Intro to Environmental

Explorations

(Sourced from the Holt Environmental Science Textbook)

Intro to Environmental Explorations

• How do you define the term

environment?

• What do you think are some of the

most significant environmental

problems in the world today? What

about in our local community?

• How can science help us understand

and solve environmental problems?

Intro to Environmental Explorations

• Environmental Science is the study of

how humans interact with the living

and nonliving world (the environment).

– Environment is everything around us

(natural and human-produced things)

– One important foundation of

environmental science is the science of

ecology.

Environmental Science –vs- Ecology

• Ecology – an ecologist might study the

relationship between bees and the plants

bees pollinate.

• Environmental Science – an environmental

scientist might investigate how the nesting

behavior of bees is influenced by human activities,

such as the planting of suburban landscaping.

Many Sciences Contribute to

Environmental Science (not just ecology)

• Chemistry – (chemicals) nature of pollutants

• Geology – how pollutants travel through the rocks, soils, underground.

• Botany and zoology – what species are living, which do we need to protect, etc

• Paleontology - (study of Earth’s past/fossils) helps us to predict future climate changes, study major extinctions, etc.

• Social Sciences – establish environmental laws/policies to protect environment (plants/animals/humans)

• Physics – (matter and energy) engineering machines, structures, products which may be useful to humans and environment

Our Environment Through Time-

Environmental Changes

• Environmental change has occurred throughout Earth’s history(New York City used to be a place where Native Americans hunted game and gathered food – now its covered in black top, buildings and millions of people)

– Hunter-gatherers

– Agricultural revolution

– Industrial revolution

New York City (then and now)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan#cite_note-73

Posterlovers.com

Environmental Changes

• Hunter-gatherer societies (people who get

their food by collecting plants

and hunting wild animals)

– cleared grassland by setting

fires (prohibiting growth of trees)

and may have contributed to the

extinction of some large mammals.

– Spread plants to non-native areas.

Libcom.org

http://www.windriverhistory.org/exhibits/washakie_2/images/

washakie%20family%20teepee.jpg

Environmental Changes• Agricultural revolution (growing and

breeding plants and animals) caused human population growth . . . which in turn caused:

– Habitat loss

– soil erosion

– domestication of plants and animals

» So the plants we eat and grow today were originally wild plants, farmers saved seeds from the plants that

they liked the best.

http://www.mchsmuseum.com/images/lettuce.jpghttp://www.wsu.edu/gened/learn-modules/top_agrev/4-

Agriculture/images/ag-pg1.jpeg

Environmental Changes

• Industrial revolution (mid 1700’s, shift from

animal muscle to run machines to running water,

oil and coal) caused human population growth

(more habitat loss) and the increased use of fossil

fuels.

– Most modern environmental problems began during the

Industrial Revolution (fertilizers, pesticides, air

pollution, etc.)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_scakSfkPCU8/S3jTjfTqtdI/AAAA

AAAAAB0/nrdIGt-TsM8/s320/industrial+revolution.gif

https://ir-newspaper.wikispaces.com/file/view/

300_18445.jpg/43370021/300_18445.jpg

Our Major Environmental Problems

• The major environmental problems we face

today are:

– Resource depletion

– Pollution

– Loss of biodiversity.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/cramb005/architecture/pollution.jpg

Our Major Environmental Problems

• How could environmental problems be

local, regional, or global? Give examples

http://www.dinosaursfaq.com/images/Dinosaur-Extinction-Theory-Of-Disease.jpg http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/images/factory.gif

Natural Resource Depletion –

A Major Environmental Problem

http://www.crdf.org/doc_img/297832.jpg

Renewable resource – resource that can be replaced

relatively quickly by natural processes.

Example = energy from sun, soil, air

Nonrenewable resource – resource that forms at a slow rate

(slower than the rate it is being consumed)

Example = minerals (copper, iron, salt) and fossil fuels

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/WORKS/Breaking_Ground/Mines/Mi

nes_22.jpg

Pollution –

A Major Environmental Problem• Pollution – adversely affects the health, survival,

or activities of humans or other organisms

(produces changes in air, water, or soil)

– Most is produced by human activities

• Biodegradable pollutants - can be broken down naturally

(newspapers, sewage, etc), unless they accumulate faster that

then can brake down

• Nondegradeable pollutants – cannot brake

down by natural processes (plastics,

mercury, lead, etc.)

http://www.finishingstore.com/images/large/q_and_a/linoleum.jpg

http://www.sandhillplastics.com/wp-

content/gallery/products/1224107614plastics.

jpg

Pollution –

A Major Environmental Problem

• Identify an example of a natural source of

pollution.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/04/18/alg_iceland_volcano.jpg

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/100401/GAL-10Apr01-

4193/media/PHO-10Apr01-218396.jpg

A Volcano

Loss of Biodiversity –

A Major Environmental Problem

• Biodiversity – number and variety of

species that live in an area.– Several mass extinctions throughout Earth’s history

– Try to establish laws & regulations to protect animals

from becoming extinct in future.

http://laudyms.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/biodiversity.jpg http://www.dinosaurs.bz/dinosaurs/anatosau.jpg

Questions to What is

Environmental Explorations?

Enviro Expo

1. How could environmental concerns conflict with your

desire to improve your standard of living?

While improving your standards of living you

are using resources that over time will harm

the environment.

2. How might environmental science involve geology and

physics?

Because environmental science looks at both

abiotic and biotic, it encompasses some of

the rock cycles and the physics of

weathering and erosion.

3. Explain the relationship between ecology and

environmental science. How are they different?

The two terms relate because in order to study

ecology (the study of the relationship between

organisms and their physical and biological

environments) you also need to be aware of the

environmental affects on the organisms.

The two terms differ because ecology deals with the

interaction of organisms in their environment and

environmental science deals with the environment

itself.

4. Explain how scientists investigate questions about the

natural world.

• Modeling – building replicas of situations in nature in a

controlled environment

• Direct Studies – involves catching organisms from the

ecosystems and collecting data directly from them

• Observational Studies – sitting, waiting, and watching –

collecting data by only watching and listening to

organisms

5. How do communities and ecosystems change as

environmental conditions change?

As environmental conditions change

communities and ecosystems will either

adapt to the changing environment or die

out.

6. Why is it usually advantageous for a parasite to leave

its host alive?

So that it can continue to feed off of its host

and therefore remain alive.

(If the host remains alive it continues to

supply food/nutrients/habitat for the

parasite).

If a parasite leaves its host alive then it can

remain inside the host for a longer period of

time.

7. What is a food web? How does it compare with a food

chain?

Food web is a made up of many food chains

put together to show how organisms in a

habitat feed off of one another.

A food chain is a shortened/condensed list

showing what a higher organism eats/how it

gets its energy.

8. How is primary succession different from secondary

succession? How is it similar?

Primary succession is when vegetation first

starts developing from a new site that has

not yet been colonized by life. Secondary

succession are the plants and animals that

inhabit an area next.

9. Explain why it may be damaging in the long run to put

out some forest fires.

Some forest fires are better left alone if they

are not harmful or out of control. The forest

fires actually bring out some needed

nutrients for vegetation and may allow

particular plants to germinate.

10. What important role do lichens play in primary

succession?

Lichens can live without soil and are

important in primary succession because

they help break down the rocks. They

absorb nutrients from the rocks and hold

water. Eventually the rock breaks

completely down and the soil forms from

the rock water, air, and other decaying

organisms.

The End!!