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Unit 1 - Application Assignment Practice

This is a practice for the application asssignment.

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Problem statement:

One hypothesis for the demise of the population on Easter Island was that the islanders burned the trees that they needed to make boats for fishing. As the population grew, they needed more and more trees for fuel. This eventually caused a decrease in their ability to get food, the population became unhealthy and more people died.

The "systems" diagram for this process is shown here.

Example answers in the text boxes:

Observations about the individual relationships:

• The trees can either be burned or used to make boats for fishing.
• The rate of fishing depends on using trees for boats.
• As the population increases, they need to burn more wood.
• The population can decrease if deaths increase.

A description of how you think the entire system works:

• There is a potential acceleration of the use of trees for both fishing and burning as the population increases.
• Decrease in food input, as trees decrease could lead to a decrease in the population because the birth rate would drop below the death rate.

Evaluation, your questions:

• From this hypothetical diagram, there is no way to tell how sensitive the system is to the relative amount of trees used for boats rather than burning.
• other similar uncertainties.