Calculate An oxide of aluminum contains 0.545 g of Al and

NTRO TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE : ECOLOGY U NIT  Woods have just as much or more industry than an urban area with factories  Provides more services and produces more for more organisms  Natural World Themes 1. All materials cycle and waste becomes food  Used materials are ready for something else 2. Diversity is rewarded  Seen as an advantage  More diversity = more durable, higher life quality, more organisms 3. Each species depends on many others  Example: oxygen comes from plants making food, we need oxygen to breathe and live 4. The sun is the ONLY energy source  Energy gives us the ability to do work  Work involves different forms of change  EXCEPTIONS: Some organisms never see sunlight and live on gad in caves or bottom ocean thermal vents  Human World Themes 1. Materials are routinely buried or burned  Usually after 1­2 generations (Example: landfills) 2. Wastes are often toxic 3. Diversity is sometimes tolerated 4. We ignore interdependencies  We feel we have no responsibility to add value back into the environment 5. Many harmful energy strategies  Consequences for us and other organisms  Ecosystem: all biotic and abiotic factors in a community, where they get their needs met by interdependency  A sustainable, interacting community  Example: pond, forest, cubic m of soil  SOIL IS THE MOST DIVERSE ECOSYSTEM IN NATURE  Ecology: study of ecosystems and how the natural communities work  Biosphere: place on Earth where life is found; sum of all Earth’s interdependent ecosystems  Biota: every form of life on the planet  Biomes: major terrestrial ecosystem types that are land­based  Different Types of Land Biomes 1. Desert:  10 inches or less of rainfall  Very dry  Plants live without water  Most animals are nocturnal 2. Tall Grass Prairie:  No woody plants  Rich soil  Many different animals  Been diminishing due to human activities 3. Woods:  Need more water than prairie plants  Lots of woody plants 4. Tundra:  No trees (due to the harsh environment)  Very dry and windy  Soil is very thin and not fertile  Freezing in cold months  Thaws only a few feet in warm months  Soggy areas when it gets warm  Many animals (wolves, caribou, insects, birds)  Not much snow 5. Tropical Rainforest:  Dominated by trees, tropical latitude  Rains about 90+ inches a year  Almost no change in seasons (does rain a bit more in the winter)  Same weather year round  High humidity (average 90­100%)  Soil is practically nutrient free (very poor for growing)  People who live here get food from subsidence farming (growing the food you eat)  Many unidentified species, very diverse 6. Amazon Rainforest Basin:  Basin drains river systems  Largest continuous chunk of rainforest in existence, but is shrinking in size  Humans are cutting down trees for farming and cattle raising  Loses a Michigan­sized area every 2 years Different Types of Aquatic Biomes 1. Saltwater Marsh:  Non­woody vegetation  Has tides (rise/fall every 12 hours based on gravity pull of the moos and sun) 2. Estuary:  Mixture of fresh & salt water,  Aquatic plants (rooted and floating)  Aquatic animals like birds, muskrats, and amphibians 3. Swamp:  Woody plants like trees and bushes  Aquatic organisms like fish, algae, birds, and insects  Inland swamps are not on the coastline  Mangrove swamps have a specific type of tree in swamps along the coastline (small to prevent hurricane damage) Ecosystem Structure and Influence  Habitat: the type of place where a species gets its needs met and performs its occupation  Niche: how an organism gets its needs met, its habitat type, and its climate  Carrying Capacity: maximum number of individuals of a species that an ecosystem can continuously support  Limiting Factor: determines the number of species and its range  Example: Number of squirrels in a woods can depend on the season, amount of acorns, and available homes Life Adapting to Change  Gradual abiotic changes over the last 3.5 billion years include…  Composition of the atmosphere (Oxygen at 21% and Carbon Dioxide)  Global climate (patterns) Changed dozens of times in the past billion years Colder/drier to warmer/wetter and back again; warmer air has more energy and more potential for precipitation Tens of thousands of years to cycle  66 million years ago: warm/wet climate and reptiles were dominate  2 Sudden and Simultaneous changes occurred: Asteroid hits Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, creates 130 mile wide impact crater  Multiple volcanic eruptions Huge amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere to the point where noon looked like sunset, 2/3 of the light was gone 5 years of darkness Much cooler temperatures within a month Toxic gas present in the atmosphere Caused the dinosaur extinction Mammals begin to flourish A sudden change in the availability of a vital necessity causes a species to have 3 alternative options: 1. Migration to find a new place to live 2. Adaptations  Genetic changes include: Rapid rate of reproduction with bacteria and insects More genetic changes = more benefits = high survival Slower rate of reproduction with mammals Less variation = less benefits = lower survival  Behavioral changes include: Farming became a major change for humans Example: beavers build dams or lodges on a stream, which insulates and provides food Example: Humans creating clothing and industrializing 3. Extinction  No changes/adaptations will cause species to die out  Only species that manage to adapt to new negative living conditions will survive  Natural Selection: continual process of species survival or extinction  Adaptations within existing species  Adaptations produce entirely new species more fit for the circumstances  Includes extinctions (see #3 above)  Evolution: 3.5 billion years of continual adaptation to changing solutions by biota