Ecology Of The Environment – Explained
Introduction
Ecology is the study of environmental systems and the interactions between plants, animals, and their environments. Ecologists use their expertise to address a range of environmental concerns, such as reducing human effect on natural ecosystems and cleaning up waterways. One of the study's main areas of attention is the interactions between organisms and the abiotic components of their environment.
What Exactly Is An Environment?
• The term "environment" refers to everything that surrounds us as we live.
• An environment can be simply defined as a system that contains all biotic and abiotic components that have an impact on human life.
• Water, sunlight, air, climate, and other abiotic elements such as these are biotic elements that are present in all plants and wildlife.
• Resources in an environment might include any good or useful thing for people or society. They can be anything as long as it satisfies requirements for daily life.
• Environmental resources include food produced by living things and plants, fuel for vehicles and cooking, wind, oil, and other things.
• A vast range of goods and services that are necessary for maintaining life are provided by the environment. Each resource has value and importance in and of itself.
History of Ecology
• Ecology is the scientific study of living things, including how they interact with one another and their environment.
• The term ecology was initially used in 1869 by German biologist Ernst Haeckel.
• Oikos, which means house or estate, and logos, which means study, are the two Greek words that make up the word.
• The focus is on the interactions between organisms and abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) elements of the environment.
• It is concerned with how organisms use environmental resources including energy flow and mineral cycle as well as how they are changed by their surroundings.
Describe An Ecosystem:
• An ecosystem is a place where different types of plants, animals, and other organisms interact with the topography, weather, and other factors to create a living bubble.
• The structural and functional units of ecology known as ecosystems are those where interactions between living organisms and their surroundings take place.
• The term "ecosystem" was coined in 1935 by an English botanist by the name of A.G. Tansley.
• The definition of an ecosystem also includes the biological and behavioral interactions between living and nonliving components that make up the ecological system.
• Examples of non-living aspects of the environment include the climate, soil, water, sun, earth, rocks, atmosphere, temperature, and humidity.
The Purposes of An Ecosystem
• The ecosystem's functioning characteristics maintain its constituent parts cooperating.
• Ecosystem functions are energy exchanges or natural processes that take place in different plant and animal species across the globe's biomes.
• For instance, green leaves and roots prepare food and draw nutrients from the soil, respectively, herbivores consume the leaves and roots, while predators consume the herbivores.
• Decomposers convert complicated organic materials into straightforward inorganic molecules that producers can use.
• The movement of energy and nutrients through the food chain is essentially how ecosystems work.
• These interactions maintain the existence of all plant and animal life on earth as well as the breakdown of organic matter and the production of biomass.
• All of the ecosystem's functions are carried out by well balanced and regulated processes.
Earth's Ecosystem
• A terrestrial ecosystem is a group of species that lives on land and interacts with its environment in both biotic and abiotic ways.
• Terrestrial habitats include the tundra, taigas, temperate deciduous woods, tropical rainforests, grasslands, and deserts.
• About 25 to 30 percent of the planet's land area, or 140 to 150 million km2, is made up of terrestrial ecosystems.
• Terrestrial ecosystems differ from aquatic ecosystems in that they have less water available to them and that it serves as a limiting element.
• Since the atmosphere is more transparent than water, light may reach terrestrial ecosystems more easily than aquatic ones.
• Gas is more readily available in terrestrial ecosystems than in aquatic ones.
Ecosystem of The Water
• A water-based ecosystem is one that is aquatic.
• The Latin word "aqua," which meaning "water," is the root of the English word "aquatic."
• An aquatic ecosystem is a group of animals that coexist, interact, and to some extent depend on one another in a water-based environment.
• According to how much salt is present, aquatic environments are categorized into the following subgroups.
• Rivers, lakes, and ponds comprise freshwater environments.
• Ecosystems in brackish water include mangroves, estuaries, etc.
• Oceanic and marine environments, etc.
Pollution of The Environment
• Any undesirable alteration to the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, land, water, or soil is considered an environmental pollution.
• The agents responsible for such an undesirable shift are pollutants.
• Pollutants are solid, liquid, or gaseous compounds that are created as a result of human activity or natural occurrences and are present in greater concentration than in natural abundance.
• The damage of the environment brought on by the introduction of dangerous substances (pollutants) is referred to as pollution.
• Both artificial and natural factors can cause pollution. In terms of disposal, they can be either biodegradable or not, and their formation can be either primary or secondary.
• There are many different types of pollution, including soil, water, radioactive, and plastic pollution.
• Over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals perish due to pollution every year.
• A person's chance of dying from lung cancer increases by 20% when they live in places with high air pollution levels compared to areas with lower levels of pollution.
Alternative Energy
• Energy that is produced from naturally regenerated resources is referred to as renewable energy.
• This covers energy sources like solar energy, geothermal heat, wind, tides, water, and many kinds of biomass.
• This energy never runs out and is always being renewed.
• They are a practical source of pollution-free, inexhaustible energy that is easily accessible nearby.
• The usage of renewable energy considerably minimizes all forms of pollution when compared to non-renewable energy.
• However, biomass is a significant source of indoor pollution even if it is a renewable resource.
The sources of renewable energy are as follows:
1. Primary Sources - The primary sources are renewable energy sources including solar, wind, and geo-thermal.
2. Secondary sources: fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas that have been converted into nonrenewable energy.
Environmental Concerns
• The unfavorable effects of human activity on the environment are known as environmental concerns.
• Examples include climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect, overpopulation, waste disposal, and pollution.
• To create a balance between man and the environment, numerous environmental protection activities are being conducted on a personal, corporate, and governmental level.
• In the modern world, climate change is a significant worry. This problem has recently become more prominent. Climate change is mostly attributed to greenhouse gases.
• Glacier melt, seasonal shifts, diseases, and other harmful effects of environmental changes are only a few.
• Global Warming: There are several factors that contribute to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including the burning of fossil fuels, vehicle emissions, and chlorofluorocarbons. The outcome is a rise in earth's temperature that has altered the environment.
• Depletion of the Ozone Layer: The ozone layer protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. This crucial layer is being destroyed by CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), which are utilized in businesses and daily life.
• Because of the ozone hole, both people and animals are exposed to UV radiation that can lead to cancer and other skin conditions.
• Water pollution is the introduction of toxic elements that change the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds. The absence of oxygen in the filthy water causes the creatures to perish.
• Air pollution is a result of emissions from vehicles, businesses, and greater usage of fossil fuels. The gaseous emissions have increased the earth's temperature.
• Solid waste management is the generation, storage, collection, transfer, and transport of solid waste as well as its processing and disposal in a manner that doesn't harm the environment.
• Deforestation is the fast destruction of forests and trees. In addition to giving us raw materials like oxygen, trees also contribute to maintaining the earth's temperature.
• The earth's climate has changed significantly as a result of the removal of trees for economic purposes.
• Many plant and animal species have been driven to extinction as a result of forest loss, endangering biodiversity.
• Overpopulation: The population of the globe is growing quickly. Resources are in short supply as a result of the expanding population. It will be incredibly challenging to support such a large population if this trend persists.
• Other environmental problems including pollution, waste management, deforestation, climate change, and global warming are related to overpopulation.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• The process of evaluating a project's or development proposal's possible environmental consequences while taking into account any associated socioeconomic, cultural, and human health effects both positive and negative is known as environmental impact assessment (EIA).
• It seeks to find techniques for minimizing negative effects, adapt projects to the local environment, forecast environmental effects early in the project planning and design process, and provide decision-makers with projections and options.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool used by UNEP to evaluate a project's potential effects on the environment, society, and economy.
• The avoidance of treatment/clean-up costs, the implications of laws and regulations, and the reduction of project implementation and design costs and times are all economic and environmental benefits of EIA.
Conclusion
An essential aspect of the environment and ecology is the practice of caring. Empathy and genuine compassion are the first step towards a brighter future. Both individuals (especially the disadvantaged groups suffering unfair treatment) and nonhuman creatures should be subject to this. Most importantly, by valuing interconnectedness, we seek out connections and links to better understand the systems in which we operate.