Environmental Science Reviewer, Assignments of Environmental Science

Download Environmental Science Reviewer and more Assignments Environmental Science in PDF only on Docsity! Pioneers of Ecological and Environmental Scientific Thought History of Ecology as a Science From early teachings of philosophy, ethics and politics - Aristotle (3rd century B.C) o Historia Animalia - Theophrastus o Organism environment - Schools of thought: o Arcadian ecology o Imperial ecology - Linnaeus o Father of Taxonomy o Binomial system of nomenclature o Systema Naturae (1735) o Phenology and geography factors seasonal progression and plant distribution o Imperial ecology Plant geography and natural history (study of plants, birds, mammals, fish etc.) Expeditions for natural resources (Great Britain, Portugal, Spain) - Alexander von Humboldt o Father of Ecology o Correlated vegetation types with environmental characteristics  Ecological gradient of latitudinal biodiversity increases towards the tropics o Idea for Plant Geography - Darwin o On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) - Haeckel o “Ecology” - Edward Seuss o “Biosphere” (1875) o “Symbiosis” (1879) - Eugen Warming o “Biogeography” o Human ecology (1920) - Vladimir Vernadsky (1926) o Redefined biosphere (The Biosphere) - Arthur Tansley o “ecosystem” (1935) o Harmful effects of pollution to ecosystems known (1950) - Eugene Odum and Howard Oudum o Wrote first ecology textbook (1953) o Ecology as university course - Eugene Odum o “systems ecology” (or “ecosystem ecology”) (1956) - Charles Elton o Father of animal ecology o Food chain/ food web and niche concepts - Barry Commoner o Four basic laws of ecology in “The Closing Circle” - Herodotus and Plato o Providential ecology - Chief Indian Seattle o Chief Indian Seattle letter - Robert Malthus o Relationship of population and food supply - Vito Volterra and Alfred Lotka o Predation-prey interaction model - Pierre Verhulst o Proposed the logistic growth of population - Justus von Leibig o Law of Minimum (1840) - Victor Shelford o Law of Tolerance (1913) - Georgy Gause o “Competitive Exclusion” principle Ecology - Oldest Science - Indigenous practices in the Phil: a) Bontocs in Cordillera - Nutrient cycling b) Ikalahan in Nueva Ecija - Shifting cultivation c) Hanunoo Mangyans of Mindoro - Kaingin farming from lands cleared from forest Implications of Indigenous Practices - Survival strategy is an integral part - Evolutionary development not only between plants and animals with their environment bit also between human communities and their environment. Environmental Awareness in the U.S. Early Conservationist / Naturalist Philosophers - George Perkins Marsh o Man and Nature - Henry David Thoreau - John Wesley Powell - Ralph Waldo Emerson - John Muir 20th Century – Present - 1960s and 1970s o Concern for the state of the environment o Public prominence of ecology o Became involved in social, political and economic issues o Awareness about pollution, overpopulation, degraded environments o Resource management - Rachel Carson o Mother of environmental movements - Fairfield Osborn o Our plundered planet - Aldo Leopold o A Sand Country Almanac - James Lovelock o A new look at life on earth Limiting Factors and Range of Tolerance “the biotic components could not be separated from the abiotic components with which they form one physical unit, the ecosystem” “In an ecosystem the biotic community cannot be studied apart from the physical environment where the organisms have evolved. one can explain why a particular organisms lives that way it does in the context of the kind of physical and biotic environment of its habitat” Energy in Ecosystem Energy - Kinetic Energy - Potential Energy Law of Thermodynamics First law – energy is conserved - Exothermic - Endothermic Second Law – with each successive energy transfer or transformation in a system, less energy is available to do work - Entropy Productivity - Amount of biomass produced in a given area during a period of time - Primary Productivity o Rate at which radiant energy is converted by photosynthesis to organic compounds - Net primary productivity (NPP) = Gross primary productivity (GPP) – Respiration (R) - Secondary Productivity o Energy left over from maintenance and respiration goes into production - Unit: Kilocalories per square meter per year (kcal/m2/yr) gram per square meter per year (g/m2/yr) Trophic Structure Grazing and Detrital Food Chain Why are there few organisms at the top of the pyramid? What happens if the pyramid is disrupted? - Forest fire - Predator “We tend to focus our attention on species at the top of the food web but sometimes the most important species are at or near the bottom of the pyramid”