Intro to EnviSCi

ENVIRONMENT (BIOPHYSICAL)

The biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism, or population, and includes particularly the factors that have an influence in their survival, development and evolution.

Biotic

living component of a community

Abiotic

nonliving factors that affect living organisms

SCIENCE

The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.

ENGINEERING

The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

A discipline that integrates different fields of sciences to understand the environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

An interdisciplinary area of study that includes both applied and theoretical aspect of human impact on the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

“the study of the HUMAN IMPACT to the environment”

ECOLOGY

the study of living things, nonliving things, the environment and their interactions

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

The application of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment

Hunter - Gatherers

small groups of people that migrated from place to place

obtained food by collecting plants or hunting

Agricultural Revolution

also called the Neolithic Revolution, it is the shift to agriculture from hunting and gathering

Industrial Revolution

shifted societies from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines

First Industrial Revolution

Coal in 1765

Second Industrial Revolution

Gas in 1870

Third Industrial Revolution

Electronics and Nuclear in 1969

Fourth Industrial Revolution

Internet and Renewable Energy in 2000

Industrial Revolution

Much of environmental science and engineering is concerned with the problem associated with the ________

Sanitary Engineering

emerged as a separate engineering field within civil engineering in the mid 1800's as the importance of drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment became recognized.

Sanitary Engineering

it is the precursor of the present day field of environmental engineering, which had an emphasis on water supply, water treatment, and wastewater collection and treatment for many years.

Environmental Engineering

Public concern about environmental quality issues like air pollution and water pollution emerged in the middle third of the 20th century, leading to development of ________ as a separate discipline.

Water treatment

treating water from natural sources for domestic and industrial purposes

Wastewater treatment

preventing negative environmental impacts of the discharged water and handle residuals generated, such as biosolids that can be used as fertilizer

Air quality

designing processes to prevent industrial emissions of air pollutants

Surface water quality

preventing degradation of the quality of water in rivers and lakes, so that natural populations of aquatic life.

Solid waste

recycling, designing landfill as well as destruction processes

Hazardous Waste Management

In the United Sutes, this is govern by two laws namely; RCRA and CERCLA.

RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)

treatment of currently generated hazardous industrial wastes

CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act)

clean up of past contaminated sites

Industrial Waste Minimization/Treatment

change of input materials, recovery of byproducts, improved housekeeping, recycling processes and/or change in technology

Health and Safety

creating balance between communities and natural resources

Permitting

ensuring that all projects and activties of a company are compliant to environmental regulations

1. Physical Environment

a) Atmosphere

b) Hydrosphere

c) Lithosphere

2. Biological Environment
a) Flora

b) Fauna

c) Microbes

3. Cultural Environment

a) Society

b) Economy

c) Politics

3 COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Lithosphere

Earth’s outer layer consisting of the soil and rocks

Oceanic and Continental

Two type of Lithosphere

Tectonic plates on Earth

are the primary part of the lithosphere

Hydrosphere

includes all types of water bodies found on Earth

Atmosphere

also called as layer of gases.

a gaseous wrap that protects the earth from cosmic radiations and provides life supporting oxygen

Atmosphere

plays a major role in asserting the heat balance of the earth by gripping the re-emitted radiation from the earth.

composed of 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, and 0.038% carbon dioxide. Variable amounts of water vapour are present.

Composition of Atmosphere

Biosphere

a shell encompassing the earth’s surface where all the living things subsist

Biosphere

the total computation of all ecosystems

the whole of all living things, often known as biomass or biota.

Flora

refers to the plant life occurring in a particular region, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life.

Fauna

refers to the animal life in a particular region.

Microbes

are single-cell organisms so tiny that millions can fit into the eye of a needle.

Society

group of people involved in persistent interpersonal relationships, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory,

Ecosystem

system consists of the production, distribution or trade, and consumption of limited goods and services by different agents in a given geographical location.

Politics

the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area.

Ecosystem

a community of organisms interacting with each other and with their environment such that energy is exchanged and system-level processes, such as the cycling of elements, emerge.

Habitat

the natural environment in which an organism lives

Species

consists of a group of organisms that look alike and have similar characteristics, share the same ecological niche and are capable of interbreeding.

Population

consists of organisms living in the same habitat at the same time.

Community

a natural collection of plant and animal species living within a defined area or habitat in an ecosystem.

Ecological Niche

the function of an organism or the role it plays in an ecosystem

1) Production

2) Respiration

3) Consumption

4) Decomposition

Enumerate the FUNCTIONS OF ECOSYSTEM

Production

creation of new, organic matter. The synthesis and storage of organic molecules during the growth and reproduction of photosynthetic organisms.

CO2 + H2O -------> CH2O + O2

(light and enzymes)

Photosynthesis reaction done by phototrophs

Chemosynthesis

inorganic substances are converted to organic substances in the absence of sunlight.

done by chemotrophs which are specialized bacteria

Respiration

process of unleashing bound energy for utilization

Consumption

process in which a substance is completely destroyed, used up, or incorporated or transformed into something else.

It acts as a regulator for production and decomposition

Decomposition

responsible for the breakdown of complex structures

Abiotic decomposition

degradation of a substance by chemical or physical processes

Biotic decomposition (biodegradation)

the metabolic breakdown of materials into simpler components by living organisms

Producers (Autotrophs)

organisms, such as plants, that produce their own food

Consumers (Heterotrophs)

all the organisms that can not make their own food (and need producers)

Herbivores

those that eat only plants or plant products.

Carnivores,

those that eat only other animals.

Omnivores

the last type and eat both plants (acting a primary consumers) and meat (acting as secondary or tertiary consumers).

Trophic Level

corresponds to the different levels or steps in the food chain.