BIOL 570

Discussion of Cohen

 

  1. Why does Cohen say that the human population is growing FASTER than exponentially?  How does Figure 1 illustrate this idea?
  2. Cohen says in the 2nd paragraph that human influence on the planet has increased faster than the human population.  What do you think this means?  What might this imply with respect to carrying capacity?
  3. Cohen suggests in the 2nd paragraph that the wild beasts of this century are microbes, not carnivores.  How does this idea relate to human population growth?  Why does he think microbes are important to human population growth?
  4. How might one estimate carrying capacity?  Are some methods better than others?
  5. How did Cohen modify the logistic equation to fit his ideas about population growth?  Why do you think he picked the particular modification that he used?
  6. How does the Condorcet Parameter in equation 5 allow faster than exponential, slower than exponential, and exponential growth?  How does this parameter relate to the quote from President George H. Bush Jr.?
  7. Do you think Cohen used reasonable values for “r” and “K” in his model?  Compare his numbers to those you have seen for insects.
  8. The future:  would you advocate the “bigger pie” or the “fewer forks” or the “better manners” approaches to deal with the future?  Why?