Ecosystem Management & Sustainability Practices Flashcards

Under the US EPA's Superfund (CERCLA) program, which legal doctrine allows recovery of cleanup costs from parties who did not directly cause contamination?

Answer: Strict liability with joint and several liability

CERCLA imposes strict liability that is joint and several, meaning any potentially responsible party can be held liable for the entire cleanup cost regardless of their degree of contribution.

The 'debt-for-nature swap' is a conservation finance mechanism in which:

Answer: A portion of a developing country's debt is forgiven in exchange for conservation commitments

Debt-for-nature swaps reduce a developing nation's external debt in exchange for commitments to protect or restore natural areas.

In wetland delineation under the US Army Corps of Engineers methodology, all three criteria required to confirm a jurisdictional wetland are:

Answer: Hydric soils, hydrophytic vegetation, and wetland hydrology

The Corps Wetland Delineation Manual requires positive indicators of all three parameters: hydric soils, hydrophytic vegetation, and wetland hydrology.

Which management approach uses no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) primarily to achieve:

Answer: Protection of spawning aggregations and spillover of adults into adjacent fisheries

No-take MPAs protect reproductive populations and allow spillover of adults and larvae into surrounding fished areas, increasing overall fishery productivity.

The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis predicts that pollution levels in a country will:

Answer: Rise with early economic growth, then decline as income rises further

The EKC hypothesis suggests an inverted-U relationship: pollution increases during industrialization but decreases as societies become wealthier and prioritize environmental quality.

In forest carbon accounting, which term describes carbon sequestered in wood products removed from the forest after harvest?

Answer: Harvested wood products (HWP) carbon pool

IPCC carbon accounting methods include the harvested wood products (HWP) carbon pool, which tracks carbon stored in wood products like lumber and paper after harvest.

Which concept describes the tendency for invasive species to thrive in disturbed or edge habitats compared to stable interior habitats?

Answer: Disturbance-mediated invasion hypothesis

The disturbance-mediated invasion hypothesis proposes that physical disturbance reduces native species diversity and competitive ability, creating opportunities for invasive species establishment.