Ecology_Environmen_marven.ppt

 The term ecology is derived from a Greek
word Oecologie where
 “Oikos” meaning “household”
 “logos” meaning “the study of”
 Literally ecology is the study of organisms at
home. This term was introduced for the first
time by a German Biologist named Earnest
Haeckel in 1869.
 Charles Eton defined Ecology as the study of
animals and plants in relation to their habitat.

 Is the scientific study of the inter-relationship
of plant and animals and the environment.
The systematic study of Organisms and their
Interactions with Environment.
 Ecology reveals and deals with the
relationship between Living and Nonliving
parts of the environment and of living things
in relation with each other, and to the
Environment.

 The study increases our understanding of the world
and its life. This is important because our survival
and well being depends one ecological relationship
throughout the world.
 Our planet earth is the house in which all
organisms reside. When a problem affects the
environment it also affects the organisms that live
there because of their inter-relationship.
 In order that life will exist abundantly it is
necessary to study the environment because every
organism in some how affected by the
environment.

 The study of ECOLOGY is important to human
beings for two reasons:
It provides knowledge that we have to deal
effectively with environmental conditions;
Human being affect and are affected by the
environment. “man makes changes in the
environment and therefore influences the
relationship of all the living organisms within the
environment. People have to understand that
altering one aspect of the environment changes the
entire system.”

 1. Autoecology
Deals with the study of the individual organisms, its
life history, behavior, characteristics, and its
adaptation to the environment.
 2. Synecology
Deals with the study of groups or organisms which
are associated as a unit in relation to its
environment.

 The term environment denotes all the
physical, chemical and biotic conditions
surrounding and influencing a living
organism.
 Favorable environmental conditions are
required to sustain life on earth.

 Life, except the simple forms, is organized
into different levels from cell to organisms or
species.
 ORGANISMS- Is any living thing.
 SPECIES- is defined as a group of organisms
which can interbreed and produce a
successful offspring. These organisms maybe
separated in space and time into smaller
groups called population.

 A group of similar organisms in the same
area at a given time.
 An assemblage of similar organisms that live
together and interbreed, living in the same
place t the same time.

 A group of population of one species that live
in the same area and interact with each other.
 It refers to the population of different species
occupying a common place of living. For
example all the living organisms in a pond
belong to one community.
 The study of groups of organisms in relation
to their environment is called synecology.

 Where a population of species lives is called
its habitat. A habitat can be just a ditch full
of water or a vast forest.
 Where a species lives throughout the world is
called its range. Some species, life the brown
rat, are found all over the world, while others
like the kiwi, may only be found on one
island.

 A niche is the role and position a species has
in its environment-how it meets its needs for
food ad shelter, how it survives, and how it
reproduces.
 It is an advantage for a species to occupy a
different niche than another.

 Communities that interact with each other in
their surroundings from the ecosystem, and
all the ecosystems on the earth form the total
environment of the earth.
 It is a tin layer on the surface of the earth
where all living things are able to exist.
 The earth is the only planet in the solar
system that is capable of supporting life
because of its right distance from the sun;
the presence ofoxygen and the abundance of
water.

 The portion of Earth that supports life.
 This portion extends from the bottom of the
ocean to high in the atmosphere.
 I you could shrink the Earth to the sixe of an
apple the biosphere would be the size of an
apple peel.
 Life exist in the diverse forms of living
organisms.
 All these living organisms exist in the biosphere
are directly and indirectly dependent on one
another as well as well as on the physical
components of the earth.

 Atmosphere
 Lithosphere
 Biosphere
 Hydrosphere
 Cryosphere
 Antrosphere

 Atmosphere is a gaseous envelope surrounding
the earth’s surface, is made up of nitrogen,
oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other gasses
in very small amounts.
 Hydrosphere-Is all the water supply to earth
which exists as liquid, vapor or frozen form of
fresh and saltwater.
 Lithosphere-Comprises the soil and rock of the
earth’s crust. Recently, the term ecosphere is
being used more commonly. It is used to denote
biosphere (living components)along with the
three abiotic components-atmosphere,
hydrosphere and lithosphere of the earth as one
entity(unit)

 Ecosphere Is Biospohere +
Lithosphere+Hygdrosphere+Atmosphere
 In fact Ecosphere is the largest world wide
ecosystem. Ecosphere is very huge and
cannot be studied as a single entity. It is
divided into many distinct functional units
called ecosystem.

 ATOM-Smallest unit particle of matter.
 MOLECULE- the basic chemical unit that
makes up the parts of a cell
 ORGANELLE-the parts of a cell
 CELL- smallest unit of living things
 TISSUE-group of similar cells
 ORGAN- group of different tissues doing the
same work
 SYSTEM- group of different organs
performing different functions

 SYSTEM-group of different organs performing
different functions
 ORGANISM-individual living thing, either
plant or animal
 POPULATION-group of similar organisms
occupying a definite area
 COMMUNITY-group of different populations
interacting with one another

 ECOSYSTEM-Group ofcommunities
interacting with their physical factors
 BIOSPHERE-all the ecosystems on earth with
the physical environment
 EARTH-the planetary environment of the
Earth

 ABIOTIC:
Physical Components
Chemical Components
Inroganic components
Organic components
 BIOTIC:
Producers
Consumers
Decomposers

 ABIOTIC-ABIOTIC
 Interaction relationship among physical
factors in the environment
 BIOTIC-BIOTIC
 Interactions relationship among biotic factors
in the community
 BIOTIC-ABIOTIC
 Relationship between living and non-living
things in a community

 Abiotic Factors: All of the nonliving parts of the
environment.
Examples: Rocks, Sand, Water, rainfall, sunlight,
Etc.
 ABIOTIC-All physical (climate), edaphic (nature of
soil) and chemical factors. They are also called
nonliving factors. The important abiotic factors
are temperature, light, pressure, humidity,
precipitation, wind, mineral elements of soil and
composition of air. Some of these environmental
factors serve as resources (air, soil, and water)
while others act as regulatory factors
(light,temperator and pressure etc.).

 BIOTIC- All living organisms found in the
environment and that includes plants,
animals and microorganisms.
 ABIOTIC FACTORS:
 WATER
Is an important ecological factor. An organic
substance which plays an important role in the
ecosystems.
It very irregularly distributed on the earth’s surface

 SOIL
Another important ecological factor. The character
of the soil determines largely the character of
vegetation and the types of animals that maintain
themselves upon it.

 SUNLIGHT
 Light is an important physical factor. Without
light, life on earth would be impossible.
 The process of photosynthesis on which
organisms depend on the manufacture of
food, does not take place except in the
presence of sunlight.
 Sunlight has been the main source and the
oldest of all energy source, since the creation
of the earth.

 TEMPERATOR
 An increase in temperature increases vapor
pressure by increasing molecular motion.
 The effects of temperature on the presence or
absence of animals in different habitat are
varied.
 Directly proportional to the intensity of light.

 Biotic Factors: All of the living things that
inhabit an environment. Examples: Animals,
plants, insect, etc.

 The biological relationships may be
betweenindividualof same species
(intraspecific)or between animals of different
species (interspecific) or between plants and
animals.
 INTRASPECIFIC- relationship include, mating,
assistance gregariousness and competition.
Organisms belong to the same species must
complete with one another for space, food,
and mates.

 INTERSPECIFIC-relationship are also
biological factors of great importance.
Different species must struggle with each
other for space, food. Since many species
use other kinds of animals for food, each
habit at includes predaceous animals.

 ECOSYSTEM-A self sustaining unit of nature.
Functionally independent unit where living
organisms interact among themselves 2
system:
Terrestrial
Aquatic

 An ecosystem is made up of a collection of
interactions among the populations in a
community and their abiotic factors.
 A biological community along with its
nonliving environment of energy and matter
makes an ecosystem.
 Ecosystem can range in size from a puddle of
water to a stream or a patch of wood to entire
forest or desert.
 Types of ecosystem: Terrestrial and Aquatic

 EXAMPLES OF TERRESTRIAL:
Forest
Deserts
Grasslands
 EXAMPLES OFAQUATIC:
Ponds
Lakes
Salt water

 The three types of interactions in Ecosystem:
ACTION- where theenvironment acts upon the
organism in a community in may ways, such as:
effects of temperature, wind, light, humidity, and
soil moisture;
INTERACTION-where the organisms, in turn, reacts
upon the environment. This meaning of the term
reaction-the effects of organisms upon their
physical environment occurs only in ECOLOGY, such
as pollution.
COACTION-the ffect of an organism has on
another, such as predation, disease, competition,
parasitism, commensalisms and mutualism.

 Symbiosis
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
 Competition
 Predation

 Both species are harmed by this kind of
interaction. The two major forms of
competition are intraspecific and interspecific
competition. Intraspecific competition is
within- species competition.
 In any given community only one species can
occupy any given ecological niche for an
extended period of time
 Does not involve always the same species,
but it is more severe among the same specie
because they have common needs.

 Predation. This is on the “negative”
interaction seen in communities. One
species, the predator, hunts another species,
the prey. Not all prey give in to this without a
fight, and the hunted may develop
mechanisms to defend against predatory
attack.

 Means living together of two or more
organisms of different species
 Is close and often long-term interaction
between different biological species.
 Symbiotic relationship is one between two
different species that can be classified as one
of three main types:
Commensalism
Mutualism
parasitism

 One organism benefits while the other is
unaffected. Commensalist relationships are
rare and examples are hard to find. Cattle
egrets feast on insects that are aroused into
flight by cattle grazing in the insect’s habit
at. The birds benefit because they get food,
but the cattle does not benefit at all.

 Both organisms reap benefits from the
interaction

 PARASITISM One organism benefits at the
other’s expense.

 Predators, parasites and pathogens are
organisms that make a living at the expense
of other organisms their prey, or hosts.
 PREDATORS-usually kill or eat their prey,
which are about the same size or smaller than
the predator: cats prey on mice; hawks on
snakes, and so on;

 Are generally smaller in comparison to their
host and do not kill or eat them, but obtain
their food from body fluids or in some non-
fatal way-tapeworm, ticks etc.

 Are microorganisms usually bacteria orvirus,
tubercule bacilli

 WHERE DOES ENERGY COME FROM?
The power to run, to wake up in the morning, to
think, and anything else a living organism does
require ENERGY
We will see that all energy comes from the SUN.

 PRODUCERS: Only plants are capable of capturing
solar energy and transforming it into foot energy for
all the other living organisms. Therefore, they are
called as producers,. These plants are also named as
authotroph since they make their own food.
 CONSUMER: Animals depend upon the plants directly
or indirectly for their food and are called consumers.
Their model of nutrition is called heterotrophic.
Consumers can be herbivores, carnivorous,
monivorous, parasitic or scavengers as described
later.
 DECOMPOSERS: They feed on dead and decaying
animals and plants. They are small microscopic
organisms and help in recycling of nutrients in the
environment.

 PRODUCERSare able to use energy from the
sun to make food.
A.K.A Autotrophs
Examples: are plants and some weird bacteria that we
call chemosynthetic authotrophs.

 CONSUMERS need to eat in order toget
energy.
 A.K.A Heterotrophs
 Examples are animals

 Scavengers: Rely on the efforts ofother to find
their foods. Example- vultures
 Hervivors: Eat only plants. Example Cows
 Carnivores: Animals that eat other animals.
Cats
 Omnivores: Animals that eat both plants and
other animals. Bear, humans
 Decomposers: Break down and use nutrients
from dead organisms. Fungi

 Is the passage of energy in a community from one
organism to another
 Food chains are the pathways of energy and matter
through all organisms in an ecosystem.
 Matter is in the form of nutrients that organisms
require.
 When one organism eats another it receives the
nutrients and energy from the organism it ate.
 Transfer of food from the plants(producers)
through a series of organisms with repeated eating
and being eaten is called food chain.e.g.

 Transfer of food from the plants (producers)
through a series of organisms with repeated eating
and being eaten is called food chain e.g.
 Grasses-Grasshopper=Frogs-Snakes-Hawk/Eagle
 Each step in the food chain is called trophic level

 Three important features that you can note in
these chains are:
◦ Weaker organisms are attached by the stronger
organisms
◦ Number of organisms is reduced at each higher
level but the size of organisms is increasing.
◦ The number of steps in a food chain is limited to 4-
5.

 Is a pattern of food chain that interlocks and
forms a network.
 Represents an attempt to describe to the
numerous alternative food energy pathways
in a community
 Food webs are models that are to describe all
the possible feeding relationships among
animals.

 These are more realistic than food chains
because It’s more realistic than a food chain
because most organisms depend on more than
one other species for food.
 A network of food chains which are inter-
conected at various tropic levels of the food
chain to form a number of feeding connections.
 In a food web one tropic level may be connected
to more than one food chain. A snake feed on
frog or rat or any other small rodent.

 Trophic levels are feeding steps in the food
chain.
 A food chain represents only one possible
route for the transfer of energy in an
ecosystem.
Top Carnivors
Secondary Consumers
Primary consumers
Producers

 An ecological pyramid is model that is used
to show the distribution model that is used to
show the distribution of matter and energy in
an ecological system.
 Autotrophs are on the botto followed by
heterotrophs you move up.
 Tertiary consumers
Secondary consumers
Primary consumers
Primary producers

 (Producers)Autotrophs:
They produce food for all other organisms of the
ecosystem.
Autothrophs represent the first trophic level
They are largely green plants they convert inorganic
substances by the process of phtosynthesis into
food (organic molecules)in the presence of sun
light.

 PRIMARY CONSUMERS:HERBIVORES
 These are animals which feed directly on the
plants.
 They are first level consumers and therefore they
are also known as primary consumers and make
the secondary trophic level in the food chain e.g.
grasshopper in the above example. Other
examples are insects, birds, rodents and
ruminants.
 Herbivorse are capable of converting energy
stored in the plant tissue into animal tissue and
therefore they are also known as key industry.
They can digest high cellulose diet.

 SECONDARY CONSUMERS:CARNIVORES
 Carnivors are animals that feed on other animals
or its tissues.
 Therefore they are secondary, tertiary or
quaternary level consumers.
 Frog is secondary level consumers as it feeds on
levels consumer since it consumes other
carnivores that is Frog, snake, dog, cat and tiger
are all carnivores.
 Generally the size of the carnivore increases at
each trophic level.

 They make up the final trophic level in a food
chain.
 Decomposers are the organisms that feed on
dead organic matter called detritus of all the
trophic levels and help in recycling the
nutrients.
 They can be grouped into two classes:
Microdecomposers
macrodecomposers

 Microdecomposers are very small microscopic
organisms like bacteria, fungi, and
protozoans.
 Macrodecomposers are large but less in
number. They are visible to the naked eye
e.g. springtails, mites, millipedes,
earthworms, nematodes, slugs, crabs and
mollusks. (Dentritivorse)

 There is a law a in science that says that
matter can never be created nor destroyed.
 Thus the atoms that make up the nutrients
we need to live must be recycled.
 The exchange of matter through the
biosphere is called the biogeochemical cycle.

1. At the organism level they depend on natural
resources and on the molecular level they
depend on chemical cycles.
2. Water, carbon, and nitrogen are necessary for
life.
a. Incorporated into producers by the phtosynthesis
and nitrogen fixation.
b. Used by consumers for food and protein synthesis.
3. The chemical recycling of matter occurs
through respiration, excretion of metabolic
wastes, and death.

 There are two important components of a biogeochemical cycle:
1. Reservoir pool: Where atmostphere or rock large stores of
nutrient are present e.g. Bulk atmosphere or rock large stores
of nutrient are present e.g. Bulk of nutrients are stored in
these abiotic reservoirs.
2. Cycling Pool: Plants and animals make the cycling pool. They
are relatively short-term stores and form only a smaller active
fraction of the nutrient in the biosphere. On the basis of the
type of reservoir these cycles are classified into two types:
(i) Sedementarycycles: In these cycles main reservoir
is rock or soil (lithosphere) e.g. sulphor and
phosphorous cycle.
(ii) Gaseous cycles: Atmosphere is the main reservoir
in gaseous cycles. Those nutrients that have a
prominent gas phase e.g. nitrogen and carbon show
this type of cycle. The nutrients are replaced in
them as fast as they are utilized.

 Condensation: When water in the air
condenses on an object cooler than the air.
 Evaporation: When water is turned into a
vapor.
 Precipitation: Rain, snow, and hail are good
examples.
 Transpiration: When water passes through
plants into the air as water vapor.

 Even though the air contains 78%Nitrogen,
plants cannot use Nitrogen in that form.
 Lightening and certain bacteria convert
Nitrogen in the air into a more useable for
plants.
 Fertilizer is a useable form of Nitrogen for
plants.
 Dentrification.

 A community is made up of several
populations that interact.
 A change in one population of a community
of a community will cause changes in another
population.

 A limiting factor is any biotic or abiotic
factor that restricts the existence, numbers,
reproduction, or distribution or organisms.
 Predators, temperature, food availability,
and moisture are a few examples of limiting
factors.

 Tolerance refers to an organisms ability to
withstand fluctuations in biotic and abiotic
environmental factors.
 Organisms deep in the sea have a higher
tolerance for lack of sun and high amounts of
pressure than other aquatic organisms.

 Succession is the orderly and natural
changes that take place in communities of
an ecosystem.
 Succession occurs in stages:
 Different species at different stages make
conditions that are suitable for the following
species.
 Succession is often hard to observe because
ittakes years to happen.

 PRIMARY:
 Is defined as ecological succession taking
place in an environment which is not
previously covered by vegetation, rocks or
volcanic lava.
 Pioneer species are the first species to
appear.

 SECONDARY: Takes place in a habitat already
previously occupied by vegetation such as
abandoned farm land, roadside, landfills,
forest fires, etc.

 Lichen are a combination of two entirely
different species that live in a symbiotic
relationship that demands the other for
survival.
 Lichen are composed of fungus and algae.
Fungus receives food from the alga and the alga
receives moisture from the fungus.
Lichen help cause rocks to weather faster and thus
help start the production of soil.

 A climax community is when a community
has reached a level of stability and undergoes
little or no change.

 Biomes are a broader category of
organization that share the same climax
community.
 Terrestrial biomes occur on land.
 Aquatic biomes occur in the water (75% of
earth is covered by water).
Fresh water
Marine

 AQUATIC BIOMES (2 KINDS)
 Freshwater (most lakes, ponds, rivers, and
streams)
 Marine (Ocean Life)
 Largest amount of bio-mass of any biome on earth.
 Biomass is mostly microscopic (very tiny) organisms.

 The portion of the marine biome that is
shallow enough for light to penetrate is the
photic zone.
 These are found along the coast lines and
include mudflats, sandy beaches, the vast
oceans that light can penetrate, and rocky
shores.

 The part of the ocean that never receive
sunlight make up the aphotic zones.
 The aphotic zones include the deepest, least
explored areas of the oceans.

 The portion of the shoreline that lies between
the high and low tides.
 High levels of sunlight and nutrients but
limited growth due to waves.
 The size of this zone depends on the slope of
the land and the height of the tide.

 An estuary is a coastal body of water,
partially surrounded by land, in which
freshwater and saltwater mix.
 The mixing produces various levels of
salinity in both directions.
 Contain a wide variety of organisms
 Development of salt marsh ecosystem.

 Waters that are not salty.
 Water that is colder is more dense, so when
you jump into a lake in the summer you find
that the lower you go the colder the water is.
 Temperature and sunlight are limiting factors
that restrict life in deep lakes.

 There are three factors that determine
which biomes will dominate a location:
 Latitude
 Altitude
 Precipitation
 No distinct line

 Treeless land
 Long summer days
 Short winter days
 Permafrost(permanently frozen soil)
Because the temperature never rises above freeze
in for very long there is only a tin layer of topsoil
that thaws during the summer.

 The Taiga lies just south of the tundra and
circles then north pole.
 The Taiga stretches across Canada, Northern
Europe, and Asia.
 Warmer and wetter than tundra.
 Long, severe winters and short, mild
summers.

 A desert is an arid region with sparse to
almost no plant life.
 Deserts usually get less than 25 cm of
precipitation per year.
 Vegetation varies depending on precipitation
levels. Deserts with more precipitation lcan
support a more shrub like community.
 The driest deserts are drifting sand dunes
with virtually no plant life.

 If an area receives between 25 to 75 cm of
precipitation annually a grassland forms.
 Grasslands are large communities covered
with grasses and similar plants.
 Drier grasslands are also called prairies,
savannas, pampas, and steppes.

 Precipitation ranges from 70 cm to 150cm of
water per year in a temperate zone.
 When Europeans landed in America they
cleared much of the forest for farming.
 Since that time most of the forests have
returned by secondary succession.

 Tropical rain forests contain more species
than anywhere on the earth.
 Tropical rain forests are found near the
equator and average about 25V.
 They receive about 200 cm of precipitation
annually.

 Location near the equator allowing for a
warmer climate.)Faster recycling of nutrients.)
 No dormant seasons for the most plant life.
 A large range of habitats.

 Can a population of organisms grow
indefinitely?
 Limiting factors
 Space to grow
 Availability of food
 The number of organisms that an
environment can support is called the
Carrying Capacity.

 Two extreme organisms for population
growth rates are elephants and mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are rapid reproducers over a short time.
Elephants are slow reproducers over a long time.

 Mosquitoes are successful in environments
that are unpredictable and unstable.
 Organisms with this type of life-history
pattern tend to:
 Be small
 Mature rapidly
 Reproduces early
 Have short life span

 Organisms that tend to live in a more stable
environment life-history pattern. They tend
to:
Be large
Reproduce and mature slowly
Live for long periods of time

 The population of the prey in a community
will affect population of the predators.
 Likewise the opposite is true.
 The relationship is referred to as the
Predator-Prey relationship.
 E.g. Lynx and Hare

 The more organisms you have struggling for
the same resource the less resources there
are for each individual organism.

 As a population grows the amount of stress
increases in a population.
 Stress can cause:
Aggression
Decrease in parental care
Decrease infertility
Decrease resistance to disease

 DEMOGRAPHY
 Demographics is the study of human
population growth and characteristic.
 Demographics are concerned with:
Growth rate
Age structure
Geographic distribution
 Demographics can be used as tools to predict
future population tendencies.

 A populations growth rate is measured by
finding the difference between the birth rate
and the death rate.
 If a country’s birthrate if 38.5/1000 and it’s
death rate is 21/1000, what is their growth
rate?

 The amount of time that it takes for a
population to double in size
 DT=70/the annual growth rate.

 A age structure refers to the proportions of a
pop0ulation that are at different age levels.
 If it is equal at different levels, this results in
a stable population
 This is useful in making predictions.

 Immigration: Movement of individuals into a
population.
 Emigration: Movement from a population.
 Immigration and emigration has no effect on
total work population, but does affect
national growth rates. Also affects local
populations.

 What is Biodiversity?
 Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in a
given area.
 We measure biodiversity by the number of
species present.
 Example: A corn field may contain two
species of beetles, but a rain forest may
contain 5,0000.

 The warmer the climate the more biodiversity
you find.
 Canada has 163 different species of mamals,
the US has 367, and Mexico has 439.
 Tropical rain forests, coral reefs, and large
tropical lakes are the riches habitats fo
biodiversity.

 Biodiversity adds to the beauty of nature.
 Life depends on life: Breaking any one part of
a food chain can have devastating affects on
community
 Biodiversity brings stability to an ecosystem
Cornfield and diseases as compared to a rain forest
where the same species is spread out.
Species are like rivets holding together an airploane.

 Biodiversity gives humans:
Oxygen supplied
CO 2 removed
Variety in diet
Cloth production
Increase crop production by crossbreeding
Medicines-e.g. penicillin

 Extinction refers to the disappearance of a
species when the last of its member dies.
Since1080, 40species of plants and animals have
become extinct in the US alone.
Threatened species are those species who’s
numbers are declining rapidly.
Endangered species are those species who’s
numbers are so low that extinction is possible

 Changes to Habitats can treaten organisms
with extinction.
 These changesare the causes of treats
tobiodiversity.

 Habitat Loss
 Habitat
 Fragmentation
 Habitat Degradation
 Introduction of Exotic Species

 The biggest threat to biodiversity.
 When habitats are lost, the essentials of life
are lost for species that depend on those
habitats.
 Examples:
 Making a meadow into a small parking lot.
 Draining coral reefs forbuilding materials and
collecting for souvenirs and acquariumdecorations.

 Separation of wilderness areas from other
wilderness areas
Road
Cities
 Habitats can become virtual islands
Smaller islands support less biodiversity

 Biotic Issues
Restricts the range of organisms
For migratory organisms, if range is restricted, they
can starve(i.e. zebra and wildebeest)
 Abiotic Issues
Can cause climate change
Edge effect: the different conditions along the
boundaries of an ecosystem

 Damage to habitat by pollution.
 Three types of pollution:
Air pollution
Water pollution
Land pollution

“Ecology is the relation between
people and the environment; the
ecovillage will give ... Unlike
development plans made by real
estate developers who have
concerns ...”

 Ecology is perhaps the broadest of the
biological sciences with explicitly links to
many biological discipline for it deals with
living and non-living this, interacting in an
immense web of relationship.

Ecology is the study of the
relationships between organism and
their environment.
Environment includes not only the
physical but also biological conditions
under which an organism lives while
relationship involves interactions with
the physical world as well as the
interrelationships with the number of
the species and individuals of the
same species.

The term Ecology was derived from the Greek
word oikos meaning “house” or place to live
and logy which means “the study of”.
Several authors provide us with the
definitions of Ecology:
• The study of organisms at home;
• The study of relationship of organisms or
groups of organism to their environment;
• The science of the interrelationships between
living organism to their environment;
• Environment biology;
• Totality of man and environment;

• Ecology is the scientific of the relation of
living organisms to each other and their
surroundings.
• Ecology includes the study of plant and animal
population’s plant and animal communities and
ecosystems. Ecologists study a range of living
phenomena from the role of bacteria in nutrient
recycling to the effects of tropical rain forest on the
Earth's atmosphere.
• Ecology is a sub-discipline of biology, which is the
study of life, branching out from the natural sciences
in the late 19th century. Ecology is not synonymous
with environment, environmentalism, natural history
or environmental science. Ecology is closely related to
the biological disciplines of physiology, evolution,
genetics and behavior.

Ecology seeks to explain:
 life processes and adaptations;
 distribution and abundance of organisms;
 the movement of materials and energy
through living communities;
 the successional development of ecosystems,
and;
 the abundance and distribution of
biodiversity in context of the environment.

There are many practical applications of
ecology in conservation biology, wetland
management, natural resource management
(agriculture, forestry, fisheries), city planning
(urban ecology), community health,
economics, basic & applied science and it
provides a conceptual framework for
understanding and researching human social
interaction (human ecology).

The four basic principles are that:
• The system of ecology is huge and it contains a
network of interrelation and its parts;
• This interrelated network is inclusive of a
structure that contains both the abiotic and biotic
composition, like the biotic ones are plants,
animals, microbes and fungi and the abiotic ones
are water, soil, air etc;
• The networks present in the ecological system
has a control of the energy flow and also in the
flow of nutrients;
• Energy from our solar system has a control over
the flow of all the nutrients and energy.

• Albert Einstein proposed that E=mc2 to describe the
motion of particles moving near the speed of light.
Physics is an exact science.
• Ecology is a fuzzy science. It offers no simple
equations. For example, hunting and fishing often
deplete population of a wild species, so one might
expect that stopping the exploitation or removing
another predator would allow it to recover, but not
necessarily. A moratorium on cod fisheries did not
lead to a recovery because marine biologists did not
have adequate information about their favorite food,
small crustaceans called copepods, or the population
of jellyfish, which competes for this food. Research
funding usually becomes available only after things
start to go wrong, when the environment has already
been exploited. Environmental assessments allow
scientists to study the environment before it changes.

 Ecologists might find that the health of a
habitat depends on any number of factors,
but changing one of them will rarely achieve
the expected effect because any number of
other factors will go undetected. Ecology has
few rules, and most of them have exceptions.
This uncertainty puzzles people and leads
them to suspect that ecology is a mythology.

Certain principles do, however, guide natural
systems.
1. The largest ecological system, the ecosystem, consists of an intricate network
of interrelated parts.
2. The network structure includes both biotic (animals, plants, fungi and microbes)
and abiotic (soil, air, water, etc.) components.
3. The network structure contains a series of nested systems like Russian
matryoshka dolls. A river, for example, is nested within a larger watershed, which
is nested within the global hydrosphere. Each system and its network of
relationships function as a whole, while at the same time being connected to a
greater system. The planet itself is nested within a larger system, with which it
interacts.
4. Networks control the flow of energy and nutrients within each system.
5. Solar energy drives the overall cycles of energy and nutrient flow. Producers
such as plants turn it into sugar or other forms usable to other organisms, which
consume the producers. Some energy is lost at each level of consumption.
These principles are essential to understanding how ecosystems operate, and can
help predict what will happen when something changes the system.

The Earth in Space
Our world is a planet travelling through space. It
travels around a giant ball of fury hot gasses called
sun. The sun is a star. It produces light and heat
which reaches the Earth.
The Biosphere
The biosphere is the layer around the planet where all
living things exist. It contains all the various
ecosystems and all the water, minerals, oxygen,
nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients that living
things need in order to survive. The biosphere has
been designated as the “Skin of Life” extending only a
few kilometers above the sea level and only a few
meters into the soil.

Layers of the Biosphere
 LITHOSPHERE – includes the soil and
sediments where the organism lives.
 HYDROSPHERE – includes the liquid or frozen
water on or near the surface of the
lithosphere.
 ATMOSPHERE – is a region of gases,
particulate matter and water vapor.

ECOLOGY OF POPULATION AND COMMUNITIES
• No individual organism can exist alone. For
survival and reproduction it has to interact with
other of its own kind living somewhere in the
same area. In doing so, it became the part of the
population.
• A population is a collective group of organism of
the same species living in the same place at the
same time. Interactions among the member of a
population are evident. They hunt, build nest,
mate, and rear young, and compete for food,
space and amities when those resources are in
short supply.
• Population exhibits certain unique attributes.
They have density, age distribution and biotic
potential. They exhibit birthrate, death rate,
growth form and dispersion.

FACTS ON THE STATE OF OUR ENVIRONMENT
(From Pachamama “Our Earth – Our Future”)
• There are many signs that we are waking up to the need
for a change of attitudes and practices towards the
environment, but the sad truth is, it is not happening
nearly fast enough.
• The three driving forces affecting our global environment
are political and economic problems made worse by rapid
population growth. Without the social, economic and
political problems caused by humans, the global
environment would probably be in much better shape.
• Experts continuously improve ways to measure the state of
our environment – and things like population growth that
affects it. But the information does not get out to most of
us. We get regular reports on the weather and stock
markets but we rarely hear news of world grain yields or
species extinction rates.

Population Growth
• One of the hardest things is to ensure a sustainable life for
the six (6) billion people on the earth. If we can control
birth rates, scientists predict that our numbers will reach
about nine (9) billions by 2050. If unchecked, world
population could rise to 27 billion. At present
consumption rates, this would put our world’s resources
under enormous pressure.
Economy
• The riches countries of the world, called “developed
countries,” have 20% of the world’s energy resources.
Economics are driven by the choices people make and the
values they hold. To decrease consumption, we will have
to change our behavior and our belief that more is better.

Politics
• The political power of national governments is decreasing. This is
brought about by globalization. Countries are dominated by what is best
for trade and the pursuit of money not by what is best for communities.
There is a need for a new approach to governance that will protect the
Earth and its inhabitants. In all countries – 20% to 45% of national
income is given by citizens to control government for security and state
services.
Education
• Education is vital. It is inherently socio-cultural in nature and does not
develop a vacuum. Education is both a window on and a mirror of
society, formulated around cultural specific values. There are several
factors likely to influence education regardless of cultural context,
namely population, economy, politics, environment, international
structure, research and technology.
• Environment education should be given emphasis in view of sustained
assaults on the environment and the potential threat thus posed to
mankind. It should be aimed at making the student’s environment
conscious and appreciative of the frightening mismanagement, thus
encouraging students to strive to introduce remedial measures.

Atmosphere
• The earth is surrounded by a layer of gases called the
atmosphere made up of five main layers: exosphere,
thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and thermosphere.
Earth layer is at a different temperature and is made up of a
mixture of different gases.
Air Pollution
• Our planet is becoming choked with poisonous gases mostly
from our daily activities like driving cars, warming our houses
and running power stations. The problem is worst in Latin
America and Asia. In cities like Seoul and Mexico City, the air is
so bad, some people wear face mask just to filter the air they
breathe. In cities like Beirut and Damascus, dust storms make it
even worse. Pollution from factories and power stations in
Europe, North America and Russia ends up in the Arctic region.
• Air pollution is a major factor in causing humans to get ill.
Tuberculosis, bronchitis, heart and chest disorders, asthma, and
cancers can all be traced to chemicals in the air. Pesticides and
fertilizers release gases and particles into the air which poison
people and kill animals.

Ozone Depletion
For years, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used as a cooling
device in freezers and air conditioners. However, scientists
discovered that CFCs destroy the ozone layer – the layer that
filters ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Ultraviolet radiation
causes eye damage and skin cancer. The Montreal Protocol, an
international agreement signed in 1989 has helped stop the
production of CFCs. If we keep to the agreement, ozone –
depleting substances will stop being produced and the ozone
layer will begin to repair itself over the next 100 years.
Global Warming
The world is warming up because carbon dioxide (CO2) from
smoke and car exhausts collects in the atmosphere and traps
some of the heat going back to space, like a greenhouse. CO2
and other greenhouse gases are expected to raise global
temperature by an average of 2 degree centigrade by the year
2100 causing the polar ice caps to melt, sea levels to rise and
freak weather conditions which may cause millions of deaths.

Freshwater
• Almost living things on Earth need water to live, yet
humans pollute and waste it recklessly. More than a fifth
of the world’s population doesn’t have enough water; it is
likely people will to war over water in your lifetime.
Marine and Coastal Areas
• Oceans support life, drive our planet provide rainfall and a
vital source of foods. Oceans are the largest ecosystem on
Earth, 75% of all sea pollution is from land – based human
activity. People abuse the coastal marine environment by
destroying habitats, by over-fishing and pollution.
• More than 37% of the world’s population lives within 100
km of a coastal and this percentage is rising. Land prices
are rising too, forcing change in economic activity and
forcing out local fishing villagers.

• Most countries use the sea as a sewer. For
example, coastal cities in Africa dump
hundreds of millions of liters of sewage and
industrial waste into the sea a year. This will
continue as they cannot afford sewage
treatment plants. As sewage, fertilizers and
other “nutrients” are poured into the seas, sea
weeds, and algae spread like a horror movie,
using up all the oxygen that fish need to stay
alive. In the past, the Soviets dumped nuclear
waste in the shallow seas of the Arctic Circle.
As these began to leak, the marine life comes
under treat.

Mangroves
• Coastal mangrove forests are major breeding
grounds for many fish and crustaceans but they
are being wiped out for housing and fish
farming. In Asia – home to 87% of the world’s
fish farms – huge areas of mangrove swamps
have disapproved and along with them the fish
nurseries.
Sustainable Development
• Globalization has been underway for some
decades. It has been largely driven by forces of
economic rationalism. Ecological forces have
generated considerable global fear that our
fundamental life- support systems are in danger.

Sustainable Consumption
• The needs and wishes of the world’s population
are growing. Resources are being used beyond
the earth’s carrying capacity. Excessive waste and
emissions are being released into the
environment. Societies must change their
consumption patterns and move towards cleaner
and safer production patterns.
• Sustainable Consumption – is the use of services
and related products which respond to basic
needs and bring a better quality of life while
minimizing the use of natural resources and
toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste
and pollutants over the life cycle so as not to
jeopardize the needs of future generations.

 Humanity, the most intelligent species on the planet,
capable of anything, but is governed by it’s aggression
and youth. A species fast in developing but slow in
maturing.
 Once species that cared about its home, it’s provider, let
it’s ego dominate it’s decisions. A period of ignorance
and neglect has had profound effects across the world.
Effects which can be reversed, if nature is given the
time to repair the damage. Remember …We only have
one home.”

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