Final Exam Comprehensive Question:

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1 Notes 2/24 Exams to be returned at End of Class See last slide of the day Essay Outline (50 pts) Due March 8 (2 weeks from today) ExCredit #1 due Tues 3/1 Book O Day: Allan Eckert s The Silent Sky Final Exam Comprehensive Question: Comprehensive integration (50 pts): Imagine yourself as a content advisor to Tucson's Rio Nuevo Project, which has the goal of educating citizens about environment-human issues of the Southwest. Choose a modern Southwest environment-human issue from Part 3 of our course that you think should be included in museum displays and exhibits. For this issue: Explain why it is important currently. Describe a historic or prehistoric example of the issue (from our Part 2). Describe the environmental background to the issue (from our Part 1). Answer this three times using different issues (lectures) each time. The Geos. 220 course lecture topics are below. Don't be redundant, i.e., don't use any lecture topic more than once. Stay within the allotted space, ~ ½ page for each answer. Today s Topics: Early Southwesterners: Megafauna Overkill Early human chronology in SW Megafauna of the SW Big changes at Pleisto-Holocene boundary Why? Climate? People? Combination? Martin and Burney reading for today 1

2 Rules of Evidence 1. Undisputed Human Tools 2. Valid, Accurate dates Remember issues: contamination, calibration, etc. 3. Indisputable Association of dates & artifacts When did people Get to SW? All H. sapiens sapiens; NO Neandertals, Australopithecenes, etc. Who were the first Southwesterners? Clovis hunters b.p. Mammoth kill sites in SE Arizona and other parts of SW ONLY 2 Clovis campsites found No skeletons found Video clips here 2

3 Catastrophic Large-Animal Extinctions Percentages of extinct genera during the past 100,000 years. What Happened to Megafauna (>100 lbs)? 67% of N. Am. large mammal genera died Mammoth, sloth, dire wolves, sabertooth cats, horse, etc. (see list in Martin reading) At or near Pleisto-Holocene boundary But, there were survivors: Relatively fast: deer, pronghorn Unpredictable migrations: caribou Cryptic, heavy cover: moose, deer Eurasian invaders: elk, musk ox Previous conditioning to humans? Wooly Mammoth One of many Pleistocene Proboscideans 4 m tall, 10 tons, 4-m tusks Macrograzer, grasses and tundra plants 40 gal. water, 600 lbs. vegetation/d Died out by early Holocene. Dangerous to hunt Do not try this at home! 3

4 Human Mammoth Interactions Video clip here Note: Clovis people did NOT have bow & arrow Paul S. Martin (With Giant Sloth) UA professor, Geos. Tumamoc Hill Broadly trained: Paleontology Biogeography Geochronology Persistent Been everywhere Seen it all But, No Clovis in South America 4

5 Pro: Climate Change Pleistocene ended with very abrupt climatic change ~11,000 years ago Increasing continentality of weather Wider range between cold-warm Some species couldn t adapt Bad birth timing. Climate Change Con: Pleistocene had many ice ages/warm periods (at least 4) Most didn t trigger extinctions Continentality of weather Asia and Siberia had continental climates during late Pleistocene Megafauna did just fine before No loss of small verts, aquatics South American tropics? Human Impacts Pro Extinction times different by continents: Africa, Asia: > 40,000 ybp Australia: 20,000 13,000 North America: 13,000 10,500 South America: 10,500 8,000 Caribbean: 8,000 2,000 NZ, Madagascar: 1, Argues against single climate moment Coincides with human migration everywhere. 5

6 Human Impacts? Con Why not Africa? Only three NAm genera associated with human sites Mammoth, horse, camel Let s find more human-megafauna sites Look in the Southwest. Combination of Climate and Humans? Simultaneous changes at Pleisto-Holocene Climate changes Less surface water Concentrated megafauna Easier to hunt see SE Arizona Then: as megafauna vanished, Clovis people changed What About Modern Homework? Modern Extinctions 1 case due clearly to climate Many due to humans: Overkill: Passenger pigeon NA Bison--almost Allan Eckert: The Silent Sky Habitat destruction: Tucson bighorn sheep. 6

7 Go See Murray Springs Near Sierra Vista Plenty of interpretation Probably no bones sticking out of sediments Chihuahuan desert grassland Be careful! Should We Bring Back Species? Martin: Elephants belong in the SW African elephant abundant (±600,000) Lower Colorado basin suitable Rio Grande basin also good Elephants play key roles Grassland ecology Waterhole dynamics What about the Mexican wolf? What about Jaguar? 7

8 Writing Assignment Outline Due Tues Mar 8 See WEBSITE for Outline guidelines Worth 50 pts Must be typed Must have 2 figures (Map, Data) Must have references written and web (10 is best) Wikipedia is NOT allowed Rosemont Outline Title: Name, date Word count (does NOT include Refs cited) Introduction Controversy (refs ) Many pros & cons Setting (refs..) Figure 1 (map); caption & ref) Subheading 1 Where will they get the Water? Pro--- refs (.) Con (refs ) 8

9 Subheading 2: What are the.. Pro (refs..) Con (refs) Subheading 3: What about the.. Pro (refs..) Con (refs) Conclusions: The controversy includes short list of your 3 issues My recommendation is: References Cited Alphabetical Wikipedia is NOT a valid Reference A person? Arnold, Kathy, public presentation to Geos 220, Feb 18, A website? published Feb 20, 2009, viewed on Feb 21, (only if no pages listed) A published article (even if on website) Author, date, page numbers. Figures and figure captions. Figure 1. Map of site location for LA

10 # of Students 20 Exam 1, Total Score < Percentages Figure 2. Exam 1 Test Score Distributions. Issues: Math see grader (initials) Average Score: 181/225 Content see Dr. Towner Average Percentage: 80.6% during office hours Low Score: 62.1 % High Score: 97.1 % Elizabeth: Back A=M Dr. Towner: Front N-Z 10