Environmental Sciences

CHY1702
Module 1
Module-1 Environment and Ecosystem
Key environmental problems and their basic causes and
sustainable solutions. IPAT equation. Ecosystem, earth – life
support system and ecosystem components; Food chain, food
web, Energy flow in ecosystem; Ecological succession- stages
involved, Primary and secondary succession, Hydrarch,
mesarch, xerarch; Nutrient, water, carbon, nitrogen, cycles;
Effect of human activities on these cycles.
 Key environmental problems and their basic causes
• 1) High quantity of Exhaust gases: The biggest reason by
far for all kinds of environmental degradation is the exorbitant
amount of gases, harmful to the environment, which is
released by the various industries. Prime amongst these
gases are C02, S02 and NH3. Of course there are many more,
and these are the main culprits for ozone holes and global
warming.
• 2) Deforestation: Close second comes the deforestation all
over the world, to harness forest resources, to clear land, for
wood and for various other reasons. Deforestation causes
major problems for one simple reason; it decreases the
number of trees, which clean the environment, provide oxygen
and also affect rain patterns. This is the major reason why
there are calls for tree plantation; it is to make up for this loss.
• 3) High number of industries such as mining: Mining
creates a lot of pollution, mainly because it releases particulate
matter, which qualifies as Respirable Particulate Matter (RPM);
the particulate matter which can enter our lungs and can harm
the entire respiratory system. This form causes the most direct
harm to humans, also particulate matter can come from indoor
pollution, as can be seen in cooking on traditional ‘choolahs’
and cottage industries like ‘bangle-making’.
• 4) Chemical effluents: Effluents are another by-product of
industries which poses threat to the environment, leather and
tanning industries, petroleum industries and chemical
manufacturing industries create major waste products which
are released directly into nearby streams without treatment,
creating river pollution and causing harm to aquatic life.
• 5) Transport: As the spending power of the population increases
and as cars become available more, the number of vehicles on the
road increases. The amount has grown exponentially in countries
like India, Brazil and China and this is a point form of pollution
which directly affects humans. Smog is a nuisance that is created
because of vehicular pollution, and Hydro-Carbons released from
engines are the cause of creation of lower level ozone that is
harmful to humans.
• 6) Unprecedented Construction: Urban Heat Island is a direct
cause of the unprecedented construction activities that are being
carried out right now, and urban heat island causes trapping of
pollutants. Urban Heat island is an effect caused due to trapping of
solar radiation by concrete and cement which are materials which
trap heat extremely well. Construction causes removal of
vegetative cover which usually allows for better exchange of heat.
This heat island effect causes constricted circulation of air, which
traps pollutants released in urban areas and does not allow for
mixing of the air, thus decreasing the air quality.
• 7) Secondary Pollutants: Secondary pollutants are ones that
are not directly emitted; however they get created when primary
pollutants react amongst themselves. Major amongst them is the
creation of ozone from reaction between non-burnt
Hydrocarbons and Nitrous Oxides. There are various other
secondary pollutants and the reaction between these pollutants
cause reactions that lead to formation of ozone holes.
Stratospheric clouds are the main reaction sites for such
pollutants.
• 8 ) Ruinous agricultural policies: Overloading the land with
fertilizers, overgrazing and shifting agriculture are ruinous
agricultural policies that degrade land, creating soil erosion that
leads to silting in major rivers and reservoirs. Soil degradation is
a continuous cycle and it ultimately leads to desertification and
degradation of land quality by allowing the direct action of
eroding agents on cultivable land.
• 9) The Population Explosion: The increasing population
creates a load that the entire environment has to support, not
only in terms of food and lodging, but also in terms of the
amount of waste that it generates and the ability of the
environment to sustain this growth. All major activities are
carried out to support this growing population, and whilst this is
unavoidable, what is required is the proper planning that should
come with this explosion.
• 10) Unplanned Land-use policies: Land models are available
these days which help in proper planning and use of land
resources. However, failure to use these models and land
management policies can lead to land pollution and degradation.
Extraction from mines renders them unusable for habitation and
if rehabilitation work is not carried out, the piece of land is sure
to lose all its value and become unusable. Land classification is
one of the major activities that help in proper land use, and it
should be followed with utmost care.
• 11) Poverty Has Harmful Environmental and Health
Effects: Poverty occurs when people are unable to fulfill their
basic needs for adequate food, water, shelter, health, and
education. According to a 2008 study by the World Bank, 1.4
billion people—one of every five people on the planet and almost
five times the number of people in the United States—live in
extreme poverty. Poverty causes a number of harmful
environmental and health effects. The daily lives of the world’s
poorest people are focused on getting enough food, water, and
fuel for cooking and heating to survive. Desperate for short-term
survival, some of these individuals degrade potentially renewable
forests, soils, grasslands, fisheries, and wildlife at an ever-
increasing rate. They do not have the luxury of worrying about
long-term environmental quality or sustainability.
• Even though the poor in less-developed countries have no choice but
to use very few resources per person, their large population size leads
to a high overall environmental impact. While poverty can increase
some types of environmental degradation, the converse is also true.
Pollution and environmental degradation have a severe impact on the
poor and can increase their poverty. Consequently, many of the world’s
poor people die prematurely from several preventable health problems.
One such problem is malnutrition caused by a lack of protein and other
nutrients needed for good health. A second health problem is limited
access to adequate sanitation facilities and clean drinking water. More
than 2.6 billion people—more than 8 times the population of the United
States—have no decent bathroom facilities.
How do humans effect the planet?

P. Erhlich, J. Holdren (1971) “Impact of population growth,’’ Science, 171, 1212-1217

The IPAT equation made a contribution to understanding the multiple causes of

environmental impact
 Earth’s Life-Support System
Has Four Major Components
• The earth’s life-support system consists of four main spherical
systems that interact with one another—the atmosphere (air), the
hydrosphere (water), the geosphere (rock, soil, and sediment),
and the biosphere (living things).
• The atmosphere is a thin spherical envelope of gases
surrounding the earth’s surface. Its inner layer, the troposphere,
extends only about 17 kilometers (11 miles) above sea level at the
tropics and about 7 kilometers (4 miles) above the earth’s north and
south poles. It contains air that we breathe, consisting mostly of
nitrogen (78% of the total volume) and oxygen (21%). The remaining
1% of the air includes water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, all
of which are called greenhouse gases, which absorb and release
energy that warms the lower atmosphere. Without these gases, the
earth would be too cold for the existence of life as we know it. Almost
all of the earth’s weather occurs within this layer.
• The next layer, stretching 17–50 kilometers (11–31 miles) above the earth’s surface, is
called the stratosphere. Its lower portion holds enough ozone (O3) gas to filter out
about 95% of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. This global sunscreen allows
life to exist on land and in the surface layers of bodies of water.
• The hydrosphere consists of all of the water on or near the earth’s surface. It is
found as water vapor in the atmosphere, liquid water on the surface and
underground, and ice—polar ice, icebergs, glaciers, and ice in frozen soil
layers. The oceans cover about 71% of the globe, contain about 97% of the
earth’s water.
• The geosphere consists of the earth’s intensely hot core, a thick mantle
composed mostly of rock, and a thin outer crust. Most of the geosphere is
located in the earth’s interior. Its upper portion contains non-renewable fossil
fuels and minerals that we use, as well as renewable soil chemicals (nutrients)
that organisms need in order to live, grow, and reproduce.
• The biosphere consists of the parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
geosphere where life is found. If the earth were an apple, the biosphere would
be no thicker than the apple’s skin. One important goal of environmental
science is to understand the interactions that occur within this thin layer of air,
water, soil, and organisms.
 Ecosystems

“All things come from earth,

and to earth they all return”
—Menander
 Ecology and Ecosystem
Ecosystem - An ecosystem is a community of living
organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction
with the nonliving components of their environment (things
like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system.

Ecology - study of interactions among organisms or group

of organisms with their environment
Oikos – Home + logos – study
As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms,
and between organisms and their environment, they can come in any size but
usually encompass specific, limited spaces.
 Structure of an Ecosystem

Biotic and abiotic components are

regarded as linked
together through nutrient cycles
and energy flows
 Functional attributes of ecosystem

• Tropic structure, food chain and food

web
• Energy flow
• Ecosystem development and regulation
• Primary and secondary production
• Cycling of nutrients
Trophic Level
 Each organism in an ecosystem
is assigned to a feeding level –
trophic level

 The amount of living matter

available at each trophic level
at a given time – standing crop
or standing biomass

 Flow of energy is mediated

through feeding relationships

 The definite arrangement of

trophic level along with
population size – trophic
structure
Food Chain

Food chain : The transfer of

food energy from the source
through series of organisms that
consume and are consumed

“The sequence of eating and

being eaten in an ecosystem”
 Two types of food chain

Grazing food chain Detritus food chain

Eagle Fish

Snake Crab

Rabbit Algae

Grass Dead leaf

 Food Web
 In a food web, many food chains are interconnected
 Different types of organisms are connected at different tropic
levels
 A number of opportunities of eating and being eaten at each
trophic level is more – lead to stability of ecosystem
Significance of food chains and food
webs
• Energy flow
• Ecological balance
• Bio-magnification – magnification of bio-
accumulated toxic substances while
moving up from one tropic level to
another tropic level.
 Energy flow in Ecosystems
• All organisms require energy
• Energy flows via food chain
• Energy flow is unidirectional or one-way flow
Flow of energy follows laws of thermodynamics

“Energy neither be created nor be destroyed, one form of

energy is transformed in to another form of energy”
Flow of energy follows laws of thermodynamics

Energy dissipates as it is used or it get converted from more concentrated to

dispersed form
“whenever energy is transformed, there is a loss of energy
through the release of heat.”
Fig. Flow of energy and nutrient cycling from abiotic to
biotic and vice versa.
 Energy flow in ecosystems

• Loss of energy due to respiration, hunting, running etc.

• At every trophic level 90% energy is consumed, only 10% is

transferred to next level and finally disappear – it cannot be
cycled or reversed - thus energy flow is unidirectional
 Models of ecological energy flow
Universal energy flow model
NU

Flowing Energy

Stored Energy

A single trophic level

The loss of energy is due to locomotion, respiration, excretion

 Single channel energy flow model
Producers herbivores carnivores

Stored Energy

Flowing Energy

A food chain - Unidirectional flow of energy

Both stored energy and flowing energy decrease
while moving through a food chain
 Y-shaped or two channel energy flow model

Grazing food chain

Detritus food chain

Passage of energy via two food chains

 Ecological Pyramids
• Graphical representation of structure and
function of trophic levels of an ecosystem

• Starting with producers at the bottom and

each successive trophic level forming the
apex – structure would be a pyramid

• In food chain starting from the producers

there is a regular decrease or increase in the
properties i.e., energy, biomass, and number
of organisms
 Pyramid of numbers

Pyramid of energy
Pyramid of biomass
 Pyramid of energy
•A pyramid of energy depicts the energy flow, or
productivity, of each trophic level

•Due to the Laws of Thermodynamics, each higher

level must be smaller than lower levels, due to loss of
some energy as heat (via respiration etc.) within each level

Energy
decrease
 Pyramid of numbers
•A pyramid of numbers indicates the number of
individuals in each trophic level
•Since the size of individuals may vary widely
pyramids of numbers say little or nothing about
the amount of energy moving through the ecosystem
Top Hawks
Carnivore
Frogs
Carnivore

Insects
Herbivore

Grasses
Producers

Grass land food chain

 Pyramid of biomass
•A pyramid of biomass indicates how much biomass (Dry
matter) is present in each trophic level at any given time
•As like pyramids of numbers, a pyramid of biomass
also not well reflect the flow of energy through
the system, due to different sizes and growth rates of
organisms
Grass land

Snakes
Carnivore

Herbivires Rabbit

Producers Grass
 Inverted Pyramids
• A pyramid of numbers and pyramid of bio-mass may
be inverted, i.e., a higher trophic level may have a
larger number or bio-mass than a lower trophic level
Pyramid of numbers
Microbes
Top Hawks
Carnivore Hyper parasites

Carnivore Frogs
Parasites Bugs

Herbivore Insects
Herbivore Birds

Producers Grasses Producer Trees

Grass land food chain Parasitic food chain

 Inverted Pyramids
Pyramid of biomass
Pond
Grass land
Big
Secondary Carnivores fish
Small
Snakes Carnivores
Carnivore fish

Herbivores Insects
Herbivores Rabbit

Producers
Producers Grass Phytoplankton
Ecological Succession
Communities and Ecosystems change
with changing environmental
conditions.
 Ecological Succession
• The ecosystem is dynamic – changes with
respect to external factors
• Some times replacement of one community by
other over a period of time
• The progressive replacement of one
community by another till the development of
stable community over a time in a particular
area is called ecological succession.
• It ultimately a process to get a stable
ecosystem
 Ecologists recognize two types of ecological
succession, based on the conditions present at the
beginning of the process.
1. Primary succession: It involves the gradual establishment
of biotic communities on a lifeless ground.
• Different types of starting areas
i. Hydrarch or Hydrosere – watery area
like swamp-involves the ecosystem in the newly
formed pond
ii. Mesarch – area with adequate moisture
iii. Xerach or Xerosere – succession involved dry area
with little moisture
Lithosere – bare rock
Psammosere – sand
Halosere – saline soil
1 4 Hydrosere
or hydrarch
2 5

3 6

7
 Xerosere (lithosere)
bare rock→lichens→mosses→grasses→shrubs→trees
2. Secondary succession: It involves the establishment
of biotic communities in an area, where some type of
biotic community is already present.
• After a volcanic eruption a glacial retreat, a
landslide or flood – bare land

i. “Pioneer organisms” simple plants first – no or

shallow roots
ii. Gradual influx of more complicated and larger
plants as the habitat changes.
iii. Ends with a “climax community” – ecosystem
stays constant, provided there are no
changes in abiotic influences.
 Process of succession
• Nudation – development of bare area
• Invasion – establishment of one or more species through
migration (establishment of plants and animal in an
abandoned crop or land)
(a) Migration: Migration of seeds is brought about by wind,
water or birds.
(b) Establishment: The seeds then germinate and grow on
the land and establishes their pioneer communities.
• Competition and coactions –interaction between organism
or species, in which fitness of one is lowered by the
presence of other. space, water, nutrients, inter-specific,
intra-specific
• Reaction – the reaction on the environment by the
organisms
• Stabilization – attainment of equilibrium with environment