ANTH Environmental and Ecological Anthropology 2

Question 1

What term describes the process by which humans selectively breed plants and animals for desired traits over generations?

Accepted Answer

Domestication

Answer

Domestication involves the genetic modification of wild species through selective breeding to produce plants and animals useful to humans.

Question 2

Which subsistence strategy involves the herding and tending of domesticated animals, often practiced in environments unsuited for agriculture?

Accepted Answer

Pastoralism

Answer

Pastoralism is a subsistence strategy based on tending herds of domesticated animals, commonly practiced in grasslands, steppes, and semi-arid regions.

Question 3

The study of how indigenous peoples classify and name plants, animals, and other natural phenomena in their environment is called:

Accepted Answer

Ethnobiology

Answer

Ethnobiology examines how different cultures perceive, classify, and use biological organisms in their environments.

Question 4

What does 'carrying capacity' mean in the context of human ecology?

Accepted Answer

The maximum population size that an environment can sustainably support

Answer

Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of people (or other organisms) that a given environment can sustainably support without degradation.

Question 5

Which practice involves the periodic burning of vegetation to clear land for cultivation and stimulate new plant growth, used widely by tropical horticulturalists?

Accepted Answer

Swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture

Answer

Swidden agriculture (slash-and-burn) involves clearing land by cutting and burning vegetation, cultivating it for a few years, then leaving it fallow to regenerate.

ANTH (Anthropology) Practice Test

ANTH (Anthropology) Practice Test

ANTH Environmental and Ecological Anthropology 2