EVS Chapter 1: Intro to Science + Environment

Sustainability

interactions with the natural world that we should work towards

Stewardship

The ethical and moral framework of our actions

Science

the basis of our understanding for how the world works

Aldo Leopold

grandfather of wildlife conservation in the U.S. “Live alone in a world full of wounds”

Easter Island

• society fails to care for the environment and sustain it

• Population increased beyond carrying capacity

• disparity between rich and poor

How to prevent a global Easter Island

• Understand how the natural world works

• Understand how human + natural systems interact

• Accurately assess the status of trends of crucial natrual ecosystems

• Establish long term relationships with the natural world

Rachel Carson

Silent Song is her novel about hearing less bird calls in the spring in some places

• Tied to pesticides

• Helped start environ. mvmt in U.S.

• Testified in 1963

1970

Environment Protection Agency was founded under Nixon

Other acts passed to U.S. gvt.

Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Superfund Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Convention on International trade of Endangered Species (CITES)

PFAS

water contaminant chemical that causes cancer and diabetes

Sustainable Solutions Need to be

• Socially Desirable, economically feasible, and ecologically viable

• Environmental, social, economic, political ideas play into how solutions are or aren’t going to work

Population Growth

• Increased by 2 bill in last 25 years

• Rate of ~76 mill/year

• Some say 2.5bill is sustainable, others less

Four Major Global Issues

• Population growth and economic development

• Decline of ecosystem health

• Atmosphere health

• Loss of biodiversity

Tropical areas…

have the most biodiversity, along with coral reefs

Indicators of Decline of Vital Ecosystems

• Depleted water sources

• Agricultural soil degradation

• Water pollution/degradation

• Ocean overfishing

• Forrests cut faster than they can grow

Global Atmospheric Changes

• Exponential growth in temp and CO2 levels since 1970

• Kyoto protocol: most countries agreed to reduce emissions below 1990 levels, U.S. was biggest emitter and withdrew in 2011

How to test CO2 levels before they had the tech to do it

look in ice bubbles

Biodiversity Loss

• Habitat alteration

• Exploitation of resources

• Pollution

• Losing all these things before we even know it’s there

Sixth Extinction Crisis

• 5 major historical events

• Largest mass extinction in 65 million years

• 10,000 species/year or 30/day

• Caused by humans, not nature

• We may lose half our species by 2100

Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)

Started in 2001, did 4 yr data collection w/1360 scientists in 45 countries, 60% of ecosystems are permanently damaged

Stewardship:

• Recognition that a trust has been given

• Responsible care for something not owned

• Desire to pass something on to future generations

• Justice and equity among humans (environmental racism)

• Who are the stewards→links human rights to environment

Scientific Method

Observation, hypothesis, experimentation, theory

Reasons for Controversy

• Mass information/fake news

• Complex phenomena

• Bias

• Subjective values

• New info takes time to accept

Ecosystem Capital

renewable resources, goods, and services

Policy + Politics

knowledge of a problem is of no use until it’s policy

Globilization

Interconnectedness of our world

Ecosystems

a group of plants, animals, and microbes occupying an explicit unit of space and interacting with each other and their environment

Ecotone

transition region between two ecosystems, could have unique conditions to support specific animals

Riparian zone

space between wetlands/on the edge

Types of biomes in the U.S.

• Coasts + oceans

• farmlands

• forests

• fresh water

• grasslands + prairie

• urban areas

Biotic Communities

plants, animals, bugs, who live together

Species

individuals can breed and produce fertile offspring

population

the number of fertile/reproducing animals

Trophic categories

Autotrophs and heterotrophs

Trophic relationships

food chains, food webs, trophic levels

Nonfeeding relationships

symbiosis

Autotrophs

producers, plants, “self-feeding”

Photosynthesis

the only way to convert inorganic to organic

• Chemosynthesis is exception, happens in deep sea vents

Heterotrophs

consumers

Primary consumer

herbivores/omnivores

Secondary consumer

carnivores

Parasites

either plant or animal, prey are plants or animals, considered a predator if it kills its host

Detritus food web

inculdes dead things and waste

Detritivores

feed on detritus (worms, fungus, bacteria)

Biomass pyramid

how much energy is in each trophic level

• decreases bc of heat/energy loss through the levels

Parasitism, predation

one species benefits

Competition

neither species benefits

Mutualism

both species benefit from the interaction

Commensalism

one species benefits, one is unaffected

Diversity

variety between ecosystems, more habitats + niches = more diversity

Habitat

a type of place filled w/different niches

• resource partitioning reduces interspecific competition

Law of Limiting Factors

every species has an optimum range, zones of stress, and limits of tolerance

6 major biomes of Earth

water dictates the biomes, and water + temp dictates the type of forest.

Three revolutions of Human existence

• Neolithic: change from hunter gatherer to agriculture

• Industrial → fossil fuels

• Environmental → field restoration ecology, climate change, conservation biology

Stream Dynamics

Yellowstone river is one of the most ecologically intact rivers in the lower 48

• Anthropologic impacts: canals, littering, bank stabilization, dams, recreation

Is water clearer below dams?

Yes!

Ft. Peck is the world’s largest earthen dam

built to make jobs and power, has to be concrete because the flow is so powerful

How do dams change optimum survival zones

1. Flow: timing and volume

2. Sediment

3. Temperature w/sunlight

Sediment and Islands

older islands have the biggest vegitation, drops sediment in the bend of the river

Mississipi Delta

Lots of oil + gas pipelines, built levees to contain river, causes flooding

• hurricanes and sea level rises cause earth to be flushed away

• Dams prevent sediment from coming down to fix the flushed earth

Cottonwood seed establishment

they can’t grow on their own. They grow on sandbards

Sentinel Species

if we watch them, we will learn what’s happening to the habitat, usually very long lived, specific to the habitat, most threatened by humans

Bank Armoring

used rocks, cars, mining tires, never permanent and usually ends up back in the river, now permits are required

Water Quality

pH, temperature, turbidity, dissolved minerals, chemicals, trash, nutrients

Microplastics

5mm or smaller, literally everywhere and in our organs,

Africa has highest Bag ban policy debate

Not everyone enforces them, but they work on it

EU wants to see 80% drop in plastic bag usage

1. Phase-in period

2. Suitable alternatives

3. Producers and consumers pay

Legal action with the ESA

usually wait too long to save the species, either till it’s too late or too expensive

• Sometimes creates an environmentalist v. environmentalist situation

  • kill one species to save another

Disasters

June 2024: Twin Bridges Train Wreck

• bridge broke when train passed over

• dumped molten tar and sulfur

July 2011: Laurel, MT oil pipeline broke and dumped millions of gallons into river

Jan. 25, 2015: Glendive MT, pipeline broke in winter under the ice, nothing they could do

Acute Affects

killed right away

Chronic Impacts

long term

Endangered Species Act passing

inspired by the loss of the whooping cranes

• President Nixon signed the ESA in 1973, passed unanimously in Senate

• Strongest environmental law, safeguarded 99% of species listed

Cranes

Wintered in Gulf Coast, migrate north through KS and Dakotas

• One hurricane could kll them all, used sandhill cranes and puppeteers to raise them

• Now we have two populations

Restoration Science

Also done with peregrine falcons

BLM

manages most land, 1/5 of U.S., mostly in the West

Changes people want to ESA

1. Make it harder to add species to the list and designate protected habitats

2. Eliminate protections for those listed as threatened

3. Add consideration of economic interest to the process

Introduced/invasive species

• Overcrowd native species

• very hard to get rid of if left there

• might not have predators or parasites,

• environmental resistance

• total econ. loss/year in U.S. is $138 billion

Invasive pythons in FL

snakes are huge, iguanas, fish

• climate is less extreme, so many things survive

• Hurricanes break cages and release animals from zoos

Rabbits overgrazing in Australia

• Island, not a whole lot of genetic diversity

• mammal lineage is different→marsupials

• New animals fit in really well

• Eventually introduce rabbit diseases which controls population

New Zealand

has no mammals

• most birds nest on ground and cant fly bc no predators

• Now rats, cats, bunnies are destroying populations

Pacific Islands

Brown Tree snakes

• Aggressive bird eaters and venemous

• forests are quiet in Guam bc no bird calls

• Micronesian Kingfisher extinct

• Mariana fruit dove extinct

• Guam rail recovery efforts

Small Scale

94 naturally occurring elements

molecule: two or more of same bonded together

compound: two or more different bonded together

Law of Conservation of Matter

the same number of atom exists on both sides of the reaction

Six Key Elements

Carbon (C)

Hydrogen (H)

Oxygen (O)

Nitrogen (N)

Phosphorus (P)

Sulfur (S)

Atmosphere

Made of Nitrogen (78.09%) Oxygen (20.95%) and Carbon Dioxide (.035%)

Hydrosphere

contains most of the hydrogen as H2O

• Sublimation, vaporization, freezing, melting,

Lithosphere

contains all other elements as minerals (rock and soil)

• Crystalization: dense clusters of atoms held together by + and - charges

Organic compounds

compounds that build organisms

• Carbon based: proteins, carbs, lipids, nucleic acids

• Plastics also carbon based→natural vs. synthetic organic

Of the 94 elements

only 24 are used by organisms

CFCs

deplete the ozone layer

Troposphere

5-10 miles thick

closest to the earth

source of weather, air mixes well, temp. decreases with altitude

Stratosphere

30 miles thick

temp increases with altitude

pollutants can be trapped here

Mesosphere and thermosphere

third and fourth layers of the atmosphere

Seasonal changes in radiation

Northern Hemisphere has high ozone and low in winter. Also generally higher in the equator

Matter

anything that occupies space that has mass

• cannot be created or destroyed

• measured where gravity is present

Energy

anything that has the ability to move matter, has no mass, and does not occupy space

1st Law of Thermodynamics

energy can neither be created nor destroyed

2nd Law of Thermodynamics

any energy conversion ends with less usable energy than what you started with

Entropy

disorder of the universe

fermentation

breakdown of glucose without oxygen