Matter and energy are two important factors in reproducing and keeping our cells alive. However, we as humans are obviously not the only organisms on Earth that interact in our constantly interactive world. All of the interactions that occur in our world, including interactions between the living and non living things on earth compose the highly organized environments known as ecosystems.
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight. It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment. Within ecosystems, there is a constant flow of matter and energy. Among each of the parts of the ecosystem, energy is transferred among organisms in a way that is easy to think of as a one way street. This means that when energy is transferred between beings, usually about 90% is lost in the form of heat and only 10% of that energy makes its way into the next organism. Matter however is able to continually cycle and recycle itself.
Community Interactions
Ecosystems are made up of various and diverse communities. All species, if in one location, will interact with each other. Ecosystems are made up of organisms, populations, communities, and abiotic factors.
An ecosystem can be easily compared to a modern day living community. In a living community there are many members within the community and each member has a important role. When working roles within the community start to overlap, competition sets in. An example of this can be seen in an ecosystem with a species of birds known as Crossbills. Crossbills harvest seeds from Conifer trees. Due to the limited amount of seeds that come from Conifer trees, competition sets in. Imagine a living community in the future when perhaps safe drinking water has become a scarce resource. Because water is essential for survival for all living things on Earth, once it becomes a scarce resource competitive exclusion begins to take place amongst different populations of species. On the other hand, when resources begin to become scarce, or when there are just not that many to begin with, different species don't always have to compete against one another. Often times, there are many species that work together to divide up a resource and share its benefits among one another. This process of working together to divide up a resource is known as resource partitioning. An example of resource partitioning in a living community for humans would be when thinking about the large housing communities that are becoming more and more popular. These housing communities, an example would be Highlands Ranch in Denver, CO reflect resource partitioning because families divide up a scarce resource, land, to build houses so that all of them can have a place to live within the community. A good example of mutualism is when two fish use each other for help. One fish cleans the other's gills, and by cleaning the gills, is gaining nutrients without harming the other fish. But when when a predator has the chance to mimic they will take the chance to act as the fish that cleans the gills so that they can swim along and act like they are going to clean the gills and actually bite a huge piece of the gills off. Commensalism is when an action only benefits one of the communities involved. For example, when a bird builds it's nest in a tree, it is not doing anything for the tree but for the bird and the nest it is how they keep their eggs away from predators.
Competition: Members of each community share the same habitat and have a significant role in their community. When the species roles overlap, competition sets in.
Competitive Exclusion: When two populations compete over the same vital resources, one is bound to "win."
Resource Partitioning: This is when a community divides up a scarce resource, allowing for coexistence.
Coevolution: Concurrent evolution of two or more species that are mutually effecting each other's evolution.
Predator/Prey: Predator-prey interactions result in an "arms race" for defense
Secondary Compounds: Can range in intensity and physiological effects on predators.
Cardiac Glycosides
Alkaloids
Terpene Resins
Tannins
External Weaponry
Thorns/Spikes on plants to keep predators from eating them
Porcupine's use their needle-like hair to keep predators from eating them
Camouflage
Camouflage is used to hide/blend in so predators will not see them
Defense Postures (Moment of Truth)
When an animal feels threatened by a predator they make themselves appear to be something they are not to make the predator go away. For example, the Kill Deer acts as though it has a broken wing to draw predators away from it's nesting babies and follow itself away from the prey.
Mimicry
When a species evolves to look like another species and "mimic" what they do. For example, the Monarch Butterfly has been mimicked by the Viceroy to keep the Viceroy safe (since Monarch Butterflies are poisonous)
Mutualism: "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine." When two organisms benefit from each other. For example, a bird will sit on a rhino and eat the bugs off of it's back, they both benefit because the rhino will not have bugs on it and the bird gets to eat.
Commensalism: The opposite of mutualism; this is only beneficial to one of the organisms involved. For example, a tree and a bird nest, the nest uses the tree but it does not affect the tree in any way.
Parasitism: This is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of a host. For example, a tapeworm attaches itself inside a person and absorbs whatever the person is eating, therefore, becoming larger and later coming out of the skin.
Energy Flow:
The trophic pyramid is a graphic representation of the food chain and the energy flow that is passed through the various levels. At the bottom of the trophic pyramid are plants which are known as the producers, they are found in the most abundance and have the greatest amount of biomass as well as energy. Next are herbivores which are the primary consumers of plants. The third level of the trophic pyramid is occupied by primary consumers such as deer mice which eat plants as well as other animals. Animals that are strictly carnivores are located at the top of the trophic pyramid with the least amount of energy. Only ten percent of the energy consumed is passed onto the next trophic level which means that ninety percent of the energy is released into the atmosphere in the form of heat.
Matter that is not consumed by other organisms ends up as detritus which is soil bacteria, insects and funghi that eat dead plant material. The reason this occurs is because dead organisms such as plants and animals continue to store energy after energy production stops. Decomposers and scavengers also contribute to the continuation of energy flow from one organism to another by eating a dead organism such as a rabbit. When a deceased rabbit is consumed in the forest decomposers (funghi and bacteria) feed off of the dead cells and tissue while the scavengers (animals and insects) pass on what they consumed to their offspring. All of this is a transport of energy from one organism to another.
Nutrient Cycling:
In a living community, everyone within the living community has to eat to live. While this may appear to be obvious to almost everyone, what is not so obvious is the actual reasoning as to why we need to eat for survival. When we eat, we eat for two main biological reasons. These reasons are for matter and for energy. Matter is passed on between organisms usually in the forms of the acronym for the nutrients that compose the SPONCH CaFe. However, energy is also passed between organisms. While most would think in nature that animals usually kill and eat other live animals, we should be aware that they also eat already dead animals. Even though the animals are dead, they still have energy that can be used inside of them. The only thing is that obviously the animal is using that energy itself. When an organism comes to eat another dead organism, not all of the energy that is in that dead animal goes into the organism that is consuming it. Usually, about 90% of that energy is released into the environment in the form of heat, and 10% is passed on to that next consumer. When thinking about the matter that is cycled within a community, it should be noted that matter is never wasted. Each element in the SPONCH Café, Sulfur, Phosphorous, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Calcium, and Iron is cycled throughout the living community. For instance, Carbon is an element that is used by both plants and humans within a living community. Humans eat the organic molecules in organisms (CHO) from fats, carbs, proteins, and nucleic acids. After we obtain the energy from these organic compounds, we use that energy for cellular respiration and release CO2 back into the environment. The CO2 that we release is then used by plants in photosynthesis and the plant convert that CO2 into oxygen that humans can breathe. Within living communities, humans are not the only sources that can release CO2 into the environment. Other ways CO2 can be released into the environment include cellular respiration, volcanic action, burning fossil fuels, burning forests, disturbing soil, and melting permafrost. Because there are so many different factors that can release CO2 into the environment, there needs to be different factors that can store it as well. Carbon sinks in environments include soil, oceans, fossil fuels, and vegetation. An interesting fact is that these carbon sinks can also become carbon sources, primarily in the process of burning theses resources. The process of these carbon sinks becoming carbon sources and vice versa, is what is known as the carbon cycle.
In our living communities, the atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen. This obviously makes nitrogen a crucial part of our ecosystem. Likewise to Carbon, Nitrogen is also cycled throughout the environment. However, Nitrogen is more difficult to cycle because we can’t simply pull it out of the air and use it. In the Nitrogen Cycle, we rely on bacteria to help us convert the nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that we can use. In this cycle, symbiotic bacteria convert N2 in the atmosphere into NH3 or ammonia. When NH3 combines with water in the soil, it becomes NH4, or the plat friendly compound ammonium. Ammonia also has the capability of being converted into NO3 or nitrates. In the soil, there are also some bacteria known as denitrifying bacteria that convert the NO3 and NH4 compounds back into N2. When plants take up the NH4 that is created by the bacteria in the soil, animals eat the plants and assimilate the nitrogen from those plants. The waste of these animals is then decomposed by fungi and bacteria in the soil which turn the organic nitrogen from the animals back into NH4 which can be absorbed again by the plants, continuing the cycle.
SPONCH CaFe- The elements Sulfur, Phosphorous, Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Calcium and Iron that are essential for life
Cellular respiration- The process of converting energy into a usable form for cells (ATP). CH2O+O2 à heat (H2O+O2). In this process the body takes in glucose and through cellular respiration, the body allows the energy within the glucose to get to the cells via the bloodstream.
Carbon sinks- carbon sinks are simply reservoirs within ecosystems where carbon can be stored.
Carbon cycle- the carbon cycle is the process of carbon being cycled through the environment. For example, the process of carbon being stored in a carbon sink to carbon being used as a carbon source. (A forest by itself is a sink but once the forest is burned it becomes a carbon source)
Nitrogen cycle- the cycle and processes that nitrogen goes through in the environment to be made into various forms so that it can be used by different species in the ecosystem.
Populations:
Populations are rapidly growing and changing. The growth rate of a given population is determined by birth rate, which is the the number of births per 1000 individuals per year, as well as immigration rate, emigration rate, and death rate. Also, it can be found by: birth rate + immigration rate - death rate + emigration rate. Some factors that determine when a population dies are density dependent factors and density independent. Density dependent factors include: disease, parasitism, predation, and competition for resources (water, food, shelter, etc.). Density Independent factors include: weather, natural disaster, and human activity. The carrying capacity is the largest number of organisms of a particular species that can be maintained in a given part of the environment. The exponential growth rate is the rate at which a population grows. The bigger population grows faster because they have more people to reproduce later on. The boom and bust cycle is when a population has a rapid growth rate but can also die off quickly. For example, lemmings (rodents) reproduce rapidly but since they follow each other, if one lemming jumps off of a cliff, the rest of the lemmings will. Populations have increased so dramatically because of better nutrition, better medicines and medical care, reduced accidents, childhood vaccines increased, elimination of predators, and trapping of fossil fuels.
Human Impact:
There are many different things that are harmful to the environment. One of them is Acid Rain. Acid rain occurs when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide from power plant emissions, metal smelting, motor vehicles and industry, combine with water in the atmosphere to form droplets of very weak acid. Acid rain, an air and water pollutant, damages lakes, threatens wildlife, and effects air quality. Another thing that is harming the environment is Global Warming. Global Warming is caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases from increased carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels burned by cars, industry and power plants, as well as from CFS, methane and nitrous oxides released into the atmosphere due to Nuclear Wastes. Nuclear wastes are radioactive and extremely toxic byproducts of nuclear fuel processing plants, and nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons industries. Warmer temperatures could dramatically alter ecosystems and bring a range of problems such as droughts, flooding, forest fires, insect infestations, and melting permafrost. Something that is becoming more and more problematic is the ozone depletion. Ozone depletion is a thinning of the ozone layer, the blanket of ozone gases that shields us from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. It results from CFCs, chemicals used in refrigerator and freezer coils, aerosols, as well as automobile and commercial air conditioners, being released into the atmosphere. All of these problems are largely caused by humans releasing too many toxins into the atmosphere. We need to be more conservative and help the environment by not using as mush gas and fossil fuels.
Sustainability Principles The sustainability principles are all about changing the way we live now in order to make a better world for the future. We have to change the way we live now in order to stop the rise of extinction. Sustainability means to support, maintain, and endure. There are many things we can do to stop the rate of extinction from going up; it’s just a matter of everyone doing it.
Restoration is a way of renewing destroyed or damaged ecosystems and habitats. For example, the process of “reforestation” is the restocking of existing forests and woodlands that need help. This is done to improve our quality of life. Reforestation helps soak up dust and pollution from the air, leaving us with cleaner air to breathe in. This is also done to rebuild natural habitats so that the community that was once there can rebuild itself as well. Also, reforestation helps minimize global warming. With the way things are going, many things will be extinct very soon. Restoration is just one way that can help our earth survive a little longer. The loss of ecosystems and habitats is really affecting the extinction rate of all species, so restoration is a major way to help this.
Recycling is the process of something that already exists, decomposing and being used again for something else. Also, it is known as converting waste into reusable material. An example of this is when a rabbit dies, it’s body lays on the ground over about a week and is decomposed. It may seem gross, but once you realize what is actually happening and what is being recycled into the earth, it’s quite fascinating. During the decomposition of the rabbit, the decomposers provide food for themselves by taking out chemicals from the dead rabbit, using these to produce energy. The decomposers, as well as the rabbit, will decompose even further, thus returning nutrients to the soil. The roots of the plants around this happening then take up these nutrients. Also, certain bugs and fungi live off of decomposing things, including the rabbit. All matter and energy is recycled into something else that needs it.
Population is a very hard thing to control; due to the fact, that so many people are having children, and there is not enough room in certain places to hold all of these people that seem to be multiplying. There are a few things that can have a major effect on population and how it is controlled. First of all, there is the idea of the boom-and-bust cycle. Which is when a population of some sort rapidly grows and then suddenly dies off, usually linked to weather and how long of a life cycle a species has. Population control can also happen when a certain community reaches it’s capacity point and cannot have anymore, therefore stops the reproduction. Also, density dependant and density independent factors can result in population control. Density dependant factors are that of disease, parasitism, predation, and competition for resources (food, water, shelter, etc.). Density independent factors are things like weather, natural disasters, and human activity (pollution, development, etc.).
Renewable energy is the natural resources that come from things like sunlight, wind, rain and tides. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels and can be used over and over again. In terms of power generation, renewable energy provides 18% of the total electricity generated worldwide. There are many things that use renewable energy and thrive off of it. Wind power and solar energy, are things that we take for granted every day because they can be used so much more efficiently and are not. The resources that are available to us is such a significant amount. Today, we are looking at renewable sources to find new ways to use them to help meet our energy needs. Over half of our renewable energy goes to producing electricity. This plays a major role in energy. When renewable energy sources are used the demand for fossil fuels is reduced. Resulting in a healthier environment, which we need.
Conservation is the idea of aiming to protect species, their habitats, and their ecosystems from extinction. There is a rapid decline in certain species and in order to stop that, certain actions have to take place. Conservation was started because of the fact that within the next 50 years (if we keep doing what we’re doing) fifty percent of all species on the planet will disappear. This could also result in poverty and starvation. An example of something that conservationists are doing is, trying to save insects. Even though they may be taken for granted, if we didn’t have insects our world we would be a disaster. The greatest amount of biomass on the earth is plants, and insects sustain that. People usually neglect bugs and think of them as “gross,” when really we need them. Conservationists are trying to prevent a colony collapse from happening, resulting in a major change in our lives. All in all, conservation is trying basically trying to ultimately, save our lives.
Ecosystems
Matter and energy are two important factors in reproducing and keeping our cells alive. However, we as humans are obviously not the only organisms on Earth that interact in our constantly interactive world. All of the interactions that occur in our world, including interactions between the living and non living things on earth compose the highly organized environments known as ecosystems.An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight. It is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they interact; a biological community and its physical environment. Within ecosystems, there is a constant flow of matter and energy. Among each of the parts of the ecosystem, energy is transferred among organisms in a way that is easy to think of as a one way street. This means that when energy is transferred between beings, usually about 90% is lost in the form of heat and only 10% of that energy makes its way into the next organism. Matter however is able to continually cycle and recycle itself.
Community Interactions
Ecosystems are made up of various and diverse communities. All species, if in one location, will interact with each other. Ecosystems are made up of organisms, populations, communities, and abiotic factors.
An ecosystem can be easily compared to a modern day living community. In a living community there are many members within the community and each member has a important role. When working roles within the community start to overlap, competition sets in. An example of this can be seen in an ecosystem with a species of birds known as Crossbills. Crossbills harvest seeds from Conifer trees. Due to the limited amount of seeds that come from Conifer trees, competition sets in. Imagine a living community in the future when perhaps safe drinking water has become a scarce resource. Because water is essential for survival for all living things on Earth, once it becomes a scarce resource competitive exclusion begins to take place amongst different populations of species. On the other hand, when resources begin to become scarce, or when there are just not that many to begin with, different species don't always have to compete against one another. Often times, there are many species that work together to divide up a resource and share its benefits among one another. This process of working together to divide up a resource is known as resource partitioning. An example of resource partitioning in a living community for humans would be when thinking about the large housing communities that are becoming more and more popular. These housing communities, an example would be Highlands Ranch in Denver, CO reflect resource partitioning because families divide up a scarce resource, land, to build houses so that all of them can have a place to live within the community. A good example of mutualism is when two fish use each other for help. One fish cleans the other's gills, and by cleaning the gills, is gaining nutrients without harming the other fish. But when when a predator has the chance to mimic they will take the chance to act as the fish that cleans the gills so that they can swim along and act like they are going to clean the gills and actually bite a huge piece of the gills off. Commensalism is when an action only benefits one of the communities involved. For example, when a bird builds it's nest in a tree, it is not doing anything for the tree but for the bird and the nest it is how they keep their eggs away from predators.
Competition: Members of each community share the same habitat and have a significant role in their community. When the species roles overlap, competition sets in.
Competitive Exclusion: When two populations compete over the same vital resources, one is bound to "win."
Resource Partitioning: This is when a community divides up a scarce resource, allowing for coexistence.
Coevolution: Concurrent evolution of two or more species that are mutually effecting each other's evolution.
Predator/Prey: Predator-prey interactions result in an "arms race" for defense
Mutualism: "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine." When two organisms benefit from each other. For example, a bird will sit on a rhino and eat the bugs off of it's back, they both benefit because the rhino will not have bugs on it and the bird gets to eat.
Commensalism: The opposite of mutualism; this is only beneficial to one of the organisms involved. For example, a tree and a bird nest, the nest uses the tree but it does not affect the tree in any way.
Parasitism: This is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of a host. For example, a tapeworm attaches itself inside a person and absorbs whatever the person is eating, therefore, becoming larger and later coming out of the skin.
Energy Flow:
The trophic pyramid is a graphic representation of the food chain and the energy flow that is passed through the various levels. At the bottom of the trophic pyramid are plants which are known as the producers, they are found in the most abundance and have the greatest amount of biomass as well as energy. Next are herbivores which are the primary consumers of plants. The third level of the trophic pyramid is occupied by primary consumers such as deer mice which eat plants as well as other animals. Animals that are strictly carnivores are located at the top of the trophic pyramid with the least amount of energy. Only ten percent of the energy consumed is passed onto the next trophic level which means that ninety percent of the energy is released into the atmosphere in the form of heat.
Matter that is not consumed by other organisms ends up as detritus which is soil bacteria, insects and funghi that eat dead plant material. The reason this occurs is because dead organisms such as plants and animals continue to store energy after energy production stops. Decomposers and scavengers also contribute to the continuation of energy flow from one organism to another by eating a dead organism such as a rabbit. When a deceased rabbit is consumed in the forest decomposers (funghi and bacteria) feed off of the dead cells and tissue while the scavengers (animals and insects) pass on what they consumed to their offspring. All of this is a transport of energy from one organism to another.
Nutrient Cycling:
In a living community, everyone within the living community has to eat to live. While this may appear to be obvious to almost everyone, what is not so obvious is the actual reasoning as to why we need to eat for survival. When we eat, we eat for two main biological reasons. These reasons are for matter and for energy. Matter is passed on between organisms usually in the forms of the acronym for the nutrients that compose the SPONCH CaFe. However, energy is also passed between organisms. While most would think in nature that animals usually kill and eat other live animals, we should be aware that they also eat already dead animals. Even though the animals are dead, they still have energy that can be used inside of them. The only thing is that obviously the animal is using that energy itself. When an organism comes to eat another dead organism, not all of the energy that is in that dead animal goes into the organism that is consuming it. Usually, about 90% of that energy is released into the environment in the form of heat, and 10% is passed on to that next consumer. When thinking about the matter that is cycled within a community, it should be noted that matter is never wasted. Each element in the SPONCH Café, Sulfur, Phosphorous, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Calcium, and Iron is cycled throughout the living community. For instance, Carbon is an element that is used by both plants and humans within a living community. Humans eat the organic molecules in organisms (CHO) from fats, carbs, proteins, and nucleic acids. After we obtain the energy from these organic compounds, we use that energy for cellular respiration and release CO2 back into the environment. The CO2 that we release is then used by plants in photosynthesis and the plant convert that CO2 into oxygen that humans can breathe. Within living communities, humans are not the only sources that can release CO2 into the environment. Other ways CO2 can be released into the environment include cellular respiration, volcanic action, burning fossil fuels, burning forests, disturbing soil, and melting permafrost. Because there are so many different factors that can release CO2 into the environment, there needs to be different factors that can store it as well. Carbon sinks in environments include soil, oceans, fossil fuels, and vegetation. An interesting fact is that these carbon sinks can also become carbon sources, primarily in the process of burning theses resources. The process of these carbon sinks becoming carbon sources and vice versa, is what is known as the carbon cycle.
In our living communities, the atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen. This obviously makes nitrogen a crucial part of our ecosystem. Likewise to Carbon, Nitrogen is also cycled throughout the environment. However, Nitrogen is more difficult to cycle because we can’t simply pull it out of the air and use it. In the Nitrogen Cycle, we rely on bacteria to help us convert the nitrogen in the atmosphere into a form that we can use. In this cycle, symbiotic bacteria convert N2 in the atmosphere into NH3 or ammonia. When NH3 combines with water in the soil, it becomes NH4, or the plat friendly compound ammonium. Ammonia also has the capability of being converted into NO3 or nitrates. In the soil, there are also some bacteria known as denitrifying bacteria that convert the NO3 and NH4 compounds back into N2. When plants take up the NH4 that is created by the bacteria in the soil, animals eat the plants and assimilate the nitrogen from those plants. The waste of these animals is then decomposed by fungi and bacteria in the soil which turn the organic nitrogen from the animals back into NH4 which can be absorbed again by the plants, continuing the cycle.
SPONCH CaFe- The elements Sulfur, Phosphorous, Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen, Calcium and Iron that are essential for life
Cellular respiration- The process of converting energy into a usable form for cells (ATP). CH2O+O2 à heat (H2O+O2). In this process the body takes in glucose and through cellular respiration, the body allows the energy within the glucose to get to the cells via the bloodstream.
Carbon sinks- carbon sinks are simply reservoirs within ecosystems where carbon can be stored.
Carbon cycle- the carbon cycle is the process of carbon being cycled through the environment. For example, the process of carbon being stored in a carbon sink to carbon being used as a carbon source. (A forest by itself is a sink but once the forest is burned it becomes a carbon source)
Nitrogen cycle- the cycle and processes that nitrogen goes through in the environment to be made into various forms so that it can be used by different species in the ecosystem.
Populations:
Populations are rapidly growing and changing. The growth rate of a given population is determined by birth rate, which is the the number of births per 1000 individuals per year, as well as immigration rate, emigration rate, and death rate. Also, it can be found by: birth rate + immigration rate - death rate + emigration rate. Some factors that determine when a population dies are density dependent factors and density independent. Density dependent factors include: disease, parasitism, predation, and competition for resources (water, food, shelter, etc.). Density Independent factors include: weather, natural disaster, and human activity. The carrying capacity is the largest number of organisms of a particular species that can be maintained in a given part of the environment. The exponential growth rate is the rate at which a population grows. The bigger population grows faster because they have more people to reproduce later on. The boom and bust cycle is when a population has a rapid growth rate but can also die off quickly. For example, lemmings (rodents) reproduce rapidly but since they follow each other, if one lemming jumps off of a cliff, the rest of the lemmings will. Populations have increased so dramatically because of better nutrition, better medicines and medical care, reduced accidents, childhood vaccines increased, elimination of predators, and trapping of fossil fuels.
Human Impact:
There are many different things that are harmful to the environment. One of them is Acid Rain. Acid rain occurs when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide from power plant emissions, metal smelting, motor vehicles and industry, combine with water in the atmosphere to form droplets of very weak acid. Acid rain, an air and water pollutant, damages lakes, threatens wildlife, and effects air quality. Another thing that is harming the environment is Global Warming. Global Warming is caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases from increased carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels burned by cars, industry and power plants, as well as from CFS, methane and nitrous oxides released into the atmosphere due to Nuclear Wastes. Nuclear wastes are radioactive and extremely toxic byproducts of nuclear fuel processing plants, and nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons industries. Warmer temperatures could dramatically alter ecosystems and bring a range of problems such as droughts, flooding, forest fires, insect infestations, and melting permafrost. Something that is becoming more and more problematic is the ozone depletion. Ozone depletion is a thinning of the ozone layer, the blanket of ozone gases that shields us from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet radiation. It results from CFCs, chemicals used in refrigerator and freezer coils, aerosols, as well as automobile and commercial air conditioners, being released into the atmosphere. All of these problems are largely caused by humans releasing too many toxins into the atmosphere. We need to be more conservative and help the environment by not using as mush gas and fossil fuels.Sustainability Principles
The sustainability principles are all about changing the way we live now in order to make a better world for the future. We have to change the way we live now in order to stop the rise of extinction. Sustainability means to support, maintain, and endure. There are many things we can do to stop the rate of extinction from going up; it’s just a matter of everyone doing it.
Restoration is a way of renewing destroyed or damaged ecosystems and habitats. For example, the process of “reforestation” is the restocking of existing forests and woodlands that need help. This is done to improve our quality of life. Reforestation helps soak up dust and pollution from the air, leaving us with cleaner air to breathe in. This is also done to rebuild natural habitats so that the community that was once there can rebuild itself as well. Also, reforestation helps minimize global warming. With the way things are going, many things will be extinct very soon. Restoration is just one way that can help our earth survive a little longer. The loss of ecosystems and habitats is really affecting the extinction rate of all species, so restoration is a major way to help this.
Recycling is the process of something that already exists, decomposing and being used again for something else. Also, it is known as converting waste into reusable material. An example of this is when a rabbit dies, it’s body lays on the ground over about a week and is decomposed. It may seem gross, but once you realize what is actually happening and what is being recycled into the earth, it’s quite fascinating. During the decomposition of the rabbit, the decomposers provide food for themselves by taking out chemicals from the dead rabbit, using these to produce energy. The decomposers, as well as the rabbit, will decompose even further, thus returning nutrients to the soil. The roots of the plants around this happening then take up these nutrients. Also, certain bugs and fungi live off of decomposing things, including the rabbit. All matter and energy is recycled into something else that needs it.
Population is a very hard thing to control; due to the fact, that so many people are having children, and there is not enough room in certain places to hold all of these people that seem to be multiplying. There are a few things that can have a major effect on population and how it is controlled. First of all, there is the idea of the boom-and-bust cycle. Which is when a population of some sort rapidly grows and then suddenly dies off, usually linked to weather and how long of a life cycle a species has. Population control can also happen when a certain community reaches it’s capacity point and cannot have anymore, therefore stops the reproduction. Also, density dependant and density independent factors can result in population control. Density dependant factors are that of disease, parasitism, predation, and competition for resources (food, water, shelter, etc.). Density independent factors are things like weather, natural disasters, and human activity (pollution, development, etc.).
Renewable energy is the natural resources that come from things like sunlight, wind, rain and tides. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels and can be used over and over again. In terms of power generation, renewable energy provides 18% of the total electricity generated worldwide. There are many things that use renewable energy and thrive off of it. Wind power and solar energy, are things that we take for granted every day because they can be used so much more efficiently and are not. The resources that are available to us is such a significant amount. Today, we are looking at renewable sources to find new ways to use them to help meet our energy needs. Over half of our renewable energy goes to producing electricity. This plays a major role in energy. When renewable energy sources are used the demand for fossil fuels is reduced. Resulting in a healthier environment, which we need.
Conservation is the idea of aiming to protect species, their habitats, and their ecosystems from extinction. There is a rapid decline in certain species and in order to stop that, certain actions have to take place. Conservation was started because of the fact that within the next 50 years (if we keep doing what we’re doing) fifty percent of all species on the planet will disappear. This could also result in poverty and starvation. An example of something that conservationists are doing is, trying to save insects. Even though they may be taken for granted, if we didn’t have insects our world we would be a disaster. The greatest amount of biomass on the earth is plants, and insects sustain that. People usually neglect bugs and think of them as “gross,” when really we need them. Conservationists are trying to prevent a colony collapse from happening, resulting in a major change in our lives. All in all, conservation is trying basically trying to ultimately, save our lives.