envi sci

• Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary study of the environment, incorporating different fields of science to address local and global environmental issues and problems
• Ecology focuses on the relationship between biotic and abiotic components of the environment, playing an important role in environmental science
• Ecosystem is an important hierarchy in the level of organization in nature, consisting of interactions of biotic and abiotic components within a defined area
• Environmental principles:

  • "Everything is connected to everything else"
  • "Everything in nature changes"
  • "Everything in nature has to go somewhere"
  • "The environment has a carrying capacity"
  • "All forms of life are important"
  • "Nature knows best"
  • "Ours is a finite Earth"
• Environmental ethics:

  • Anthropocentrism (Human-centered)
  • Biocentrism (Life-centered)
  • Ecocentrism (Ecosystem-centered)
• Environmental attitudes:

  • Development Ethic
  • Preservation Ethic
  • Conservation and Management Ethic
• Environmental behaviors:

  • Tragedy of the Commons
  • Hierarchy of Needs
  • Precautionary Principle
• Environmental Justice:

  • Equal protection against environmental hazards for all individuals, groups, or communities
  • Principles of Environmental Justice:
  • Polluter-Pays Principle
  • Intergenerational Equity
  • Writ of Mandamus and Writ of Kalikasan
• Biotic factors of the environment:

  • Autotrophs or Producers capture energy and use it with inorganic nutrients to produce organic compounds
  • Heterotrophs or Consumers need preformed organic nutrients and consume tissues of other organisms
  • Herbivores feed on green plants
  • Carnivores feed on animal flesh
  • Omnivores feed on both plants and animals
  • Decomposers are non-photosynthetic bacteria and fungi that extract energy from dead matter to make nutrients available
  • Parasites are bacteria, viruses, and other parasitic organisms that can cause diseases
• The atmosphere is the gaseous envelope surrounding Earth
• the biosphere is all living organisms on earth, including plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, viruses, protists, etc.
• Nutritional relationships:

  • Predation involves one organism killing and eating another
  • Predator is the organism harming and benefiting from the other
  • Prey is the one being eaten and inflicted harm by another organism
  • Competition occurs when two organisms compete for the same limited resource, both are assumed harmed to some extent
  • Competitive exclusion principle states that no two species can occupy the same ecological niche in the same place and time
  • Intraspecific competition occurs among members of the same species
• • Ambiguous Relationships are not easy to categorize without creating doubt about relationships some organisms have with each other
• • Interspecific competition occurs between organisms of different species
  • Symbiotic Relationships are close, harmonious, physical relationships between two different species stabilizing itself through a long period of interaction
  • Parasitism involves one organism living in or on another organism deriving sustenance
  • Commensalism benefits one organism while the other is unaffected
  • Mutualism is an obligatory relationship where both species cannot live without each other and both benefit from the interaction
• Energy flow:

  • Homeostasis is a self-regulating process to maintain internal stability while adjusting to changing external conditions
  • Trophic level is each step in the flow of energy through an ecosystem
  • First trophic level is constituted by the producers
  • Second trophic level involves herbivores eating the producers
  • Third trophic level includes carnivores eating the herbivores
  • Fourth trophic level consists of carnivores eating other carnivores
  • Food chain is the passage of energy from one trophic level to the next resulting from one organism consuming another
• the hydrosphere includes all water on or near the surface of the planet (oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater)
• Law of Thermodynamics:

  • Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed from one form to another
  • There is always some loss of energy from the system when energy is transferred from one form to another, usually as low-grade heat
  • Approximately 90% of useful energy is lost with each transfer to the next trophic level
  • Biomass determination is used to approximate the relationship between amounts of energy at each level
  • Biomass is the weight of living material in a trophic level
• Biogeochemical cycles:

  • Cyclic movement of minerals from their reservoirs to the living components, and back to the reservoirs
  • Reservoirs are natural pools where elements are accumulated in large quantities
  • Types of nutrients:
  • Macronutrients are required in large quantities such as carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur
  • Micronutrients are utilized in small amounts such as iron, zinc, copper, and iodine
• Carbon cycle:

  • Carbon is the main element in organic compounds
  • Used by plants to build leaves and stems, digested by animals for cellular growth, and used to form shells and skeletons
  • Processes involved in the carbon cycle:
  • Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide into carbohydrates
  • Respiration releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
  • Decomposition breaks down carbohydrates into carbon and other compound byproducts
  • Fossilization forms organism remains into fossil fuel
• Nitrogen cycle:

  • Nitrogen is a crucial component of life composing proteins and nucleic acids
  • Processes in the nitrogen cycle:
  • Nitrogen fixation fixes nitrogen gas (N2) into a usable form through lightning or nitrogen-fixing bacteria
  • Nitrification converts ammonia (N3) into nitrites (NO2−) and subsequently into nitrates (NO3−)
  • Assimilation involves the absorption of ammonium ions from the soil by plants to synthesize protein
  • Ammonification breaks down organic remains of organisms releasing ammonia or ammonium
• • Denitrification reduces nitrites and nitrates into largely inert nitrogen gas
• Phosphorus cycle:

  • Phosphorus compounds circulate through water, the Earth’s crust, and living organisms
  • Processes in the phosphorus cycle:
  • Geological uplifting releases phosphate from the lithosphere
  • Weathering of rocks releases phosphate into the ground or water
  • Assimilation incorporates phosphate ions into plants
  • Decomposition releases phosphate into soil and water from decaying organic matter
  • Sedimentation forms new phosphate rocks
• Sulfur cycle:

  • Sulfur is important for the functioning of plants and enzymes
  • Processes in the sulfur cycle:
  • Volcanic eruption and geological vents release sulfur from the lithosphere
  • Weathering of rocks releases sulfur into the ground or water
  • Assimilation incorporates sulfur into plants
  • Decomposition releases sulfur into the soil and water from decaying organic matter
  • Sedimentation forms new sulfur rocks
• Water cycle:

  • Water composes a large percentage of most organisms and plays various roles in ecosystems
  • Processes in the water cycle:
  • Condensation transforms water vapor into liquid water droplets in the air
  • Precipitation moves weather from the atmosphere to the lithosphere or hydrosphere
  • Evaporation transforms water from liquid to gas as it moves into the atmosphere
  • Infiltration is the flow of water from the ground surface into the ground
• Ecosystem changes:

  • Anthropogenic impacts of modern technology transfer chemicals through the biosphere at rates faster than natural processes
  • Pollution of the environment becomes more apparent with the release of various compounds and chemicals into the biosphere
  • Eutrophication and Fishkill involve an increase in the concentration of nutrients in aging aquatic ecosystems leading to algal growth and anoxia
  • Red Tide or Harmful Algal Blooms are sudden proliferations of microscopic plants producing neurotoxins
• • Acid rain with a pH level below 5.2 is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides from human activities, affecting ecosystems and surfaces
• Biogeochemical cycle sustainability goal:

  • Understanding the need to operate within ranges of transfer and storage necessary for sustainability
  • Allowing better addressing of environmental problems in the future
• Unknown error occurred
• Biogeochemical cycles involve the movement of elements within the environment
• The geosphere is made up of rocks, minerals, soil, sediment, and organic matter
• The atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen gases and contains trace amounts of carbon dioxide, argon, neon, helium, methane, hydrogen, ozone, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, fluorine, and many other substances
• biogeochemical cycles involve the movement of elements through ecosystems over time
• hydrosphere is water bodies such as oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice caps, glaciers, and freshwater reservoirs
• Artificial sources of air pollutants include industrial processes, transportation, agriculture, residential heating, and waste disposal.
• lithosphere is the solid part of the planet (crust + mantle)
• Natural sources of air pollutants include volcanic eruptions, forest fires, dust storms, and wildfires.
• Air pollution refers to any change in air quality caused by human activities
• The carbon cycle involves the exchange of carbon between living things and their surroundings.
• The atmosphere consists of gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases
• Photosynthesis removes carbon from the atmosphere and converts it into organic matter.