Environmental Studies

Systematic study of our environment

and our place in it

Study of Organisms

*Impact of Environment on Organisms

*Impact of Organisms on Environment

*How/Why materials cycle between living & nonliving parts of our environment

**Think holistically:

interconnections = Whole Systems

-not just a sum of individual parts

Modern Science & History Linked

Greek Philosophers

Arabic Mathematicians

Arabic Astronomers

Chinese Naturalists

Reasonable Man: Adapts to world

Unreasonable Man: World adapts to himself

Progress: Relies on Unreasonable Man

Einstein

2 things are infinite:

1) The Universe

2) Human Stupidity

**Not sure about the Universe

Observations

Hypothesis

Testing (hypothesis)

Collect Data

Interpretation (data)

Conclusions

OHTCIC

Hypothesis

Conditional explanation that can be

Verified or Falsified

Scientific Theory

Stimulate: real environmental systems

Provide: Heuristic information (how is MIGHT be)

Physical or Mathematical

Influenced by researchers' assumptions

Natural Experiments

Gathering of Historic Evidence

Conducted by scientists who CANT test their hypotheses directly

CHILDREN

no pre-conceived bias in their investigations

Threat in academia

*Information known by one person isn't useful in society

*Communication is essential

Scientists are greatly rewarded for publishing in scientific journals

Blind Experiment

Investigators don't know which is the

 Control vs the Experimental group

until AFTER data has been gathered and analyzed

Neither Subject nor Investigators know

which participants are receiving the experimental treatment

Precise

Easily compared

Good benchmark to measure change

Measure of how Likely something is

High degree of Certainty: 95% probability

Statistics

Important Tool:

Planning and Evaluating Studies

# of replications

**Important

Overarching models of the World

Guides our interpretation of events

Examples:

*Tectonic plate movement

*Einstein's theory of Relativity

Occurs when Majority of Scientists feel

Old explanation no longer explains New Observations well

"Out with the Old"

*Sometimes contentious and political

Reflective Thinking

*Identify and Evaluate premises and conclusions

*Acknowledge/Clarify uncertainties,vagueness,etc...

*Distinguish between facts and  values

*Recognize and Asses assumptions

*Distinguish source reliability or unreliability

*Understand Conceptual Frameworks

 Teddy Roosevelt & advisor (Gifford Pinchot):

Utilitarian Conservation:

*Forests should be saved so they can be used

to provide homes and jobs

*Should be used for "the greatest good for the

greatest number, for the longest time"

Moral and Aesthetic

Nature Preservation

Opposition to Pinchot's Utilitarian Policies

John Muir, President of the Sierra Club

Biocentric Preservation

*Emphasizes fundamental right of all organisms

to pursue their own interests

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962)

began this movement

*Awakened the public to threats of pollution/toxins to humans and other species

*Extends concerns to both natural resources & environmental pollution

Recognition we share one environment that is common to all humans

Major Causes of

Environmental Degradation

1) Population Growth

2) Resource Extraction & Use

3) Acid Deposition

*Burning Fossil Fuels

*Destruction of Tropical Rainforests &

other biologically rich landscapes

*Production of Toxic Wastes

Air Pollution: Emissions leading to Acid Rain

Low levels of pH (Europe)

Air, Water, & Soil

Sustainable Development

Progress in human well-being (Long term)

Extend or prolong over many generations, rather than just a few years

**These benefits must be available to all humans not just the privileged

(Generally)

Among Least Powerful & Most Neglected

*Traditions, Economics, Prejudices repress them

*In traditional homelands they guard undisturbed habitats

and rare species

-recognizing native land rights might safeguard ecological processes

Everything that:

 *Takes up space

 *Has Mass

Capacity to do Work

*Diffused, Dispersed, or Low in Temperature

*Difficult to gather/use for productive purposes

Example:

Heat stored in Oceans

**Most Common to us

Must be concentrated/transformed before useful

Intense, Concentrated, or High in Temperature

*Useful in carrying out work

Example:

High-Voltage Electrical Energy

Matter is neither Created nor Destroyed

*Recycled Endlessly

-Everything goes somewhere

*Atoms/Molecules in your body haved passed through many other organisms over millions of years

*Energy cannot be recycled

*Energy is reused, but constantly degraded or lost from the system

-Most energy used in ecosystems originates as solar energy

First Law of Thermodynamics

With every energy transfer,

less energy is available to do work.

*Total amount of energy is the same, but intensity/usefulness deteriorates

**Recognizes Entropy

Tendency of all natural systems

to move towards a state of increasing disorder

Basic Units of matter

*Can't be divided chemically into smaller units.

Elements make up Molecules & Compounds

Smallest particle

Exhibits the characteristics of an element

Compound

A molecule

made up of two or more kinds of atoms

held together by chemical bonds

4 elements that make up over

96% of the mass of

most organisms

Carbon

Hydrogen

Oxygen

Nitrogen

CHON

One atom gives up an electron to another atom

Compounds that readily release

hydrogen ions (H+) in water

Substances that readily

 take up hydrogen ions (H+) and

release hydroxide ions (OH-) in solution

*Strength meased by concentration of H+

-pH scale (0-14)

Medium in which all life's chemical reactions occur

*Liquid over wide temperature range

*Expands when crystallizes (unlike most substances)

*High Heat of Vaporization

*High specific Heat

Catalysts of chemical reaction in living systems

All energy and matter exchanges that occur

within a living cell or organism

4. Tertiary Consumers

"top carnivore"

3. Secondary Consumers

"carnivores"

2. Primary Consumers

"herbivores"

1. Producers

"Photosynthetic plants, algae, bacteria"

*carnivores feed @ all levels

producers/primary are parasites,scavengers,decomposers

Too Low: Lower Limit of Tolerance

Zone of Intolerance - Species Absent

Zone of Physiological stress - Species infrequent

*Optimal Range* - Species abundant

Too High: Upper Limit of Tolerance

Zone of Physiological Stress

Zone of Intolerance

Proposed:

the single environmental factor in shortest supply relative to demand,

is the critical determinant in species distribution

Added to Liebig's work by proposing:

the single environmental factor

closest to tolerance limits

determines where a particular organism can live

Type of Adaptation

Changes in an individual organism due to

non-permanent physiological modifications

Type of adaptation 

gradual changes in a species due to

changes in genetic material/competition

genetic combinations best adapted for present environmental conditions tend to become abundant

*Spontaneous, random mutations

*Selective pressure - physiological stress, predation, competition, luck

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Genus

Species

Place or set of environmental conditions

in which a particular organism lives

No two species will:

 Occupy the same niche,

and Compete for the same resources,

In the same habitat for very long

Antagonistic Relationships

(species interactions)

Most Obvious:

1) Predation

2) Competition

1. Commensalism - one member benefits, the other is neither benefited nor harmed

2. Mutualism - both members benefit; ie lichens (algae and fungi)

3. Parasitism - one benefits and the other is harmed; form of predation

Species that play essential community roles

Examples:

*Mycorrhizae

*Giant Kelp

Unrestricted increase in a population

also known as the biotic potential of a population

Maximum # of individuals of any species

that can be supported by a particular ecosystem,

on a sustainable basis

Environmental Resistance

Factors that

tend to reduce population growth rates

factor of environmental resistance

*Linked to population size

*Disease, lack of food

Density-independent

factor of environmental resistance

*Often environmental

*Droughts, floods, habitat destruction

factor of environmental resistance

*Attributes of a species

*Slow reproduction

factor of environmental resistance

*External to a species

*Predators, Competitors, Environmental risks

Community's rate of biomass production, or

the conversion of solar energy into chemical energy stored in living (or once-living organisms)

# of individuals of a species in an area

*depends on total resource availability

in an ecosystem

# of different species in an area

*Useful measure of variety of niches

& genetic variation in community

*Decreases as we go from equator towards poles

*Depends on total resource availability

in an ecosystem

# of species at each trophic level

&

# of trophic levels in a community

3 kinds of Stability or Resiliency

in Ecosystems

1. Constancy - lack of fluctuations in composition or functions

2. Renewal - Ability to repair damage after disturbance

3. Inertia - Resistance to perturbations

Often the result of biological competition

Individuals of a species cluster together for

Protection

Mutual Assistance

Reproduction

or for Access to a particular resource

Boundaries between adjacent habitats

*Often rich in species diversity

Example:

Boundary between a Forest and Meadow

Environmental and biotic conditions

@ edge of a habitat

*Temp, moisture levels, predator species,etc...

*Those associated w/habitat fragmentation

are usually detrimental to species diversity

Interior area of a habitat

*Habitat not impacted by edge effects

*Some species avoid edges/ecotones and prefer these interior environments

Process by which organisms

1) Occupy a site

2)Gradually change environmental conditions

-creating soil

-creating shelter

-increasing humidity

Occurs when existing community is disrupted

& new one develops at the site

Ecologists consider them invasions &

the most pressing hazard for biological communities in the coming century

*can completely alter communities

*Often introduced by humans

Successful exotics = opportunistic species

(Goats, Cats, Pigs, etc)

Vital statistics about people

(Births & Deaths)

Less-Developed countries:

Represent: 80% of world's population but also

90% of projected growth

(Richer countries tend to have negative growth rates)

# of births per year

per thousand people

# of children born to an average woman

during her reproductive life

Zero Population Growth

(ZPG)

Occurs when:

Births + Immigration = Deaths + Emigration

# of Nonworking individuals compared to Working

*Declining in countries such as Japan and US

Factors that increase people's desires

to have children

Birth Reduction Pressures

Broadly defined life zones

*Environments with similar climates, topographies, soil conditions, and biological communities

*Distribution mainly dependent on temperature and precipitation

Examples: tropical rainforests, savannas, deserts, tundras, temperate rainforests, temperate grasslands, etc...

In order from least light & oxygen to most

(Bottom to top)

Benthos

Hypolimnion

Thermocline

Epilimnion

**Littoral Zone (With Kelp/up on the bank)**

Open Water

Variety of Living Things

1. Genetic Diversity - variety of different versions of the same genes w/in species

2. Species Diversity - # of different kinds of organisms w/in an ecosystem

3. Ecological Diversity - complexity of biological community (# of niches, etc)

How do we benefit from

Biodiversity?

1. Food

2. Drugs/Medicines

3. Ecological Benefits

4. Aesthetic & Cultural Benefits

FDEA

Extinction

(As a threat to Biodiversity)

The Elimination of a species

*Natural Process - one species lost every 10yrs

- accelerated by human impact

on ecosystems and populations

*E.O.Wilson - we are currently losing thousands of species a year

Human-Caused Reductions

in Biodiversity

Habitat Destruction and Fragmentation

Hunting and Fishing

Commercial products/live specimens

Predator & Pest Control

Introducing Exotic Species

Diseases

Pollution

Genetic Assimilation

Extinct

Was the world's most abundant bird 

*Over Hunting and Habitat Destruction

(Was @ population 3-5 billion 200 years ago)

Hunting and fishing laws

Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Recovery Plans

Reintroductions

Minimum viable population

Private land/Critical habitat

Reauthorization of the ESA

International wildlife treaties