BIOL 3120 Ryan Stork Environmental Science Ch 1-3

Environment

Surroundings in which an organism lives or operates

Environmental Science

How things react and interact within an environment, and the effects that take place .

Natural Sciences

Social Sciences

Humanities

What are the four approaches to preserving the environment?

1. Pragmatic Resource Conservation 2. Moral & Aesthetic Nature Preservation 3. Concern about Health & Ecological Damage 4. Environmental Quality Tied to Social Progress

Pragmatic Resource Conservation

Man and Nature - 1864 by George Perkins Marsh

Nature not only had a strong influence on man, but man also had a strong influence on nature.

Influenced Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot

Pinchot - Conservation Advisor

Pragmatic Utilitarian Conservation

"For the greatest good for the greatest number of people for the longest time"

Reflected in multiple current policies of USFS

Ethical & Aesthetic Nature Preservation

John Muir - President of Sierra Club

Nature deserves to exist for its own sake

Regardless of usefulness to humans

Biocentric preservation

Aldo Leopold - Student of Pinchot's

Authored The Land Ethic

We are not separate from nature, we are apart of nature

Modern Environmental Movement

Industrial expansion following WWII

Rachel Carson - Silent Spring published in 1962, Grassroots movement kickstarted

Bill McKibben - Wangari Maathai - Green Belt movement 1997

Concern about health and ecological damage

Environmental quality tied to social progress beginning

Global Environmentalism

Modern IT allows for increased international communication

local leaders can have global impact

Wangari Maathai - Kenya

Yu Xiaogang - China

Gro Brundtland - Norway

Greta Thunberg - Sweden

Rich and Poor People have what impacts on the environment?

700 million live below international poverty line $2.15 / Day

Both victims and agents of environmental degradation

Meet present needs at cost of long term sustainability

Cycle of poverty

⅙ of people live in high income countries GNI>$14,005 / Year / Person

Gap between the rich and the poor countries continues to increase

Wealth and environmental health

Impact of wealthy nations on the environment?

Wealthy nations consume more and produce more pollution

US - 4.6% of World population

Consume 20% of Oil

Produces 15% of all carbon dioxide

Produces 50% of toxic wastes

Need approximately 4 extra planets if all consumed like USA

Sustainable development

Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - Brundtland

Economic development was/is the goal to help people.

We must increase well being in a way that doesn't destroy earth

What is the environmentalist's paradox?

Quality of life is going up for most people

Our quality of life depends on environmental goods and services

Ecosystem goods

any physical thing that we get from our environment (food, water, timber, minerals)

Ecosystem services

Natural processes and functions of ecosystems that benefit humans (pollination, climate regulation, water purification, flood control)

Ethics

What is Right or Wrong - How we relate to the environment depends on our values and worldview

Moral Extensionism

extend moral values to others

Value

measure of the worth of something

Intrinsic/inherent value

something that has value in and of itself

Instrumental value

You only have value if you do something for me

Religion

Ethical and moral values are often rooted in religious traditions

Stewardship

Environmental stewardship

Human domination of nature

Environmental Justice

Combines civil rights and environmental protections

Environmental racism

Focusing more on racial minorities

Toxic Colonialism

Taking toxic waste and selling it to poorer countries

What is science?

Process for producing knowledge methodologically and logically

Search for truth in the natural world

Depends on precise observations of natural phenomena

Methodological Naturalism

Requires natural explanations for its natural observations

Science requires methodological but not teleological

Teleological or absolute naturalism

The physical natural world is all that exists

Empircism

We can learn about the world by careful observation of empirical phenomena; we can expect to understand fundamental processes and natural laws by observation

Uniformitarianism

Basic patterns and processes are uniform across time and space; the forces at work today are the same as those that shaped the world in the past and they will continue to do so in the future

Parsimony

When two plausible explanations are equally reasonable, the simpler one (more parsimonious) is preferable. This rule is also known as Ockham's razor, after the English philosopher who proposed it

Uncertainty

Knowledge changes as new evidence appears, and explanations (theories) change with new evidence. Theories based on current evidence should be tested on additional evidence, with the understanding that new data may disprove the best theories.

Repeatability

Tests and experiments should be repeatable; if the same results cannot be reproduced, then the conclusions were probably incorrect

Proof is elusive

We rarely expect science to provide absolute proof that a theory is correct, because new evidence may always undermine our current understanding

Testable questions

To find out whether a theory is correct, it must be tested; we formulate testable statements (hypotheses) to test the theories.

Accuracy

how close a measurement is to the true value

Precision

a measure of how close a series of measurements are to one another

Scientific method

Observation --> Question --> Hypothesis/Prediction --> Test --> Analyze/Conclude --> If rejected, make a new hypothesis --> Communicate the findings

Deductive reasoning

reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case (The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning.) General to specific

Inductive Reasoning

A type of logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of specific observations. Every steel beam I've tested expanded when heated → So steel expands when heated. Specific to general

Hypothesis

A testable, falsifiable, tentative explanation or prediction about a phenomenon.

Scientific Theory

Repeatedly tested and accepted, what caused it, and why is it happening

Scientific Law

expression of nature in a mathematical formula

Probability

A measure of how likely something is to occur. Often compare results to a random sample or a larger group

Natural Experiment

A researcher observes things in nature

Manipulative experiments

Deliberately change one variable to observe its effect on another, while controlling other factors.

Controlled Study

The experimental group is compared to the control group

Blind experiment

removes biases by not allowing the experimenter or the subject to know

Double Blind Experiment

An experiment in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which participants received which treatment

Dependent Variables

variables that are affected by the change (often affected by the independent variables)

Independent variables

intentionally altered variable

Models

Simple representations of phenomena

System

Network of interdependent components and processes

Ecosystem

A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment

Climate systems

The interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, ice, land, and living organisms that determine Earth's climate.

Economic systems

the method used by a society to produce and distribute goods and services

Throughput

Something that moves through a system

Positive feedback loop

control systems within systems that help regulate the system, response increases the signal

Negative feedback loop

the detector detects and the response reduces the signal

Emergent properties

properties that exist even though we wouldn't guess that they would exist through only the materials through which it is composed - unpredictable and surprising effects

Equilibrium

dynamic state in which the system becomes stable over time

Resilience

ability of a system to recover from a disturbance

Disturbance

disruptions in stability

State shift

system change

Scientific Concensus

Scientists love to disagree

Science is disproving false ideas - never proving anything

Paradigm shifts

Conflicts are not a weakness of science, but actually a strength

Psuedoscience

Presented as science but lack scientific method or evidence

Often use logical fallacies

Have an agenda

Ecology

study of interactions between organisms and their environment

Matter and energy are exchanged between organisms and environments

Matter

Everything that has mass and takes up space

Four states of matter

solid, liquid, gas, plasma

The Law of Conservation of Matter

Matter is neither created nor destroyed

Elements

cannot be broken down by ordinary chemical reactions

122 exist; make up 96% of mass of living organisms - C, H, O, N

Atoms

Protons (+); Neutrons (0); & electrons (-)

Atomic Number

The number of protons in an atom's nucleus

Atomic Mass

the total mass of an atom

Isotope

describes an atom that is the same atomic number as another atom but a different atomic mass

Ions

Anions (negatively charged, have an extra electron) and Cations (positive)

Compound

A substance made of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in fixed ratios.

Molecules

Groups of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds

Ionic

A chemical bond where one atom loses electron(s) and another gains them, forming a positive ion (cation) and a negative ion (anion).

Covalent

A chemical bond where atoms share one or more pairs of electrons to fill their outer shells. Sometimes electrons are shared evenly.

Hydrogen Bonds

Hydrogen bonds occur when hydrogen is part of a highly polar covalent bond (H-O, H-N, or H-F), creating partial charges that attract nearby electronegative atoms.

Polar Covalent Bond

A covalent bond where electrons are shared unequally due to electronegativity differences, creating partial positive and negative charges.

Oxidation

loss of electrons

Reduction

Gain of electrons

How do organisms gain energy from food?

Oxidation and Reduction

Forming bonds:

uses energy (potential energy between the chemical bonds)

Breaking Bonds:

releases energy, creating bonds stores energy

Activation energy

the amount of energy that it required to start a reaction

Catalyst

substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction

Enzyme

A type of protein that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living thing

Water is composed of:

Polar molecules that use hydrogen bonding

Characteristics of water that make life possible:

Expands when freezes - ice is less dense and floats

Has high heat of vaporization

High specific heat

Water tension - plants rely on it to get water to certain parts in their body with photosynthesis

Good solvent

Acids

release H ions in the water (below 7 on pH scale)

Bases

bond with H ions(above 7 on pH scale)

pH scale

negative logarithmic scale

Organic chemistry

the study of all chemicals containing carbon

Biochemistry

all chemical reactions that occur in living things, organic and inorganic

4 Major biochemical compounds

Lipids

Carbohydrates

Proteins

Nucleic Acids

Characterstics of life

No definition for life

Metabolism - all of the chemical reactions that take place in a body

Reproduction

Growth

Movement

Organization

Organization of life

Chemical

Cell - the most important level because it is the smallest level that shows all of the characteristics of life

Tissue

Organ

Organ system

Organism

Population

Community

Ecosystem

Biome

Biosphere

Cells

Smallest level that shows all of the characteristics of life

Clearly shows connection between structure and function

Metabolism

All of the chemical reactions that occur within an organism

Catabolism

the part of metabolism that breaks molecules down to release energy.

Cytology

study of structure and function of cells