ZOO507 Handouts Topics 1-179

Topic no 1 to 90 mid term and 91 to 179 final term syllabus Topic_01 The environment is everything around us

It includes all of the living and the nonliving things with which we interact. And it includes a complex web of relationships that connect us with one another and with the world we live in. Despite our many scientific and technological advances, we are utterly dependent on the environment for air, water, food, shelter, energy, and everything else we need to stay alive and healthy As a result, we are part of, and not apart from, the rest of nature. Environmental science, an interdisciplinary study of how humans interact with the environment of living and nonliving things It integrates information and ideas from the natural sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and geology, the social sciences, such as geography, economics, political science, and demography, and the humanities, including philosophy and ethics Environmental science is an interdisciplinary study of connections between the earth’s lifesupport system and human activities.

Topic_03 The goals of environmental science are to learn

How nature works?

How the environment affects us?

How we affect the environment? How to deal with environmental problems and live more sustainably?

A key subfield of environmental science is ecology, the biological science that studies how organisms, or living things, interact with their environment and with each other Every organism is a member of a certain species: a group of organisms with distinctive traits and, for sexually reproducing organisms, can mate and produce fertile offspring. For example, all humans are members of a species that biologists have named Homo sapiens. A major focus of ecology is the study of ecosystems An ecosystem is a set of organisms interacting with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy within a defined area or volume.

We should not confuse environmental science and ecology with environmentalism, a social movement dedicated to protecting the earth’s life-support systems for us and all other forms of life. Environmentalism is practiced more in the political and ethical arenas than in the realm of science.

Environmental Sustainability

Sustainability is the ability of the earth’s various natural systems and human cultural systems and economies to survive and adapt to changing environmental conditions indefinitely

Sustainability

A critical component of sustainability is natural capital—the natural resources and natural services that keep us and other forms of life alive and support our economies.

Natural resources are materials and energy in nature that are essential or useful to humans

These resources are often classified as renewable (such as air, water, soil, plants, and wind) or nonrenewable (such as copper, oil, and coal).

Natural services are functions of nature, such as purification of air and water, which support life and human economies .Ecosystems provide us with these essential services at no cost.

One vital natural service is nutrient cycling, the circulation of chemicals necessary for life, from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment

Nutrient cycling: an important natural service that recycles chemicals needed by organisms from the environment (mostly from soil and water) through organisms and back to the environment. Natural capital is supported by solar capital: energy from the sun Take away solar energy, and all natural capital would collapse

Solar energy warms the planet and supports photosynthesis—a complex chemical process that plants use to provide food for themselves and for us and most other animals.