1.1   Understanding our environment

• Marvelous plant
• Environment science

1.2   Problems and Opportunities

• Persistent challenges
• Climate change
• Hunger
• Clean Water
• Energy Resources
• Air Quality
• Biodiversity Loss
• Marine Resources
• Signs of Hope
• Population and Pollution
• Health
• Renewable Energy
• Information and Education
• Conservation of Forest and Nature Preserves
• Protection of Marine Resources

1.3   Human Dimensions of Environment Science

• Affluence has Environmental Costs
• Sustainability is a Central Theme
• Where do the Rich and Poor Live?
• Indigenous Peoples Guardians of much of the World’s Biodiversity

1.4   Science Helps Us Understand Our Environment

• Science Depends on Skepticism and Accuracy
• Deductive and Inductive Reasoning are Both Useful
• The Scientific Method is an orderly way to examine problems
• Understanding Probability Reduces Uncertainty
• Experimental Design can Reduce Bias
• Science is a Cumulative Process
• What is Sound Science
• Is Environmental Science the same as Environmentalism

1.5   Critical Thinking

• Critical Thinking Helps us Analyze Information
• What do you need to think Critically
• Critical Thinking Helps you learn Environmental Science

1.6   Where do our Ideas About the Environment Come From

• Nature Protection has Historic Roots
• Resources Waste Triggered Pragmatic Resource Conservation (stage 1)
• Ethical and Aesthetic concerns Inspired the Preservation Movement (stage 2)
• Rising Pollution Levels led to the Modern Environmental Movement (stage 3)
• Environment Quality is Tied to Social Progress (stage 4)

Marvelous Planet

To us earth is nothing much but it is amazing when considering that other planets have extreme temperatures or no resources, air, water, and fertile soil. With all this mind there is still the fact that we are surrounded by millions of animals and plants, and organisms that help sustain a habitable environment. All of the organisms are working together to have a unique self-sustaining ecosystem in any environment like deserts, rainforests, oceans, etc.

Environmental Science

The Environment is a combination of both a natural world and social institutions. Environmental Science is the study of the environment and people place in it. Environmental science is knowledge of many sciences; biology, chemistry, earth science, geography, political, economics, and many others that help us to understand how an environment will react.

 Persistent challenges

There are many challenges that consistently cause our planet to change but one of the main problems is population. The human population is at 7 million while birth rates continually decrease the life expectancy is increasing. The reason population is such a concern is what will happen to the natural resources that will have to be used at a greater rate.

Climate Change

Earth’s atmosphere naturally traps heat near the earth’s surface so as to make earth warmer than in space. The main problem is the fact that fossil fuels are being burned and forests are being cut down causing a higher level of carbon dioxide. “The main cost of CO₂ production is climate warming, which is expected to cause myriad environmental changes” ("How economists can").  As these gases increase many things like heat waves, droughts, and increased flooding. Many scientists believe that this is the biggest treats to earth and human life.

In February 2005, the Kyoto Protocol the agreement, which establishes rules to cut climate-warming greenhouse gases to an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels. Although human activity has increased levels of many atmospheric gases, CO₂ is the main focus of the Kyoto Protocol because we produce so much CO₂ and because it has a strong heat-absorbing effect. The main part of the Kyoto rules is carbon trading. Carbon trading allows countries to buy and sell carbon. The CO₂ production is capped, for each country, based on pre-1990 CO₂ production. If a country exceeds it must pay a fine, but if a country has less than its limit extra credits can be sold to another country. Carbon trading is allowing for to much flexibility in CO₂ reduction. As many countries and corporations can easily afford to buy credits than to switch to more efficient fuels. Corporations are enthusiastic about emissions trading because it allows them to select the cheapest strategy, rather than being forced to comply.

Hunger

While food productions have dramatically increased, hungry is still a problem as it not disturbed well because of politics, wars, and weather. Also many of the main sources of are food farms are showing a decrease in soil nutrients. There is also many improvements made in the farming industry which are good, but are extremely expensive and many small farms cannot compete causing many small farms to close or sell.

Clean Water

Water is one of the most important resources on earth. At the same time thought clean water is not available to everyone as numbers show that 1.1 billion lack access. Water can harvest many bacteria’s in it and if consumed can kill as there are over 15 million people killed by contaminated water every year, and most of them being children. Water is being consumed at rates exciding supplies in many parts of the world and the UN believes that by 2050 three-fourths of the world will be under similar conditions.

Energy Resources  

Energy resources like coal, oil, and natural gases are diminishing do to the fact that 80 percent of the energy used by industrial countries is fossil fuels. Another aspect that has come into some criticism is how we obtain these fossil fuels and the air and water pollution caused by it.

Air Quality

Air quality has worsened around the world especially in industrial countries which use many fossil fuels for their main energy source. Examples of this are in satellite images as Asia has a 2 mile thick toxic haze over it now. Numbers on deaths caused by air pollution are around 3 million every year. The worst part is that many countries are not changing what they do as the United Nations estimates that over 2 billion metric tons of air pollutants are being released every year.

Biodiversity Loss

Many ecosystems are being destroyed causing a large loss in animals. Estimates on organism loss over the past century are around 800, and the number of animals considered threated is around 10,000. Many of the problems are that as we cut down whole forest and either replace them with secondary growth or just leave animal’s loss there producers and will either die or move on. Top predators are the most sought after and because of this most of them are threatened or endangered species.

Marine Resources

The most depended upon food source for third world countries comes from the ocean. As like other ecosystems the over use of these ecosystems is causing them to be depleted. There are 441 fish stocks and of the 441 three-quarters of them are severely depleted or in need of better management. Studies also show that top predators are being killed at record rates and many suggest that 90 percent of these animals have been removed from the ocean. 

Signs of Hope

Population and Pollution

Thought pollution is still a problem some cities around the world have begun to reduce the use of fossil fuels and look at alternative energies to reduce pollution. Then there is population as the worldwide birth rate has gone down in most industrial cities, and the average child born per woman has come down dramatically in the past 25 years from 6.1 to 2.6. There is also studies that believe that the population will stabilize by 2050 at 8.9 billion rather than 9.3 billion.

Health

Through the past century there have been great strides in medicine that have eradicated deadly diseases such as polio smallpox and many others. While clean water is not readily available to all it has been greatly improved from the past as 800 million people now have access to clean water. Food is another resource that is being made available to more and more people every day.

Renewable Energy

Many of the world’s wealthiest countries have made pollution a key problem to the world and are trying to help developing countries find alternative energies other than fossil fuels. Also many of the wealthiest countries are still working on renewable energy like china is developing wind energy and many others to lower their dependence on fossil fuels.

Information and Education

Information on fossil fuels along with many other harmful produces has helped many people learn what it does to our planet. With the computer information can be sent around the world in seconds with this people can learn what to do and what not to do and in turn teach it to their children. As people learn more about fossil fuels and alternative energies books will be written and we will be able to help us to understand our actions in the world.

The study concludes that the rate of deforestation, while still alarming in many countries, is slowing down at the global level, and that afforestation and natural expansion in some countries and regions have further reduced the net loss of forests.

Conservation of Forests and Nature Preserves

Forests and natural preserves are one of the few places that people have not disturbed greatly and with many countries around the world begging to stop deforestation we are able to learn about different ecosystems around the world. Over the past forty years there has been an increase in protected areas and in 2010 there are over 100,000 parks accumulating over 13.5 percent of world’s land area.

Protection of Marine Resources

Thought oceans themselves have been devastated after centuries of mass fishing and fishing techniques that are harmful to the oceans ecosystems. There is hope thought in the fact that many countries are begging to make marine reserves which help to protect reproductive areas. Also many people know that you can’t just shut down a fishing area, but you can moderate to ensure it grows and that people have enough food to survive. While many fishing areas are still not being moderated people are starting to look at fishing techniques and over fishing and looking for alternatives to these harmful techniques.

Affluence has Environmental Costs

The USA has less than 5 percent of the world population but our consumption in a day is astounding mainly our fossil fuels which are 29lbs. There is also the fact that Americans throw out 160 million tons of garbage and of the garbage over 100 million tons of it could be recycled. Each gallon of gas used by a car contributes about 19 pounds of carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere. For a single car driving 1,000 miles a month, that adds up to 120 tons of carbon-dioxide a year.

Where do the Rich and Poor Live

Around 1.5 billion people live wealthy countries; a wealthy country is where the per capita is above 25,000. All of the countries that are wealthy are ones with a good government or one that implores works to work where as many of the poorest countries have forms of socialism or communistic government which that kind of government doesn’t implore works to work. While America is one of the wealthiest countries it still has over 35 million one-third of them children that don’t have enough food.

Indigenous Peoples are Guardians of much of the World’s Biodiversity

There are about 6,000 cultures in the world and 5,000 of them are indigenous. The number of people living in the tribes is but 10 percent of the world population and numbers are slowly dwindling. There are many reasons for this one is industrial reasons another reason is other cultures are being indoctrinated into their culture. Furthermore many of the distinct languages and ways of life are not being taught to children. The reason these indigenous people are important is because they protect their ecosystems but most indigenous people have no rights and are losing their land and are being integrated in to other cultures.

Science Depends on Skepticism and Accuracy

Scientist are always looking for answers to problems or to the unknowns of the world but even when they do find an answer it is not accepted merely seen as a provisionally true. What happens to a provisionally true is it goes through many more of the same scientific tests conducted by their peers to make sure it is true. A reason for more tests is because of bias or error as both of them are very easy to do.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning are both useful

Deductive reasoning is very helpful as you are able to conclude on a situation by knowing your basic laws that are known to be true such as gravity. On the other hand thought when you observe an animal over a long period of time and even perhaps other animals and you find a pattern or trait that is inductive reasoning while not an exact science it still can be very helpful.

The Scientific Method is an orderly way to examine problems

The 5 steps for scientific method are as follows: Observe, Propose a hypothesis, develop a test, gather data, and finally interpret your results. As you look at this you may be saying I do this and the true is you do many people do scientific reasoning every day. Remember that it’s always easier to prove a hypothesis wrong than right and even when you do get your hypothesis right it may not be right or absolutely true. After all tests have been concluded scientists use the word scientific theory for it. Thought the word theory to most people means data does not support this conclusion, it is the exact opposite for a scientific theory.  

Understanding Probability Reduces Uncertainty

Probability is very helpful to people as they are able to deduce what might happen next or the likelihood of it occur over and over. Probability does not tell you what will happen but it does tell you what might happen. You might think that probability doesn’t happen much but you would be wrong as science often uses it. Probability has to do with random chance as you don’t have proof of what will happen. Probability is often more useful than proof as proof is hard to prove, but there is a way to demonstrate a trend that is unlikely to be achieved by chance.

Experimental design can reduce bias

When a study is conducted in an observational fashion which you observe in natural events and interpret a causal relationship between the variables is a natural experiment. Other studies in which conditions are deliberately altered are manipulative experiments and when you control everything in an environment like in a lab it is a controlled study. To avid biases there are blind experiments where the researcher does know which group is has been treated. There is also the double-blind experiment where neither the studied subject knows nor the researcher commonly used in drug experiments.

Science is a Cumulative process

Most scientific studies are done with a group rather than alone as it is easier to get answers quicker as many people are already working on the same study. Usually what happens in a cumulative study is each person has their own aspect of the problem at hand rather than at the whole thing together this way a person is able to give insight on that one aspect rather than the whole thing. When the scientists agree or most of them agree with the interpretation on an outcome it is called a scientific consensus. There can be shifts in scientific consensus which is referred as a paradigm shifts these occur when a majority of scientist accept that the old explanation no longer explains new studies.

What is sound science

Many sciences are politically or emotionally charged but perhaps the most is environmental science as much of the information presented are about issues happening in the world right now. When contrary studies come out many people either consider the new study sound science or junk science, one of the main reasons for this is because it might not support their side of the issue or the study was not done without a bias. When there is a contrary to the majority of scientists what happens politicians use this as a reason for not doing what would be the most prudent decision.   

Is Environmental science the same as environmentalism

The two are very different but at the same time deal with the same subject. Environmental science is the use of scientific methods to learn or solve a solution to a growing problem. On the other hand environmentalism is a process of taking that information and changing public conception of an issue to help the environment. Environmental scientists are sometimes environmentalists. Also many environmental scientists work in the public interest and not necessarily be interested in nature or other spices.

Critical thinking helps us analyze information

Critical thinking is all about asking questions and not just accepting when is told to you. There are different kinds of thinking one is analytical thinking where you ask yourself how can I break this down in to manageable tasks? Another one is creative thinking this where you think of new ways to approach your project at hand. Logical thinking is where you look at your structure of your argument and does it make sense. Finally reflective thinking is the last one and in this you look at your data and form an opinion of the information. With all these thinking techniques they help you to discover hidden ideas, meanings, evaluating reasons, conclusions, and avoid jumping to conclusions.

What do you need to think critically

There are six steps that help people to think more critically. The first one is identify and evaluate premises and conclusions in an argument. What this means is what are the claims, and evidence of the claim and if true does the conclusion follow the facts found. The second one is acknowledge and clarify uncertainties, vagueness, equivocation, and contradictions. This step is to make sure everyone knows what the term means and making sure everyone else is using it in the same way as you. The third step is distinguishing between facts and values. Facts are claims that can be backed up by evidence on the other hand values are statements or opinions and most likely can’t be verified. Fourth step is recognize and asses assumptions. Does your agenda, bias, race, gender, ethnicity, economics, and many others distorting your discussion to a point where you loss the truth in the facts. Fifth step is distinguishing source reliability or unreliability. Sources are very helpful but you need to make sure that the information is true and what evidence does it what to support it. The final step is recognize and understand conceptual frameworks. Learn what the basic beliefs or values a society or person has.

Critical Thinking helps you learn Environmental science

There are theories, facts and figures but not all of them are right what everybody has to do is ask questions and not always except what is said to be true but find out for yourself if the evidence supports it or not. Make sure that opinions and facts are able to be distinguished each other. The main thing I learn about critical thinking is ask lots of questions.

Nature Protection has historical roots

There are many records or comments that where reordered early in history from some of the most influential people like Plato in the fourth century about Greece. But there are actual scientific studies of environmental damage done in the eighteenth century by the French and British many of the studies where done by actual scientists. But the person to do the most is perhaps British plant physiologist Stephen Hales when he suggested that that green plants preserve rainfall. With his new ideas which were put in to use in 1764 on a Caribbean island of Tobago where some 20 percent of the land was marked as “Reserved in wood for rains” (Cunningham & Cunningham).

Resource waste Triggered Pragmatic Resource Conservation (stage 1)

In 1864 a book entitled Man and Nature in it author George Perkins Marsh discuss the waste of the American frontier people and the many problems like excessive grazing or deforestation. This book is considered the wellspring of environmental protection in America. The reason this is considered the wellspring because the National Forest reserves which was established 9 years later in 1873. Many people where influenced by Marsh’s book one such man was U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and his chief conservation advisor Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot in 1905 would become the first professional forester when he was appointed to chief of the Forest Service. John Muir a naturalist and activist worked with Roosevelt and Pinchot to establish the framework of the National Forest, Park, and Wildlife Refuge System. Also many laws were passed because of these men such as hunting laws and some of the most flagrant abuses of the public domain. While Roosevelt and Pinchot accomplished a lot many of their views of wildlife where that of utilitarian conservation which means that forests should be saved “not because they are beautiful or because they wild creatures of the wilderness, but only to provide homes and jobs for people.” He also wrote “There may be just as much waste in neglecting the development and use of certain natural resources as there is in their destruction” (Cunningham & Cunningham). These and many other approaches still can be seen in U.S. Forest Service.     

Ethical and Aesthetic Concerns Inspired the Preservation Movement (stage 2)

John Muir had a different outlook on wildlife as he felt that nature deserves to exist regardless of usefulness this form of outlook is preservation. Muir fought hard for there to be Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Park; finally the National Park Service was established in 1916 lead by a disciple of Muir by the Name Stephen Mather. Contrary to the Forest Service the Park Service has always been oriented towards the preservation of nature rather than consumptive uses. A wildlife ecologist named Aldo Leopold in 1935 purchased a small farm in central Wisconsin, and with the help of his children planted thousands of trees in an experiment to restore the health and beauty of the land. The book written by Leopold entitled A Sand Country Almanac a book of essays about nature and our relation with it. In 1935 Leopold with the help of Bob Marshall and two others formed the Wilderness Society.

Rising Pollution levels led to the Modern Environmental Movement (stage 3)

Many incidences have happened in history that were caused by pollution in 1661 English diarist John Evenly suggested that trees should be planted in in Britain because of the toxic air, but in 1723 the problem still persisted and King Edward I threatened to hang anyone who burned coal in the city. In 1880 Britain formed the Fog and Smoke Committee to combat the constant problem, but seventy two years later in 1952 an especially bad episode turned midday skies dark and may have caused 12,000 deaths. It wasn’t until 1962 when the book Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson, informed the public to the pollution and its dangerous effects on humans and other spices. The movement engendered to the book is called the modern environmentalism mainly because its concerns itself both natural resources and environmental pollution. David Brower introduced many techniques on lobbying for public support when it comes to environmental projects. Barry Commoner trained as a molecular biologist and leader in analyzing the links between science, technology, and society. The environmental movement expanded in 1970s when it looked at human population, atomic weapons, atomic power, fossil fuels, recycling, and air and water pollution.

Environmental Quality is tied to social Progress

One of the main ideas that the environmental movement is so that anyone can visit a national park, and be able to see the beauty of it and have a good time doing it. Aldo Leopard one of the founders of the wilderness societies has always said that he feels that stewardship should be promoted among farmers, fishers, and hunters. Robert Marshall another founder of the Wilderness Society fought his whole life for social and economic justice among the lower class. One of the main ideas among the environmental movement is a sustainable development among the poorest nations without destroying our environment. Dr. Wangari Maathai the founder of the Green Belt Movement, an organization in Kenya with over 600 networks across Kenya, was founded to help organize poor rural women and restoring their environment in Kenya. After 27 years Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize and in her acceptance speech she said that “Sustainable development is possible and that exemplary governance is possible when ordinary citizens are informed sensitized, mobilized and involved in direct action for their environment” (Cunningham & Cunningham). Photographs for space of earth are often referred to as the fourth wave of ecological concern, which is sometimes called global environmental.         

 Chapter 2

Systems Describe Interactions

Systems Can Be Described In Terms Of Their Characteristics

Systems Can Exhibit Stability

Elements of Life

Matter is Recycled But Doesn’t Disappear

Elements Have Predictable Characteristics

Electric Charges Keep Atoms Together

Acids and Bases Release Reactive H+ and OH-

Organic Compounds Have A Carbon Backbone

Cells Are the Fundamental Units Of Life

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Are Key Nutrients

Energy

Energy Occurs In Different Types and Qualities

Thermodynamics Describes the Conservation and Degradation of Energy

Energy for Life

Green Plants Get Energy From the Sun

How Does Photosynthesis Capture Energy?

From Species to Ecosystems

Organisms Occur in Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems

Food Chains, Food Webs, and Trophic Levels Link Species

Ecological Pyramids Describe Trophic Levels

Biochemical Cycles and Life Processes

The Hydrologic Cycle

The Carbon Cycle

The Nitrogen Cycle

The Phosphorus Cycle Takes Millions of Years

The Sulfur Cycle

Systems and their terms and characteristics

Systems that receive inputs from their surroundings and produce outputs are called open systems.  There also closed systems, however these are rare, and the exchange no energy or matter within its surroundings. The term throughput is used to describe the energy and matter that flow into, through, and out of a system. Larger systems which generally require a larger through put. In other words, a large wetland can absorb and process more nutrients and energy that a small wetland. There can also be thresholds in a system where rapid change suddenly occurs. The greater amount of nutrients the greater the increase of plan growth. This increase is called a positive feedback. However, if a positive feedback accelerates out of control, the system can become unstable and change dramatically on the other side, a negative feedback has a dampening effect. Too much of one thing can lead to a food scarcity and this can lead a higher mortality for living things. Emergent properties refer first two a system that is more than the sum of its parts.

Stability and systems

Stability in a system, tend to be maintained by negative feedback loops which are called homeostasis.  Systems might also change, for instance, the population of the species in a wetland might rise and fall repeatedly, or in a cycle, and that cycle might be part of the system's normal functioning. Events that destabilize or change the system are called disturbances, and they might also cause these population fluctuations. Ecosystems can show resilience to returning to their previous condition after a disturbance. Sometimes ecosystems undergo a state shift, where conditions do not return to normal. Emergent properties can have a larger influence beyond its borders.

Recycled matter doesn't disappear

Mass refers to anything that takes up space and has mass. Solid, liquid, and gas, are matters three distinct states. Matter behaves according to the principal of conservation of matter. Normally, matter is neither created or destroyed but rather is recycled over and over again. It can be transformed or recombined, but it doesn't disappear; everything goes somewhere.

The predictable characteristics of elements

Matter has elements such as phosphorus or nitrogen, and the substances cannot be broken down into simpler forms by ordinary chemical reactions. Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen make up more than 96% of the mass of gross living organisms. The smallest particles that exhibit the characteristics of an element are atoms. The nucleuses of the atom are made of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons which are circled constantly by negatively charged electrons. The atomic number is listed in the periodic table according to the number of protons per atom it has. Isotopes, both stable and unstable, are in the news every day. It is the radioactive isotopes that are in radioactive waste, nuclear bombs, and nuclear power plants that cause the debate. Atoms, elements, and isotopes are fundamental to understanding many issues that we hear about almost every day of the week.

Electric charges keep the atoms together

Charged atoms are called ions. Negatively charged ions are called anions. Positively charged ions are cations. Compounds are formed when atoms joined together. A molecule refers to repair or group of atoms that can exist as a single unit. When I ends with opposite charges form a compound, electrical attraction holding them together is in ionic bond. Atoms can also form bonds by sharing electrons.  This electronic - sharing bond is known as cobble and bonds. We say an atom is an oxidized when he gives up one are more electron. When an atom gains electrons, we say it is reduced.

Acid and bases release from reactive H+ and OH-

Substances directly give up hydrogen ions and water is known as acids. Alkaline substances or substances that readily bond with H+ ions are called bases. Acids are described using the term pH, the negative logarithm of its concentration of H+ ions. To neutralize a solution, buffers or substances that accept or release hydrogen ions are added to the acidic solution. 

The Carbon backbone of organic compounds

Elements are used in organisms either in abundance or in trace amounts; however, carbon is a very important element because chains and rings of carbon atoms form the skeletons of organic compounds.  Organic compounds are the material that biomolecules, and living organisms, are made. Living things have four major categories of organic compounds and they are lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids. Nucleotides are complex molecules made of a five-carbon sugar and an organic nitrogen-containing base. They form long chains called ribonucleic acid or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and these are essential for storing and expressing genetic information. DNA binds together to form long, two-stranded or double helix spiral chains. Our DNA is reproduced in all your cells and divides as we grow. 

Fundamental units of life: Cells

Cells have minute compartments within in which the process of life is carried out. The human body is comprised of several trillion cells of about two hundred distinct types, however, bacteria and algae are only single cell organisms. 

The key nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus

Nitrogen and phosphorus are key components of ecosystems. They are not abundant in ecosystems but they are essential for plant and animal growth. Carbon is captured from air by green plants, and oxygen and hydrogen are from air or water. Nitrogen and phosphorus are essential parts of the complex proteins, lipids, sugars and nucleic acids that keep us alive. 

The different types and qualities that energy occurs

Energy takes many forms including heat, light, electricity, and chemical energy. We all experience these forms of energy every day. Kinetic energy is the energy contained in moving objects. Potential energy is stored energy that is available for use. Chemical energy stored in food that we eat or gasoline’s that we put in our cars are examples of potential energy that will be released to do work. The energy that can be transferred between object of different temperature is called heat. 

The conservation and degradation of energy is described by thermodynamics

Energy flows in a one-way path, however, atoms and molecules cycle endlessly through organisms and their environment. The study of thermodynamics deals with ho energy is transferred in natural processes. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is conserved. In other words, it is neither created nor destroyed under normal conditions. The second law of thermodynamics states that, with each successive energy transfer or transformation in a system, less energy is available to do work.  Organisms are highly organized both structurally and metabolically. 

The sun gives green plants their energy

It is a fiery ball of exploding hydrogen gas, however, the son emits powerful forms of radiation that life here on earth is nurtured by, depending upon, for its energy source. Green plants, LG, and some bacteria depend on the solar radiation from the sun for life sustaining energy. This process is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis converts a radiant energy into useful, high quality Chemical Energy in the bonds that hold together organic molecules. Photosynthesis uses only certain wavelengths, mainly red and blue light, of the energy that reaches the earth’s surface.

How does bodice emphasis capture energy?

The most important key to photosynthesis is chlorophyll. This unique green molecule that can absorb light energy and use it to create high energy chemical bonds in compounds that serve as fuel for all subsequent cellular metabolism. Lipid, sugar, protein, and nucleotide of molecules help chlorophyll do this important job. Photosynthesis can be summarized in the following equation: “water plus carbon dioxide plus energy produces sugar plus oxygen” (Cunningham & Cunningham). This simple sugar, that creates glucose, benefits the plant because it is an energy-rich compound that serves as the primary fuel for all metabolic processes. The process of releasing chemical energy is called cellular respiration.

Organisms occur in populations, communities, ecosystems

Members of a different species living in a given area at the same time are called a population. All populations of organisms living and are acting in a particular area make up a biological community. An ecosystem is composed of a biological community and its physical environment.

Food chains, food webs, and trophic levels link species

Organisms that produce organic material by photosynthesis are known as producers. Productivity is one of the most important properties of an ecosystem and the amount of biomass produced in a given area during a given time is vital. Most consumers in an ecosystem have multiple food sources. Similarly, many species in an ecosystem are beset by several types of predators and parasites. These individual food chains become interconnected to form a food web. An organism's feeding status in an ecosystem can be expressed as its trophic level. Irvine isms in the ecosystem are consumers of the Chemical Energy harnessed by the producers. Depending on the kinds of food they eat and at which traffic level at which they feed, organisms can be identified as herbivores, which are plant eaters, carnivores, which are flesh eaters, and omnivores which eat both plant and animal matter. The organisms that remove and recycle the dead bodies and a waste product of others are called scavengers. Examples of the scavengers are Crows jackals and vultures. Ants and beetles are detritivores which consumed letter, debris, and dung.  The decomposer organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, complete the final breakdown in recycling of organic materials.

Ecological pyramids describes trophic levels

Organisms according to the traffic levels, can be thought of as appear mad. With a broad base of primary producers and only a few individuals in the highest trophic levels, the pyramid idea helps as described generally whole matter and energy move through ecosystems.

The hydrologic cycle

Water is of great importance and the path of water through our environment is perhaps the most familiar material cycle. The oceans store most of the earth's water but solar energy continually evaporates this water, and winds distribute water vapor around the globe. Water that condenses over LAN Services, in the form of rain, snow, or fog, supports all terrestrial ecosystems. This moisture will eventually reenter the atmosphere or enters lakes and streams from which it ultimately returns to the ocean again. “Convection currents and latent energy cause atmospheric circulation and redistribution of heat and water around the globe” ("Understanding the earth’s").

The carbon cycle

Carbon is a structural component of organic molecules and chemical bonds and carbon compounds provide metabolic energy. The carbon cycle begins with photosynthetic organisms taking a carbon dioxide. Recycling can take a very long time. For instance: oil is the compressed, chemically altered remains of plants and microorganisms that lived millions of years ago. The carbon atoms contained with an N are not released until the coal or oil burned. Materials that store carbon, include geological formations and standing forests, are known as carbon sinks.

The nitrogen cycle

Amino acids, peptides, and proteins, are organic molecules that contain nitrogen and organisms cannot exist without them. Nitrogen makes up about 78% of the air around us. Plants acquire nitrogen from nitrogen fixing bacteria that live in and around their roots. Nitrogen fixing by bacteria is a key part of the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen reenters the environment in several ways. The most obvious path is through the death of organisms. Another way work and as psalms down a proteins to the environment are when plants shed their leaves, needles, flowers, fruits, and cones. Animal shed hair, fathers, skin, and these also contribute to the proteins in the environment. Uranus an especially high in nitrogen because it contains that detoxified wastes of protein metabolism.

The phosphorus cycle

After they are released from rocks or solves many rows become available to organisms. The transportation of phosphorus is usually done by water. The mining of fertilizers has sped up the use and movement of phosphorus in the environment. Excess phosphates can stimulate explosive growth of the algae and photosynthetic bacteria populations of upsetting ecosystem stability.

The sulfur cycle

The role of sulfur plays a vital role in organisms, and although minor, is an essential component of proteins. Most of the earth’s sulfur is tied up underground in rocks and minerals, such as the iron disulfide and calcium sulfate. Volcanic eruptions, erupt emissions from deep sea floor events, and release organic sulfur from it into the air and water. Burning fossil fuels also releases large quantities of sulfur. When the water of the ocean is warm, the tiny, single celled organisms release dimethyl sulfide, which is oxidized, into the atmosphere. This activity, which may account for half of all biogenetic sulfur emissions, could be a feedback mechanism that keeps temperature within a suitable range for all life.

Chapter 3

Evolution Leads to Diversity

Natural Selection and Adaption Modify Species

All Species Live Within Limits

The Ecological Niche is a Species’ Role and Environment

Specification Maintains Species Diversity

Taxonomy Describes Relationships Among Species

Species Interactions Shape Communities of Species

Competition Leads To Resource Allocation

Predation Affects Species Relationships

Some Adaptations Help avoid Predation

Symbiosis: Intimate Relations Among Species

Keystone Species: Influence All Out of Proportion

The Growth of Species Populations

Growth Without Limits is Exponential

Carrying Capacity Relates Growth To Its Limits

Feedback Produces Logistic Growth

Species Respond To Limits Differently: R- and K-Selected Species

Properties of Communities Depend On Species Diversity

Diversity and Abundance

Species Patterns Create Community Structure

o   Individuals in Communities Are Distributed in Various Ways

o   Communities Are Distributed in Patterns Across a Landscape

Community Properties Emerge From Diversity and Structure

Communities Are Dynamic and Change Over Time

The Nature of Communities is Debated

Ecological Succession Describes a History of Community Development

Appropriate Disturbances Can Benefit Communities

Natural selection and adaptation and modify species

The acquisition of traits that allow a species to survive in its environment is called adaptation.  Adaptation affects populations rather than individuals. Natural selection is the process of the fittest individuals passing their traits to the next generation. During the course of a species life span, Selma mutations right but to have given those individuals an advantage under the selection pressures of their environment at that time. “The delicate tundra vegetation is being over-grazed, and other species are losing nesting territory as the snow goose population grows” ("Snow geese threaten," 1999).

The limits all species live within

An organism's physiology and behavior allow it to survive only in certain environments. Environmental factors must be at appropriate levels for organisms to persist. Determining where a species a lives is the critical factor. Tolerance limits are the environmental factors beyond which a particular species cannot survive or is unable to reproduce. Useful indicators of specific environmental characteristics are the requirements and tolerance is of a species.

The ecological niche is a species role and environment   

The place or set of environmental conditions in which a particular organism lives is called the habitat.  Ecological niche is a more functional term that describes both of all played by a species in a biological community and the total set of environmental factors that determine the species distribution. British ecologist to Charles Alton was the first to define the concept of niche. Plants could also be habitat specialists, existing in one place and nowhere else. Endemic species are habitat specialists found exclusively in one specific type of habit. The competitive exclusion principle states that no two species can occupy the same ecological niche for long. The one that is more efficient in using available resources will exclude the other. We call this process of nature evolution resource partitioning.

Speciation maintains species diversity

Speciation is the development of a new species. This can occur because a species will experience geographic isolation. When new varieties arise in non-overlapping geographic locations this is termed allopatric speciation. New species that arise in the same location as the ancestor species can result in sympatric speciation.

Taxonomy describes relationships among species

The study of types of organisms and their relationships is called taxonomy. With taxonomy on any you can trace how organisms have descended from common ancestors. Scientists often use the most specific levels of the tree she knows and species to compose binomials. Scientists communicate about a species using Latin or Latinized nouns and additives to you avoid confusion. To organize species in subjects and museum collections and in research taxonomy is used.

Competition leads two resource allocation

Organisms compete for resources that are in limited supply. Competition among members of the same species is called intraspecific competition. However, interspecific competition refers to competition between members of the different species. Species living outside its optimal environmental conditions will not have the chance that species living within its center of tolerance limits will.

Predation affect species relationships

In predator - mediated competition, is a pair competitor in the habitat built up a larger population than its competitive species; predators take note and increase their hunting pressure on the superior species, reducing its abundance in allowing the weaker competitor to increase its numbers. As humans is important to know how predators affect prey populations because it has a direct application to our needs. When one thing becomes rare, for something else becomes abundant, predators will switch their prey.

Some adaptations help avoid predation

Over tens of thousands of years, the response of predator to pray and vice versa produces physical and behavioral changes in a process known as coevolution. The process of coevolution can be mutually beneficial: many plants and pollinators half forms and behaviors that benefit each other. Certain species that are harmless resemble poisonous or distasteful once, gaining protection against predators who remember a bad experience with that actual toxic organism. This is called Batesian mimicry, after the English naturalist HW Bates. The mimicry that involves two unpalatable or danger species that look alike is called new Mullerian mimicry. “When predators learn to avoid either species, both benefit” (Cunningham & Cunningham).

Symbiosis: intimate relations among species

Symbiosis is the relationship between two or more species that live intimately together, with their fates link. The interactions between these organisms can be non-antagonistic, I even beneficial.  This relationship will often enhance the survival of one or both partners. For instance, in which ends in fungus and photosynthetic partner (either and alga or cyanobacterium) combined tissues to mutual benefit. This association is called mutualism. Commensalism is a type of symbiosis in which one member clearly benefits and the other apparently is neither benefited not harmed. A form of predation that may also be considered symbiosis because of the dependency of the parasite on its post is parasitism.

The Keystone species: Influence all out of proportion

For a biological community that is out of proportion to its abundance a keystone species plays a critical role. Originally, keystone species were thought to be only top editors - alliance, wolves, tigers - which a limited her bulb or abundance and reduce the herbivory of plants. Now we understand that less conspicuous species also play a keystone role. The interactions between the species can help maintain a balance in the ecosystem under normal circumstances.

Growth without limits is exponential

A species having no limit and possessing a distinctive shape when graphed to overtime is described as exponential. A graph of exponential population growth is described as a J curve. It is called this because the number of individuals added to a population at the beginning of an exponential growth curve can be rather small, however, within a very short time; the numbers begin to increase quickly because a fixed growth percentage of leads to a much larger increase as population size grow.

Carrying capacity relates growth to its limits

The number or by a mass of animals that can be supported in a certain area of habitat is the concept of carrying capacity. The concept is now used more generally to suggest a limit of sustainability that an environment has in relation to the size of a species population. Resources become limited and death rates rise when a population overshoot or exceeds the carrying capacity of its environment.

Feedback produces logistic growth

Many species maintain every lead to very stable population size by regulating both internal and external factors and have come into equilibrium with their environmental resources. When resources are unlimited, they may even grow exponentially, but this growth slows as the carrying capacity of the environment is approached. This population dynamic is called logistic growth because of its growth rate changes over time. The logistic growth curve for this growth is an S curve. Population growth rates are affected by external and internal factors such as habitat quality, food availability, and interactions with other organisms. These factors are density dependent, meaning as population size increases, the effects intensify.

Species respond to limits differently

Organisms that depend on a high rate of reproduction and growth (r) to secure place in the environment are called r - selected species. They're called this because they are adapted to employ a high reproductive rate to overcome the high mortality a virtually ignored offspring. Other organisms will reproduce more conservatively and are referred to as the K-selected species because they are adapted for slower growth conditions near the carrying capacity of their environment. Many species will blend exponential and logistic growth characteristics. K-selected organisms are usually larger, live long lives, which are slowly, produce few offspring in each generation, and had few natural predators. Whereas, are selected organisms will occupy disturbed for new environments, grow rapidly, which are early, and produce many offspring with excellent dispersal abilities.

Diversity in abundance

Diversity is the number of different species per unit area. Diversity is important because it indicates the variety of ecological niches and genetic variation in a community. The number of individuals of the species in an area is called abundance. It is expressed by density of individuals of either a single species or multiple species. Diversity in abundance is often related. As a general rule, diversity is greatest at the equator and drops to forge the polls. The abundance of individuals tends to increase along the same gradient for many species.

Species patterns create community structure

Community structure refers to these patterns: (1) “individuals and species are spaced throughout communities in different ways; (2) the communities themselves are arranged over a large geographic area or landscape; and (3) communities have relatively uniform interiors and also edges that meet” (Cunningham & Cunningham). Individuals of the species population can be distributed randomly even when that environment is relatively uniform. More often these uniform patterns arise from the physical environment but can also be caused by competition and territoriality.

Communities are distributed in patterns across a landscape.

When consists of patches of different colors and shapes. Each patch represents a biological community with its own set of species and environmental conditions. Choir habitats are the largest patches and contain mostly a uniform environment big enough to support nearly all the plants and animals that are typically found in that community. The ecotone is the outside habitat core or border between two communities. These community edges can sometimes seem sharp and distinct butter the times when habitat type grades gradually into another. Species that prefer ecotones and use the resources of both environments are called edge species. Edge effects are where communities and meet, the environmental conditions bland and the species and microclimate of one community can penetrate the other. It makes a big difference in the shape of a community on how far the edge effects penetrate.

From diversity and structure, community properties emerge

The number of tropical levels in a community and the number of species at each of these tropical of rules is preferred two as complexity. As Robert MacArthur, a graduate student at Yale, suggested that the more complexity a community possesses, the more resilient is when disturbance strikes. In other words, the whole community has resilience in either Azusa recovers quickly from disturbance. Biomass is produced when communities convert solar energy into Chemical Energy and it is stored in living organisms. Primary productivity, the community's annual output of biomass or energy, is expressed as units of biomass or energy per unit area per year. Net primary productivity is a more useful term for the amount of biomass stored after respiration. The complex concept of stability is used when we see a community where ecosystem is stable and by this we mean a recess changes just bite disturbance, springs back resilient lee after disturbance, and supports the same species into the same numbers as before the disturbance.

The nature of communities is debated 

Communities develop in a sequence of stages, starting either from new land or after a severe disturbance. The community that develops last and lasts the longest is called the climax community. A climax community represents the maximum possible complexity instability in a given situation. This helps myriad temporary in which animals and plants can regrow in slightly different ways depending on the environment. 

Ecological succession describes a history of community development

You can read the history of biological community in any landscape. In primary succession land that is bear of soil - a sandbar, mudslide, rock face, and volcanic flow-is colonized by living organisms where none lives before. Secondary succession is a when in existing community is disturbed, a new one develops from the biological legacy of the old. In both kinds of succession, organisms change the environment by modifying soil, lead levels, food and water supplies, and microclimate. In primary succession on land, the first colonists are hardly pioneer species, often microbes, mosses, and the chance that can withstand a harsh environment with few resources.

Appropriate disturbances can benefit communities

Earth has plenty of disturbances and a disturbance is a force that disrupts the established patterns of species diversity and abundance, community structure, a community properties. People and animals can also cause disturbances in many ways. If the changes by either humans or nature are extensive, it can take centuries for a site to return to its pre disturbance state, and if climate or other conditions change in the meantime, it may never recover. Sometimes disturbances can benefit many species and create of greater variety of plant species in which wildlife responds vigorously to greater habitat diversity. There are some distance adapt this species can survive in landscapes and never reach a stable climax in a traditional sense. The species can survive fires by hiding underground, a resist the flames and then receive quickly after fires. Even though all seems chaotic after a disturbance, however, it may be that preserving species diversity by a allowing natural disturbances actually ensures stability over the long run, just as diverse prairies manage with fire recover after drought.

Chapter 5

Terrestrial Biomes

Tropical Moist Forests Are Warm and Wet Year-Round

Tropical Seasonal Forests Have Annual Dry Seasons

Typical Savannas and Grasslands Are Dry Most of the Year

Deserts Are Hot or Cold, But Always Dry

Temperature Grasslands Have Rich Soils

Temperature Scrublands Have Summer Drought

Temperature Forests Can Be Evergreen or Deciduous

o   Deciduous Forest

o   Coniferous Forests

Boreal  Forest Lie North of the Temperature Zone

Tundra Can Freeze in Any Month

Marine Environments

Open Ocean Communities Vary From Surface To Hadal Zone

Tidal Shores Support Rich, Diverse Communities

Freshwater Ecosystems

Lakes Have Extensive Open Water

Wetlands Are Shallow and Productive

Streams and Rivers Are Open Systems

Biodiversity

Increasingly, We Identify Species By Genetic Similarity

Biodiversity Hot Spots Are Rich and Threatened

Benefits of Biodiversity

Biodiversity Provides Food and Medicines

Biodiversity Can Aid Ecosystem Stability

Aesthetic and Extensive Values Are Important

What Threatens Biodiversity?

HIPPO Summarizes Human Impacts

Habitat Destruction is Usually the Main Threat

o   Fragmentation Reduces Habitat To Small, Isolated Areas

Invasive Species Are A Growing Heart

Pollution Poses Many Types of Risks

Population Growth Consumes Space, Resources

Overharvesting Depletes or Eliminates Species

o   Collectors Serve Medicinal and Pet Trades

o   Predator and Pest Control Is Expensive But Widely Practiced

Endangered Species Protection

Hunting and Fishing Laws Protect Useful Species

The Endangered Species Act Protects Habitat and Species

Recovery Plans Aim to Rebuild Populations

Landowner Collaboration Is Key

The ESA Has Seen Successes and Controversies

Many Countries Have Species Protection Laws

Habitat Protection May Be Better Than Species Protection

Tropical moist forests are warm and wet year round

Rainfalls in uniform temperatures are what the several kinds of moist tropical forests have in common.  Cloud forests are found high and the mountains were flawed and missed keep vegetation when it all the time and temperature school. Rainfall is abundant in the tropical rain forests where temperatures are warm to hot year round. Although the soils in both of these tropical forests are thin, acidic, a nutrient pour the number of species present me mind-boggling. The number of insect species in the canopy of tropical rain forests has been estimated to be in the millions!

Tropical seasonal forests have the annual dry seasons

The tropical regions that are characterized by a distinct wet and dry seasons, support tropical seasonal forests. These drought tolerant forests Philip brown and dormant in the dry season burst into vivid green during rainy months. There also a few insects, parasites and fungal diseases than a wet for most which makes the dry forest a healthier place for humans to live.

Tropical savannas and grasslands are dry most of the year

We find open grasslands or grasslands with sparse tree cover, which we call savannas, where there's too little rainfall to support forests. The plants of the savanna's and grasslands have many adaptations to survive drought, heat, and fires. One of the main ways they survive is because they are able to conserve water to adapt to their extremely dry environment.

Desserts are hot or cold, but always dry

The vegetation of the desert inspires that it can be surprisingly diverse. The plants and animals of the desert are highly adapted to survive long droughts, an extreme heat, and often extreme cold. There is usually less than 30 cm of rain per year in the desert. Animals in the deserts are also specially adapted, many of them getting their moisture from seeds and plants. Many of the desert animals are also nocturnal.

The rich soils of a temperate grasslands

Grasslands are complex, diverse mix of grasses and the flowering herbaceous plants, generally known as forbs. Where scattered trees occur in grassland, we call it a savanna. Deep roots plants and temperate grasslands and savanna's survived drought, fire, and extreme heat and cold. Grasslands also have the organic rich soils, and because of this, many have been converted to farmland.

Temperate scrublands have summer drought

Conditions where there is a hot season that coincides with the dry season and cool, moist winters, are described as Mediterranean. These environments can be highly variable. The fires that periodically burn fiercely in these fuel rich plants assemblages, is one major factor in plant succession. This landscape, in California, it's called chaparral.

Temperate forests can be evergreen or deciduous

There is a wide range of precipitation conditions in the forest. Forests are generally grouped by tree type, which can be broad leaved deciduous or evergreen coniferous. Rainfall is plentiful in deciduous forests. Although these forests have a dense canopy in summer, they have a diverse understory and that blooms and spring. Songbirds, of a great diversity, also find shelter in these forests. There is a wider range of temperature and moisture conditions in the coniferous forest. Often 10, moisture is limited and in cold climates, moisture is unavailable from being frozen. Therefore, the thin waxy leaves or needles help these trees reduce moisture loss. The cool, rainy Forrest often in shrouded in fog, which are coastal forests, are known as temperate rainforests. The condensation in that cannot be resolved in luxuriant plant growth and giant trees such as the California redwoods.

North of the temperate zone lies the Boreal forests

Conifers tend to dominate the Boreal forest because they can survive winter cold. Pines, hemlocks, spruce, cedar, and fur are some of that dominate trees in this area. Because of the cold temperatures these forests are slow growing. The extreme, ragged edge of the boreal forest gradually gives way to open tundra, is known by its Russian name, taiga.

In any month, the tundra can freeze

A treeless landscape that occurs at high latitudes or on mountaintops, and has a growing season of only two or three months, is the tundra. The tundra may also have frost in any month of the year. Arctic tundra is an expansive biome that has a low productivity because it has a short growing season.  However during the midsummer 24 hour sunshine plan growth and insect life will burst forth. Alpine tundra occurs on or near mountaintops. The alpine tundra also has a short, intense growing season

Open ocean communities

Ocean systems can be described by depth in proximity to shore. Benthic communities occur on the bottom and pelagic zones are the water column there is relatively low we know about marine ecosystems and habitats, and much of what we now we have learned only recently. Uninteresting, fairly new find, are the deep C thermal that communities. These committees are based on microbes that capture chemical energy, mainly from sulfur compounds released from thermal jets.

The diverse and rich communities of title shores

There is varying depth, light, and temperature in the shoreline communities. There is high eight biological productivity and diversity because of the enrichment by nutrients washing from the land.  Coral reefs are among the best known marine systems, because of their extraordinary biological productivity in their diverse and beautiful organisms. Reefs occur where the water is shallow and clear enough for sunlight to reach the photosynthetic algae. Coral bleaching, the white 18 of reefs due to stress, often followed by choral death, is a growing and spreading problem. In the shallow, warm, sandy coastlines you will find sea grass beds or eel grass beds. Mangroves are a diverse group of salt holler and trees that grow along warm, com or RE in costal shores around the world. Mangroves help stabilize shorelines, blunt the force of storms, and build land by trapping set amid an organic material.  Estuaries are bays where rivers empty into the sea, mixing fresh water with salt water. Salt marshes, shallow wetlands flooded regularly or occasionally with sea water, occur on shallow coastlines, including estuaries. Tide pools support fascinating life forms. They're depressions in a rocky shoreline that are flooded at high tide or retain some water at low tide.

The extensive, open water of lakes

Lakes also have distinct vertical zones. Near the surface mainly microscopic plants and animals that float freely in the water column. Fish move through the water column, sometimes near the surface and sometimes add depth. The benthos, or bottom, is occupied by a variety of snails, burrowing worms, fish, and other organisms. Unless they are shallow, lakes have a warmer upper layer and a colder, deeper layer that is not mixed. The sharp temperature boundary, known as thermocline, is between these layers.

Wetlands are shallow and productive

The ecosystem in which the land surface is saturated or submerged at least part of the year is called wetlands. The wetlands are relatively small system and support which biodiversity, and they are essential for both breeding and migrating birds. The water that stands in the wetlands also seeps into the ground, replenishing groundwater supplies. Swamps are wetlands with trees. Marches are wetlands without trees. Boggs are areas of water saturated ground, and usually the ground is composed of deep layers of accumulated, I indicated vegetation known as peat. Fens are similar to Boggs except that they are mainly fed by groundwater. Life is abundant and varied in the wetlands and they are a major breeding, nesting, and migration staging area fourth waterfowl and shorebirds.

Streams and Rivers are open systems

Wherever precipitation exceeds evaporation and surplus water drains from the land, streams form. As streams collect water in marshes, they form a reverse, although there is in a universal definition of when one turns into the other. The biggest distinction between stream and lake ecosystems is that, in a stream, materials including plants, animals, and water, are continually moved downstream by falling currents.

We identify species by genetic similarity

Species are distinct organisms that persist because they can produce fertile offspring. Evolutionary biologists favor the phylogenetic species concept, which identifies genetic similarity. Alternatively, the evolutionary species concept defined species according to evolutionary history in common ancestors.  Both of these approaches rely on DNA analysis to define similarity among organisms.

Biodiversity hot spots are rich and threatened

Concentrations of the world's biodiversity are near the equator, especially tropical rain forests in coral reefs. Many of the organisms in mega diversity countries have never been studied by scientists. There are 8000 species of flowering plants in the Malaysian Peninsula, however, Britain with an area twice as large, has only 1400 species.

Foods and medicines are provided by biodiversity

“Wild plant species make important contributions to human food supplies” (Cunningham & Cunningham). Noted tropical ecologist Norman Myers “estimates that as many as 80,000 edible wild plant species could be utilized by humans” (Cunningham & Cunningham). Many natives in distant cultures can use thousands of plant as medicine.  

Biodiversity can aid ecosystem stability

Biological communities with a high diversity can withstand environmental stress better and recover more quickly than those with fewer species. Ecological functions are better maintained in a diverse community despite disturbance.

Aesthetic and existence of values are important

Americans spend 104 billion every year on wildlife related recreation, therefore, nature appreciation is economically important. Often recreation is worth even more than the resources that can be extracted from an area. In many cultures, nature carries spiritual connotations, and observing and protecting nature has religious or moral significance.

HIPPO summarizes human impacts

HIPPO is an acronym which stands for habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, population of humans, and over harvesting. There has been an increased rate at which species are disappearing over the last 150 years. “In the North Atlantic, for example, Canadian researchers estimate that all coastal shark species plunged an average of 61 percent between 1986 and 2000” ("Environmental case study"). Every year, humans kill about 100 million sharks, skates, and rays; about half of them caught accidentally while fishing for other species. Sharks grow slowly, mature late, and have few young in each generation.

Habitat destruction is usually the main threat

Habitat loss is the most important extinction thread for most species. The conversion of forests and grasslands to farmland is perhaps the most obvious example of habitat destruction. Forests, to date, cover less than half the area they once did, and only around 1/5 original forest retains its old growth characteristics. Surface mining, dam building, and bottom trawling are just some of the habitat destroying methods.

Fragmentation reduces habitat to small, isolated areas

Fragmentation is the reduction of habitat into small isolated patches. Breaking of habitat reduces biodiversity because many species, such as bears, and large cats, require large territory to subsist.  Other species reproduced successfully only in deep forest far from the edges and human settlement. It is a pour into know what the minimum viable population size for a species is wind to win blame populations have grown too small to survive. I'll end biome geography is a fairy that suggests species diversity is a balance between colonization and extinction rates. The large areas tend to have more variation in half attack types and small areas to.

Invasive species are a growing threat

Accidentally or deliberately introduced species are a major threat to native biodiversity in many places.  Invasive species are organisms that thrive in new territory where they are free of predators, diseases, or resource limitations that may have control their population in their native habitat. 50,000 non-native species have become established in the United States over the past 300 years. Many of these introductions have been beneficial but some have caused environmental our economic damage.  Pathogens or disease organisms may also be considered predators and, when introduced, into a new environment and may cause an epidemic to sweep through an area.

Pollution poses many types of risk

Toxic pollutants can have a disastrous effect on local populations of organisms. Population declines are especially likely in species high in the food chain, such as marine mammals, alligators, fish, and fish eating birds. These chemicals accumulate in fat and cause weekend immune systems. Lead poisoning is another major cause of mortality especially for bottom feeding waterfowl. They ingest has spent shotgun pellets the fall into lakes and marshes. The pellets, instead of stones, are stored in their gizzards and the lead slowly accumulates in their blood and other tissues.

Population growth consumes space and resources

In the past 40 years, the global population has doubled from about 3.5 billion to about seven billion our consumption of global resources has grown from 60% of what the earth can support over the long-term 250%.

Over harvesting depletes or eliminate species

Taking more individuals and reproduction can replace is called over harvesting. Many animals such as the passenger pigeon, American bison, and fish have been seriously depleted by over harvesting.

Collectors serve medicinal and pet trades

Wild species are not only harvested for food and are harvested for their valuable commercial products.  Despite international bans on trade in products from endangered species, smuggling of furs, hides, horns, live specimens, and folk medicines amounts to millions of dollars each year. The profits to be made in wildlife smuggling are enormous. It is not only animals but also plans that are being threatened by over harvesting. Ginseng saying, cacti, and other plants have been nearly eliminated in many areas because of the Asian demand.

Predator in pest control is expensive but widely practiced

Because they are regarded as dangerous to human or livestock some animal populations have been greatly reduced. Every year, U.S. government animal control agents trap, poison, or shoot thousands of coyotes, bobcats, prairie dogs, another species considered threats to people, domestic livestock, where crops. Defenders of wildlife regard this program is cruel, callous, and mostly ineffective in reducing livestock losses. However, ranchers argue that without predator control western livestock ranching would be uneconomical.

Hunting and fishing laws protect useful species

Most states, in the United States, enacted some hunting and fishing restrictions by the 1890s. The wildlife regulations and refugees establish since that time have been remarkably successful for many species. We now have more whitetail deer, wild turkeys, and wood ducks then we had 50 years ago.  Snowy egrets are now common again despite being almost wiped out by plume hunters 80 years ago.

The endangered species act protects habitat and species

The endanger species act was passed in Congress in 1973. This loss devilish the idea that protecting biodiversity was in the public interest because even species we don't use directly can have economic and cultural value. The ESA provides criteria for identifying species at risk, directions for planning for the recovery, assistance to landowners to help them find ways to meet both the economic needs and the needs of a rare species, and enforcement of measures for protecting species and their habitat. There are 3° of risk: endangered species are those considered in imminent danger of extinction; threatened species are likely to become endangered, at least locally, within the foreseeable future. Vulnerable species are naturally rare or have been locally depleted by human activities to a level that puts them at risk vulnerable species are often candidates for future listings as endangered species. Researchers estimate that all coastal sharks killed an average of 61 percent between 1986 and 2000. Some of the largest species had the biggest declines. “In 2003, the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, restricted commercial trade in whale and basking sharks, the largest fish in the world, because of worries that the species may be threatened with extinction” ("Environmental case study").

Recovery plans aim to rebuild populations

And at the fish and wildlife service is given the task of preparing a recovery plan once the species is listed. There are many kinds of strategies such as building habitat areas, restoring habitat, reintroducing a species to its historic ranges, captive breeding programs, and plans for negotiating the needs of a species and the people who live in an area. Because we're trying to undo decades or centuries of damage to a species our ecosystem, restoration can be slow and expensive.

Landowner collaboration is key

Cooperation between Federal, state, and local agencies is critical because 2/3 of the listed species occur on privately owned lands. A number of provisions protect land-owners and the survey as incentives for them to participate in developing habitat conservation plans.

The ESA has seen successes and controversies

The ESA has held off the extinction of hundreds of species including the brown pelican, the peregrine falcons, and the bald eagle. Many people are dissatisfied with the slow pace of listing new species; however, hundreds of species are classified as deserving of protection of lacking funding or local support.

Many countries have species protection laws

Many countries have recognized the importance of legal protection for endangered species. The convention on international trade in endangered species of 1975 provides a critical conservation strategy by blocking the international sales of wildlife in their parts. It is illegal to export or import elephant ivory, rhino horns, tiger skins, or alive endangered birds, lizards, fish and orchids

Habitat protection may be better than species protection

There are growing arguments that we need a rational, continental wide preservation of ecosystems that supports maximum biological diversity. It is thought that this would be more effective than species by species battles for desperate cases. Gap analysis is an approach in which conservationists and wildlife managers look for and protective landscapes, or gaps in the network of protected lands, that are rich in species. Maps also help biologists and land use planners communicate about threats to biodiversity.

  

Works Cited

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Cunningham, W., & Cunningham, M. (Date Accessed: 2012, February 5). Environmental science. (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Understanding the earth’s energy balance. (Date Accessed: 2012, February 8). Retrieved from http://www.mhhe.com/Enviro-Sci/CaseStudyLibrary/Topic-Based/CaseStudy_UnderstandingTheEarths.pdf

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