consider for biodiversity? (1pt)
- In the context of these papers, define “exogenous factors”. Give two examples of exogenous factors mentioned in the papers. (1pt)
- McKee et al 2003, Figure 1: What two variables are being compared in this graph? Why is the trend between the two variables important to know? (2pts)
- McKee et al 2003, Figure 2: In your own words, describe what this graph is showing. Approximately how many countries are expected to have a net recovery of species by 2050? (2pts)
- Jha and Bawa 2006, Figure 1: For the countries described in the graph, what is the relationship between HDI and deforestation rate in the 1980s? How does that change by the 1990s? Hint: Table 2 contains the correlation coefficient and p-value for these graphs. (2pts)
- Based on the results of these studies, why is it important to conduct ecology studies over several years and across several countries? Inversely, what benefits are there to short-term studies and studies conducted at the local/regional level? (3pts)
- Both papers focused on terrestrial ecosystems and species. How might freshwater and marine ecosystems be affected differently by local increases in human population density? (3pts)
- Do you believe that there should be restrictions on developing nations for the sake of preserving biodiversity? What measures could developed countries take to help? (3pts)
- Write out the citations for both articles using Ecology formatting. (2pts)
Answer preview
From the graph, it is evident that the deforestation rate increases with the growth of the HDI and decreases with the reduction of HDI. In the 1980s, the graph indicates that an increase in the HDI increases the level of deforestation rate (JHA and Bawa. 2006). Compared to the 1990s graph, in the 1980s, the deforestation rate was high, which was mainly attributed to poor environmental sustainability policies. Also, some countries with higher HDI may have implemented policies that are not oriented in environmental conservation.
Basically, in the 1990s, the scatter digraph illustrates that the diagram the deforestation rate reduces with an increase in the HDI. It shows that an increase in HDI lowered the level of deforestation. The change in HDI only did not trigger a decrease in the deforestation rate in the 1990s (JHA and Bawa. 2006). Instead, it is triggered by the reverse of the conservation policies implemented in the 1980s.
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Human development index
