Environmental Systems: Understanding the interplay between living organisms and their surroundings.
Matter and Chemistry: Basics of matter's composition and real-world applications.
Energy Forms and Thermodynamics: Differentiation among energy types and understanding thermodynamics principles.
Photosynthesis and Respiration Processes: Importance of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and chemosynthesis.
Ecosystems: Definition and interaction between biotic and abiotic factors.
Landscape Ecology and Modeling: Understanding ecosystems within landscapes and ecological modeling applications.
Ecosystem Services: Explanation and benefits to human life.
Nutrient Cycling: Examination of water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles and human impacts on these cycles.
Economic Decline: Grant Corbin (oysterman) highlights the aging workforce in Deal Island, Maryland, emphasizing economic difficulties prompting youth to leave.
Historical Context: Population drop from 1237 in 1930 to 471 by 2010, linked to oyster fishery collapse, affecting local economies and cultures.
Environmental Impact: Interconnected ecosystem of the Bay once supported diverse marine life, with oysters maintaining water clarity.
Overharvesting and Pollution: While oyster harvesting began in the 1830s, by 2010, only 1% of oysters remained due to:
Overharvesting
Habitat destruction
Disease
Pollution (high nitrogen and phosphorus levels leading to hypoxia and dead zones, threatening numerous species).
Estimated economic losses in Maryland and Virginia: $4 billion (1980-2010).
Legal Action: Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued EPA in 2009, leading to federal responses and pollution budget implementation.
Restoration Efforts: Promising results seen in oyster restoration initiatives, providing optimism for the economic revival of local communities.
Definition of a System: A network of interrelated components that exchange energy, matter, or information.
Earth's Natural Systems: Includes lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, each contributing to ecosystem function.
Boundaries of Systems: Complex and difficult to define; interactions can depend on spatial or temporal scales.
Inputs and Outputs: Systems process inputs (e.g., water, nutrients) and produce outputs (e.g., seafood). A feedback loop stabilizes systems.
Negative Feedback: Stabilizes the system (e.g., body temperature regulation).
Positive Feedback: Drives systems toward extremes (e.g., climatic changes from ice melt).
Energy Flow: Energy flows through ecosystems; autotrophs convert solar energy into chemical energy via photosynthesis.
Matter Cycling: Matter (nutrients) is recycled in ecosystems; decomposition returns nutrients to the soil.
Net Primary Productivity (NPP): The difference between energy produced by photosynthesis and that used for respiration. Varies significantly across different ecosystems (e.g., high in wetlands, low in deserts).
Ecological Model Definitions: Includes studying how systems interact across landscapes and their influence on biodiversity.
Tools for Analysis: GIS and ecological modeling help analyze data to predict ecosystem behavior and guide restoration efforts.
Definition: Benefits provided by ecosystems that support human life, including nutrient cycling and water purification.
Biogeochemical Cycles: Illustrate the complex paths nutrients travel through ecosystems (water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus cycles).
Impact of Human Activity: Excessive nutrient runoff leading to alterations in these cycles and affecting marine ecosystems.
Matter and its Conservation: Matter cannot be created or destroyed; it cycles continually through ecosystems.
Atoms, Elements, and Compounds: Building blocks of matter. Essential elements for life include carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and their roles in biological processes.
Chemical Bonds: Atoms form molecules through ionic and covalent bonds; ions form from electron gain/loss.
Energy Forms: Different forms of energy include kinetic and potential energy.
Thermodynamics Laws:
First Law: Energy is conserved; it cannot be created or destroyed.
Second Law: Energy tends toward dispersal and disorder (entropy).
Photosynthesis Overview: Converts sunlight into chemical energy; essential for autotrophs (e.g., plants).
Cellular Respiration: Utilized by both autotrophs and heterotrophs to produce main energy currency, ATP, from glucose.
Eutrophication Process: Nutrient over enrichment leads to phytoplankton blooms, hypoxic conditions, and aquatic life loss.
Specific Nutrient Cycles:
Water Cycle: Essential for transporting nutrients and supporting life.
Carbon Cycle: Active in respiration and photosynthesis; human impacts increase atmospheric CO2 levels.
Nitrogen Cycle: Involves nitrogen fixation and denitrification; human activities cause nitrogen surplus.
Phosphorus Cycle: Phosphorus released from rocks by weathering and affects plant growth; human runoff can lead to algal blooms.