ECO 201 Milestone Two Guidelines and Rubric The purpose of this milestone is for students to begin their firm analysis from a microeconomic perspective, applying concepts learned in Modules One, Two, and Three. Specifically, students will examine the supply and demand conditions for the goods or services the firm produces, paying special attention to how sales and product development have evolved over time. Students will then apply the elasticity concept to determine how the price elasticity of demand for the firm’s goods or services would be categorized, and they will examine what that suggests for the firm’s ability to increase or decrease prices. Prompt: Submit a draft of the supply and demand conditions (Section II) and price elasticity of demand (Section III) of your research paper, including all critical elements listed below. You will analyze data on firm sales and in the market overall to identify trends and inform your recommendation for the firm’s future actions. You will also use available data to determine the price elasticity for the goods or services your firm produces and explain the factors that influence consumers’ reactions and the firm’s pricing decisions. Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed: II. Explore the supply and demand conditions for your firm’s product. a) Evaluate trends in demand over time and explain their impact on the industry and the firm. You should consider including annual sales figures for the product your firm sells. b) Analyze information and data related to the demand and supply for your firm’s product(s) to support your recommendation for the firm’s actions. Remember to include a graphical representation of the data and information used in your analysis. III. Examine the price elasticity of demand for the product(s) your firm sells. a) Analyze the available data and information, such as pricing and the availability of substitutes, and justify how you determine the price elasticity of demand for your firm’s product. b) Explain the factors that affect consumer responsiveness to price changes for this product, using the concept of price elasticity of demand as your guide. c) Assess how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growth. Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a two- to three-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and sources cited in APA format. Instructor Feedback: This activity uses an integrated rubric in Blackboard. Students can view instructor feedback in the Grade Center. For more information, review these instructions. Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value Conditions: Impact Effectively evaluates trends in demand over time and explains their impact on the industry and the firm Evaluates trends in demand over time, but evaluation is ineffective or does not explain their impact on the industry and firm Does not evaluate trends in demand over time 18 Conditions: Firm’s Actions Analyzes information and data related to the demand and supply for the firm’s product(s) to support recommendation for the firm’s actions and includes graphical representation of data and information Analyzes information and data related to the demand and supply for the firm’s product(s), but information and data do not support recommendation for the firm’s actions or do not include graphical representation of data and information Does not analyze information and data related to the demand and supply for the firm’s product(s) 18 Price Elasticity of Demand: Analyze Analyzes the available data and information and justifies how the price elasticity of demand for the firm’s product was determined Analyzes the available data and information, but does not justify how the price of elasticity of demand for the firm’s product was determined Does not analyze the available data and information to determine the price elasticity of demand 18 Price Elasticity of Demand: Consumer Responsiveness Explains the factors that affect consumer responsiveness to price changes for the product using the concept of price elasticity of demand as a guide Explains the factors that affect consumer responsiveness to price changes for the product, but does not use the concept of price elasticity of demand as a guide Does not explain the factors that affect consumer responsiveness to price changes for the product 18 Price Elasticity of Demand: Pricing Decisions Accurately assesses how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growth Assesses how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growth, but assessment is inaccurate Does not assess how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growth 18 Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas 10 Earned Total 100%

 

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At-Risk Populations in the Gulf of Mexico: Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle and the Bottlenose Dolphin

1. Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

Introduction

Even before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle was already highly endangered.¹ Of course, the spill did not help. While these turtles are highly migratory, the Gulf of Mexico is one of their favorite habitats.¹ In the summer, female sea turtles return to the beaches where they were hatched to lay their eggs.¹ Females lay eggs every one to three years after the age of 10–12.¹ Turtles lay their eggs on the beach, not in water, so when the young turtles hatch, they must make their way from the beach down to the water. Even in the best of circumstances, there are many predators and many turtles do not make it.¹ The 2010 oil spill in the Gulf not only affected adult turtles, but it also greatly exacerbated the dangers of hatching. Because exposure to oil is often fatal to sea turtles, young turtles that encountered oil on the beach or in the water would have been in great danger.² Environmental groups were able to relocate many sea turtle eggs to other beaches, but many eggs remained in the area of the oil spill.²

What are the long-term effects of the oil spill on Kemp’s ridley sea turtle populations?

On the left is a typical graph for the survivorship curve of a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, and on the right is what it might look like for the cohort born during the Gulf spill.

Question 1. Please sketch the curve for the graph on the right.

     Sea Turtle Survivorship Curve—Born Before Spill                   Sea Turtle Survivorship Curve—Born During Spill

Question 2. Briefly analyze your graph. Which part shows the effect of the oil spill on this cohort? Define “cohort” in your own words.

Effects of the oil spill on this cohort is displays the lesser surviving young. The death rate is higher in the young after the oil spill than prior to the oil spill.   Cohort: Set/Group of a population and or species all born at the same time.

To help analyze what this means for the future of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, we have constructed an age pyramid. On the left is a typical age pyramid for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, and on the right is what it might look like in 2016.

Question 3: Please fill in the rest of the pyramid on the right.

      Sea Turtle—Age Pyramid Before Spill                                       Sea Turtle—Projected Age Pyramid (2016)

Question 4. Briefly analyze the age pyramid. What features show the effect of the Gulf oil spill? How are young turtles (0–19) affected in particular? Predict what this might mean for the future of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles.

There was a population decrease of young turtles because not many were hatched. There was also a high mortality rate. The number of turtles that survived till the age 45-69 were even more fewer than before the spill. Young turtles between ages 0-19 were faced out since none were hatched according to the graph. This means that in the future, there is a chance that Kemp’s ridley turtles will be extinct as the young ones age and die.

Question 5. Was the oil spill a density-dependent or a density-independent factor for the sea turtles? Briefly explain.

Independent Factor is one that will effect a population the same whether the population is big or small such as the BP oil spill.

1. Bottlenose Dolphins

Introduction

Bottlenose dolphins spend much of their time far out to sea, and thus were less likely to come into direct contact with the oil spill. However, dolphins are mammals and must surface to breathe, which brought many dolphins into direct, and often fatal, contact with oil.² Another problem for bottlenose dolphins was food scarcity and contaminated prey.⁴ Dolphins are carnivores, feeding primarily on fish, shrimp, and squid.³ The oil from the spill contaminated the dolphins’ food source and caused drops in the numbers of animals they could eat.

How have these two risks affected the dolphin population?

Bottlenose dolphins are thus facing two different risks from the oil spill: coming into contact with oil through surfacing and food scarcity. Both of these risks will have the effect of limiting the population size.

Question 6. Is the first risk—direct contact with oil—an example of a density-independent or density-dependent regulating factor? Explain.

Density-Independent, due to oil spill being a density independent factor.

Food scarcity, the second risk, affected the number of dolphins the Gulf of Mexico can support. This number is called the [Question 7. Fill in the missing term _record dolphin die off]. If the population of dolphins was well below the [Question 8. Use the same term as Question 7. _record dolphin die off]before the spill, the population would have been [Question 9. Select the correct answer increasing / decreasing / steady].

Question 10. Describe the effect of the lowered __record dolphin die off_ [use the same term as in questions 7 and 8 above] on the growth of the dolphin population. Is the population likely to be increasing, decreasing or steady? Why? 

Decreasing, due to the impact of oil on organs have long lasting results.

Question 11. Is this an example of a density-dependent or density-independent regulating factor? Explain.

It is a density independent regulating factor since the record dolphin die off was already on the decline and will continue declining regardless of the death of their source of food.

References

1. http://animals.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/reptiles/kemps-ridley-sea-turtle/
2. http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Gulf-Restoration/Oil-Spill/
   Effects-on-Wildlife/Sea-Turtles.aspx
3. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bottlenose-dolphin/
   ?source=A-to-Z
4. http://www.livescience.com/21730-dolphin-deaths-bp-oil-spill.html

Note: The effects of the oil spill on these two species are real, but the data are hypothetical.

 

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