Homework 3, due fri oct 15, 2010
		ENVR 30: Fall 2010 

1. Pick one topic you find interesting in environmental science (you can
look at the syllabus for some ideas).  Write a one page report on this
topic.  You can combine facts you get from the book, internet, articles,
etc. with opinions and conclusions.  The purpose of this exercise
is to get you to organize some information and thoughts on a topic.
Please make sure your grammar and spelling are correct (i.e. carefully
proofread what you write;  best way is to read it out loud slowly to
yourself).

2. Do the calculation 1. on page 93 of chap 3.

3. Do Illustration and Table review 2 on page 93 of chap 3.

4. Name the six elements most important to life.

5. Where is the majority of carbon stored?  The majority of Nitrogen?  The
majority of Phosphorus?

6. From ecology's point of view what is a "weed" and why do they grow in
vacant lots?

7. What are the two laws of thermodynamics?  What is entropy?

8. In the carbon cycle, roughly what percentage of the CO2 released by 
burning fossil fuels ends up in the atmosphere?

9. On the whole planet, how many tons of biomass is produced each year.  
Express this number in Trillions of tonnes.  (Note 1 metric tonne = 1000 kg
= 2200 pounds or about 1 regular ton, so for tons, metric and British 
systems are about the same.)

9. What distinguishes the two fundamental aquatic biomes?

10. Roughly how many species have taxonomists described?  Roughly how many total
species are expected on Earth?  Roughly how many species of birds have 
been spotted in san diego county? (San diego is famous for bird watching because
of its large bird biodiversity)

11. Rank the following in order of most scary to you to least scary.
(Feel free to say why on any or all)
Earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, fire, mudslide, nuclear bomb,
	car accident, plane accident, meteorite strike.  For most scary,
	please say why.